[BCMA] Open House at the Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

For Immediate Release

Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives

Open House for New Horizons for Seniors Program and National Seniors Day

September 26, 2011

 

The Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives is hosting an Open House on September 30, 2011 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. to celebrate the completion of our New Horizons for seniors Program, developed with funding from the Government of Canada's New Horizons for Seniors Initiative.  The program is intended to encourage seniors to contribute their skills, experience and wisdom to their communities and to promote the involvement of seniors in their communities.  The Open House features three projects funded by a New Horizons for Seniors grant awarded to the Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives. 

 

National Seniors Day, October 1, was established in 2010 by the Government of Canada to recognize the importance of well-being and quality of life for seniors in Canada. This is an opportunity to celebrate and appreciate the wonderful contributions seniors have made to our communities.

 

The New Horizons for Seniors grant allows organizations like the Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives to build sustainable projects with local seniors.  Such is the case with our partnership with the Maple Bay Community Association.  Dedicated to and passionate about preserving history in Maple Bay, members of this association made up the Maple Bay Oral History Project team, which has collected more than 20 interviews from seniors who are from, or who have lived, in Maple Bay.  This has been a meaningful experience for all involved. Excerpts from these interviews will be featured on a Maple Bay Community History website that is under development. The website will also feature contemporary and archival photographs, and written submissions on a variety of topics, including the geology of the Maple Bay area. 

 

The Hul'qumi'num/English Archival Photograph project was developed in partnership with Prof. Donna Gerdts, Quamichan Elder Ruby Peter and the Museum.  In addition to providing stories based on First Nations-themed archival photographs in both Hul'qumi'num and English, a database is being compiled to collect as much information as possible about the content of these photographs in the Archives collection.  Also featured, with permission from Ruby Peter and Prof. Gerdts, are short films of Ruby speaking on various topics in Hul'qumi'num, with English subtitles.  For example in one of the films Ruby and her sister, Delores, make memorial dolls, which were used to represent deceased relatives who were being memorialized at a potlatch.  This will complement an archival photograph depicting memorial dolls arranged in a canoe for a potlatch.  The memorial dolls made by Ruby were acquired by the Museum and will be featured in a display.

 

The documentary, Remembering Duncan, features seniors sharing their stories about living and working in Duncan and the Cowichan Valley.  The stories are compiled to highlight aspects of Duncan's fascinating history over the past 100 years. Many people who came from Duncan, or for whom Duncan was home, made important contributions, provincially, nationally and internationally. The project has allowed us to collect oral histories that will be added to the historical record of Duncan and the Cowichan Valley. The oral histories capture memories of a way of life that no longer exists and that will be an invaluable resource for the future.

 

Join us for coffee, tea and cookies at the Museum's Open House to celebrate National Seniors Day.  We look forward to seeing you there!

 

The Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives is located in the heritage designated Duncan Train Station at 130 Canada Avenue in Duncan, BC.  Please contact Curator Kathryn Gagnon at (250) 746-6612 or email cvmuseum.archives at shaw.ca for additional information.

 

 

Kathryn Gagnon
Curator/Manager
Cowichan Valley Museum and Archives
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