[BCMA] Blacksmith Shop Questions

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

If you set up a working blacksmith shop, keep control and make it your own, not a place vulnerable to a partnership that might fail.   Craigflower Historic Site had a blacksmith shop set up by a local blacksmith club whose members volunteered to construct the building and operate it for demonstrations.  The site operator expectation was that since blacksmith shops are popular features of places like Burnaby Village and Barkerville, that the installation of a blacksmith shop would be a major attraction and solve the problem of low visitation at Craigflower.   The Club members expected it to become a good sales outlet for their products, making it worth their while to spend time there.   However, site visitation was not large enough to generate any significant sales, and after a short while, club members ceased to be there.  Then some inner club politics and disagreements about who owned what led to the group collapsing and abandoning the place but leaving a monster pile of scrap steel and coal and dashed expectations.

To make a working place or to make a static display, that is the question.  Do lots of marketing homework before embarking on a working facility, especially for the operational reasons Colin has already described.   A good static display can accomplish a lot for visitor appreciation and reflection if designed around a storyline and made to look like a practical working shop whose smithy has gone for lunch.   A soundscape can be added to help bring it to life.   One of the best was scripted and read by a popular local radio station Disk Jockey who was employed by a museum for their project because they figured a radio DJ really knew how to get a message across in 30 seconds or three minutes.   It worked!   With real tools, you can make a display that gets the knowledgeable visitors talking and becoming the interpreters for others.

Consider setting up an active woodworking shop beside your new static blacksmith shop display as a better choice for a working interpretive display to help bring to life the concept of working trades.   More opportunities in woodworking for visitors to have hands-on experiences with the staff or volunteer interpreters.

Cuyler Page
Heritage Interpretation Services
Vernon, BC
cuyler at telus.net



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. 
  To: bcma at lists.vvv.com 
  Sent: Saturday, December 07, 2013 3:52 PM
  Subject: [BCMA] Blacksmith Shop Questions


  Hello,

   

  Does your facility have a blacksmith shop set-up?  We have been offered the original local blacksmith's shop (all the equipment, no building) and would like to accept it but we have no idea what this entails.  If your facility does run one, could you please answer the following questions to help me get an idea of what I am getting into?

   

  1.       What kind of structural requirements are in place in regards to housing such an object?  Do you have to have a ventilation system or is having an open structure enough?  Do you find it difficult to control the environment inside or do you even try?

  2.       Who runs your blacksmith shop?  How much is this person paid and how did you find them?  What qualifications do they have?

  3.       What kind of maintenance is required to keep equipment in working order?  How often is it needed and how expensive is it?

  4.       How do you feel this aspect of your facility is received? (ie. How important is it to your facility that you have a blacksmith shop?  Does it draw visitors?)

  5.       How often is your blacksmith shop in operation?  (During all open hours or is there a set schedule?)

  6.       Is there anything else you can tell me that could help me in this endeavor?

   

  Thank you in advance for all your help!

   

  Hazel Godley

  Manager

   

  Operated by the Mission District Historical Society

  604-826-1011

  info at missionmuseum.com

  www.missionmuseum.com 

   

  33201 2nd Avenue, Mission BC  V2V 1J9

  Thursday-Friday: 10-4

  Saturday: 1-4

   



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