The Science of Museums

Unless you are going to a science museum, not many consider that museums in and of themselves are science driven.Let's go behind the velvet rope Consider this, conservation of artefacts is in every way a hard science. The purpose of conservation is to slow down the effects of object aging and deterioration. It is also used to repair or at the very least stabilize an object so that further degradation does not occur. This is accomplished through the understanding of chemistry (how a given object's material make up with react to light, air, humidity, sound, cleaning processes etc.) Pest control (understanding which insects/vermin like which materials and how to recognize the signs of infestation. It also entails methods for eradication and prevention of these pests.) My favourite example of this is placing artefacts in a cooler that is just cold enough to kill insects but not so cold it will damage the object. Quite a balancing act, I assure you!

On the other side of the velvet rope is the soft science of Visitor Experience. It deals with the psychology of visitor behaviour and the sociological aspects of museum visitation. Everything from the way an exhibit is displayed to whether or not there are seating areas and even lighting of public areas are all affected by this. I will go into more depth on visitor experience later.

Museums: a beginning

What do you think of when I say Museum? Is it cases of old things in big glass cases with labels? Elderly volunteers telling that you can't touch anything? Museums like every other sector have been touched by the effects of our technological revolution. People are no longer content to just wander, look and contemplate. The public wishes to be amused while we have the audacity to educated them. So like the mom who hides the  vegetables under something more tantalizing, museums are working to produce fun and exciting exhibits that still tackle tough subjects. This phenomenon is called edutainment.

When is it ever enough?

The 1970's in Canada saw Heritage given center stage in the political landscape. Riding the coattails of our recent centennial, Heritage was infused with money and jobs across the country. One didn't need to have a million degrees and citations from various post secondary institutions to gain employment in the exciting field of museums, heritage sites, and parks. The field itself was just starting the first stirrings of professionalization. So the number of curators, interpreters, exhibit designers grew. Everything seemed promising until the economy tanked and like always the first areas to have their budgets gouged were culture and the other arts. This meant all the young, bright eyed grads coming out in the early '90's had a problem. Lots of them and very few opportunities.

Now something you should be aware of, museum and heritage folks are some of the quirkiest, passionate, resourceful and fun folks you will ever meet. This is a good thing, remember these individuals are protecting our collective past for the future and in some cases, teaching this past to the public so it remains vital. When I started in this field, I had my BA in history lots of perseverance and drive. I went out to Victoria where you can't help but trip over various museums, heritage sites and historic houses. In my mind I would have no problem getting a heritage job. It had to be like going for a job in hospitality. It was easy to get a hotel job.

My plan was to get a diploma in Cultural Resource Management from UVIC while working in a heritage job and my first stop was going to to be the BC Heritage Association. So I met with a gentleman from the BCHA and he told me to get out of heritage, a career in this field had no future! Crestfallen, I ignored his advice and forged ahead.Thankfully I did because, 5 years later,  I got to work at the greatest historic house museum in Victoria with the best co-workers and volunteers. After leaving there I returned to the museum where this journey for a fulfilling career in heritage started. The field has gone through professionalization and now having a BA in History or Museology is not enough. In some instances there are folks with PhDs doing entry level museum work. Heritage is now like any other profession. How do you stand out when everyone has the same credentials?

Making Do or Doing Without

Today I wanted to look at recycling and see the historical significance of it...why?  garbage middens are the first place that archaeologists go to learn about a culture...what we throw away and what we re-use tells a tale....

Refuse. Pollution. Debris.

Garbage. Litter. Trash.

Waste has been with us since the beginning of human civilization. What we do with our garbage is very much influenced by economic and cultural needs. When times were prosperous, waste was abundant and quickly discarded. Once life became difficult through war, a depressed economy, famine or disease, we became more conscious of what we threw away and how it could be reused. 

Some common items have found new uses when recycled. Cloth rags have been reborn as paper, old linen and drapery transformed into clothing, plastic bags converted into rugs. All this was done in the name of thriftiness and necessity. 

The motivation for recycling efforts beginning in  the later 20^th Century is primarily environmental in most western countries. People in North America are salvaging because it is culturally expected, not out of necessity.

 photo courtesy Galt Museum and Archives.

Patriotic Recycling

To aid in the war effort, citizens of the allied nations were encouraged by their governments to donate materials for recycling, as a contribution to the war effort and as an expression of patriotism. Recycling materials at home also meant more resources  went overseas to the warfront. This increased the chance of victory at war.

By January of 1942, Lethbridge had two Salvage depots. One was in the north and one was in the south.  By 1943, over 20,000 pounds of scrap iron, 100 pounds of fat, and 3000 pounds of waste paper and cardboard had been salvaged. The Salvage centres were run by volunteers from various organizations including the Boy Scouts, the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire and various Ladies Church Auxiliaries.

Advertisements, newspaper articles and posters published by the National Salvage Committee encouraged citizens to participate and show their loyalty to Canada.

 The above ad was posted in the January 1942 edition of the Lethbridge Herald

British Home Children

Church groups, orphanages, and workhouses in Britain could no longer support the growing numbers of children in their care by the mid-19th century. The solution was to send orphans and abandoned children to other Commonwealth countries. It is estimated that between 1869 and 1948 Britain dispatched 100 000 children to Canada to work on farms or as domestic help. In some cases, siblings were sent to different locations. Many of the children thrived in their adopted country. Others suffered abuse, poor working conditions and loneliness.

“Little Immigrants” left an undeniable legacy on the Canadian landscape. Approximately 4 million Canadians can trace their ancestry to these children. Through their descendants, they share a haunting, little talked about tale of Canadian history.

Phil Coleman, Conservative MP for Brant, whose uncle was a home child, successfully introduced a private members’ motion that declared 2010 the Year of the British Home Child. The motion unanimously passed in the House of Commons in late 2009.

This September, Canada Post honoured the Home Children with a commemorative stamp. The stamp features the SS Sardinia on which children sailed from Liverpool to Québec, a map symbolizing their cross-Atlantic journey; a photograph of a child at work on a farm, and one of a newly arrived Home Child standing beside a suitcase while enroute to a   distributing home in Hamilton, Ontario. The frame around the photo symbolizes the relationships they developed in Canada.

NEITHER WAIF NOR STRAY

Dad, we lived with you for all those years
Without regard for your silent tears

You never let your thoughts be shown
Or the secrets of the youth you'd known

As life went on and our knowledge grew
We searched that inner part of you

But buried deep within your past
Were memories that would last and last

A past of which you were ashamed
But never spoke and never blamed

I wish you would have let us share
Your broken heart and deep despair

For you were neither waif nor stray
But one of many torn away

From your country, friends and kin
To an unknown world forced to begin

Without the love and kindness shared
Within the hearts of those who cared

You made the best of the years you had
But left this world alone and sad

Leaving behind for those like me
Your stolen youth and identity

If only dad we'd been a part
Of all you carried in your heart
M. Pauline King (in loving memory of her father, Edward King, a British Home Child)

For more information: http://activehistory.ca/2010/09/2010-is-year-of-the-british-home-child-in-canada-but-some-descendants-want-more-from-ottawa/

http://www.britishhomechildren.org/