by Amy Zoethout | Apr 1, 2022 | Archives, Blog
The Huron County Museum & Historic Gaol joins archives from across the province to celebrate Archives Awareness Week in Ontario, April 4-8. Celebrated each year during the first week of April, this week provides the opportunity to highlight the importance of preserving the documentary heritage of Ontario’s communities.
“Archives Awareness Week offers a great opportunity to highlight the valuable archival collection held at the Huron County Museum,” said Archivist, Michael Molnar, whose role is to assess, collect, organize, preserve, and provide access to the collection. The Huron County Archives collection is accessible to the public for research purposes. The collection contains historical documents specific to Huron County, including photographs, personal papers and diaries, land registry copy books, maps, property tax assessment rolls, scrapbooks, Council minutes and more.
The Huron County Archivist provides access to the archival collection in a variety of ways and processes research requests received by phone, email and mail, as well as in-person, through scheduled appointments in the Archives’ Reading Room.
To celebrate Archives Awareness Week, the Museum will be offering free admission to the Reading Room for in-person research. Due to capacity limits in the Reading Room, appointments are required and are being booked daily from Monday, April 4 to Friday, April 8. Call the Museum at 519-524-2686, ext. 2201, to book a complimentary research session. Please note that other fees may apply.
The Museum also continues to accept donations of archival materials from the community. Items should be historically significant to Huron County and may include journals, historical documents, business records, photographs of local homes, towns and villages throughout Huron, cookbooks created within the County, or organizational and club records, to name a few. Donations can be made by appointment.
To learn more about the archival collection, donating to the collection, services offered, and fees that may apply, please visit: https://www.huroncountymuseum.ca/huron-county-archives/.
by Amy Zoethout | Mar 4, 2022 | Exhibits, Media Releases/Announcements, Special Events
The Huron County Museum is very pleased to host The Ribbon Skirt Project: Creating & Gifting a Cultural Connection, a collection of more than 215 ribbon skirts which will be on display throughout the Museum from March 12-April 10, 2022.
The Ribbon Skirt Project was started by Miss Kettle and Stony Point Jr., Jaylynn Wolfe, in July 2021. Knowing that owning a ribbon skirt was important, but difficult for many, Jaylynn, along with her mother, set out to make hundreds of ribbon skirt kits and invited volunteer sewers to help. The goal of the project was to create 215 skirts to represent the first number of unmarked graves identified in British Columbia at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. They quickly exceeded that goal, with more than 215 Ribbon Skirts being gifted to the project from all over North America. Each skirt will be gifted to a youth on Jaylynn’s First Nation of Kettle and Stony Point.
“The hope of the project is that a child will take hold of their ribbon skirt so close to their heart that their connection to their culture will start their journey,” said Jaylynn. “This project gives an opportunity for this cultural connection to happen and allows for all youth to participate.”
Before the Ribbon Skirts journey to the youth of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation, they will be on display at the Huron County Museum where the public is invited to see this beautiful collection of work. The skirts will be displayed throughout the Museum in groupings that showcase the Seven Grandfather Teachings, the Clans of Kettle and Stony Point, Water is Life, Spirit Horses, The Creation Story, The Three Sisters, The Medicine Wheel, and Floral imagery, as well as a display to bring awareness to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
The exhibit is open to the public during regular Museum hours of operation. The public is also invited to meet Jaylynn, who will be available to answer questions about the Ribbon Skirt Project. She will be onsite at the Museum on Saturday, March 12, Sunday, March 20 and 27, and Sunday, April 3 and 10 from 1-4 p.m.
To celebrate the project, we will also be hosting a screening of the Indigenous film, Beans, on March 27. The film explores the 1990 Oka Crisis at Kanesatake, through the eyes of Tekehentahkhwa (nicknamed “Beans”), a young Mohawk girl whose perspective on life is radically changed by these events.
by Amy Zoethout | Feb 17, 2022 | Blog
The Huron County Museum is pleased to host the work of Métis artist Tracey-Mae Chambers, whose site-specific art installation #HopeAndHealingCanada is on display at the Museum until April 10.
#HopeAndHealingCanada is a series of temporary site-specific art installations created by Chambers, who uses knit and crochet pieces constructed from red yarn to illustrate the connections between all. She also uses the work to promote dialogue about decolonization and reconciliation between Indigenous, Inuit and Métis peoples and settlers.
“I believe collectively we must remain hopeful to heal. There is still so much that connects us to one another, and I am hoping that the pandemic has made that more apparent to everyone,” said Chambers, who has been creating these installations across the province at historical sites, museums, and other public spaces since July 2021. Each piece is constructed reusing red yarn from previous installations. “I want to illustrate the temporary nature of our lives, of our struggles and our achievements. The string represents the connectivity between each other and our environment as it will also not last forever.”
Chambers was onsite at the Museum on Feb. 17 to build the installation in the Museum’s foyer.
“The Huron County Museum is very happy to bring Tracey-Mae’s important work to Huron County,” said Senior Curator Elizabeth French-Gibson. “Welcoming such installations supports the Museum’s on-going work to expand its exhibitions by sharing more diverse stories that have not always been historically presented.”
To learn more about Chambers and the #HopeAndHealingCanada project, visit: #HopeandHealingCanada at traceymae.com
by Amy Zoethout | Feb 8, 2022 | Museum News
The Huron County Museum congratulates the Huron County Library for receiving the Ontario Library Association’s (OLA) Archival and Preservation Achievement Award for the Huron County Digitized Newspaper project.
Virtually presented to library staff at the OLA Super Conference on Feb. 2, 2022, the award recognizes significant achievements in the field of preservation and/or conservation for library and/or archival materials.
Beginning in 2014, the digitization project has been a collaboration between the Huron County Library, Huron County Museum, the County of Huron, and the local community. The project has resulted in the digitization of more than 350,000 local newspaper and magazine pages from microfilm and hard copies. This collection preserves more than a century’s worth of local history from communities across the County.
“The Huron County Library has always been one of the most modern and innovative library systems in the province.” said Huron County Warden, Glen McNeil, “The Digitization Project is just one example of its leaderful and progressive work. Congratulations to everyone involved in this project. The recognition received is well deserved.”
The online collection brings together newspapers and magazines, spanning from 1848 to 2019, in one convenient location that anyone can access, for free, from anywhere there is an internet connection. Over the past two years, as libraries and museums were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers, students, researchers, historians, and genealogists could still easily access Huron County history from around the world. In 2021 alone, the digitized newspaper collection received close to 20,000 visits, making it one of the most popular online resources that the County of Huron offers.
“The digitization project serves as an important contribution to improving access to community history for researchers, historians and genealogists, who continue to expand our understanding of our rural past,” said Beth Rumble, Director of Cultural Services and County Librarian. “New content is being digitized and added to the collection on an on-going basis, further preserving our archival resources for generations to come.”
Support for this project from the community has helped shape the success of this project.
“We appreciate how the news of the day provides tidbits and notes of interest to many researchers and are impressed how this remarkable project has evolved to become a rich asset to our community,” said Rhea Hamilton-Seeger, on behalf of the Huron County Historical Society. “We are proud that this unique resource was made possible through the foresight of the Huron County Museum and Huron County Library and is used not only in Huron, but across the digital world.”
With members across Canada and the United States, the Huron County Branch, Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS), having access to this digital collection has helped those researching their families’ Huron County roots.
“Newspapers provide a snapshot into our ancestors’ lives that is not available in government records,” said Huron County Branch, OGS, Chair Debra McAuslan. Having these available digitially for much of Huron County is a unique resource for an rural area in Ontario and we are grateful to the Huron County Library and Huron County Museum for making this possible.”
The full collection can be accessed from both the Huron County Library and the Huron County Museum websites or by directly visiting https://pubdocs.huroncounty.ca/WebLink/.
Watch the award presentation on YouTube: Ontario Library Association Awards Ceremony 2022 (presentation to Huron County Library starts at 35:15)
by Amy Zoethout | Nov 29, 2021 | Uncategorized
The Huron County Museum Gift Shop is growing its selection of products made by area artists and makers and we are pleased to feature the work of artist Beth Gould. Beth’s cards and postcards feature illustrations of local scenes, including both the Museum and the Huron Historic Gaol. Holiday cards have also been recently added to the shop just in time for the season! If you would like to pick up some of Beth’s work, the Gift Shop is open during regular Museum hours and does not require admission to come in to shop and to support local! Learn more about Beth and her work below!
Work-in-progress illustration of the Huron Historic Gaol
Who are you and what do you make?
Professionally, I’m an artist who primarily works with watercolour, pen and ink. I grew up in Goderich near the water and as you can see from many of my works I continue to be influenced by this.
How did you start making art?
I think we’re all born artists so it’s not so much when I started but just that I never stopped. I’ve always loved making cards for my friends and family and one of my closest friends really pushed me to make it a business and I’m so thankful she did.
How would you describe your work?
On the most basic level I work with watercolour then use pen and ink to add more detail and definition to the piece. More specifically I’m attempting in a small way to record the history that surrounds us now and by turning these places into an illustrated version of real life.
What inspires you?
I’m inspired by the past, by historical photographs, vintage postcards and maps. I try to recreate that feeling of nostalgia, of the unreachable past we all wish we could step into; whether I’m successful is up to the viewer. In my more detailed works I try to capture every building as accurately as I can because to someone that is their business or home or where they work, to someone it might mean quite a lot.
Beth created custom illustrations of the Museum and Gaol that are available for purchase on cards and postcards.
What do you like most about being an artist?
I think I’m incredibly privileged to do this. I love being able to completely escape into a brushstroke and that feeling that somehow time moves differently. In some ways I get to be a child forever. I’m lucky that something I enjoy doing might make someone else happy.
If somebody likes your work and wants to see more where can they go (besides the Museum Gift Shop, of course!)?
I have some prints available on Etsy, and I’m in the midst of creating a website. I do custom illustrations and paintings as well.
Visit the Museum Gift Shop to see the full collection of cards and postcards created by Beth Gould.
