Our museum volunteers prove themselves priceless over and over again. They keep the museum open on Saturdays and when staff is sick. They spend hours cutting apart newspapers to be scanned and then scanning and indexing those papers. They mow the lawn, look after the garden, repair our buildings, catalogue negatives, and respond to archival inquiries. They help with the gift shop, guided tours, programs, events, exhibits, fundraisers, and so much more. They make up 1-2 full time staff positions per year. I am so thankful for these volunteers as we simply couldn’t do half our projects without them.
New Exhibits
• Women in the North - August 6 through January 2021 at the North Peace Regional Airport
Want to learn more about women in the North Peace? Check out this free exhibit at the airport by summer student Paulette Auger. Learn about the contributions of the B.C. Women’s Institute along with four notable women – Christine Auger, Vi Woodward, Monica Storrs, and Amy Smith. They overcame hardships, served the community through a variety of careers, and founded or participated in a variety of organizations from Women’s Institutes to the Fort St. John Friendship Centre.
UPCOMING EXHIBITS
We have several exhibits in the works this fall. Research is complete for our aviation exhibit so the text will be written in September before the panels are designed in October. Work on the Allen House walls (inside) will take place in the next month or two. Meanwhile Chris Gillet is selecting new artefacts to update our 1920s-1940s bedroom display.
Archives & Collections
Our volunteers have scanned and indexed the Alaska Highway News through 1977! Our Sue Popesku Archives students have nearly finished scanning and indexing Sue’ collection of papers and photographs relating to local arts, culture, and heritage groups into a free online database. We’ve responded to over 90 inquires in our archives so far this year.
Events & Activities
• Museum’s “What Is It?” Table at Moose FM’s Block Party (Saturday, September 11, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
The kids are back at school so come down and try your hand at guessing our school related artefacts at the block party! Win a souvenir coin if you manage to guess more than half of them correctly. Learn fun facts about these artefacts after you’ve made your guesses.
• Dinosaur Kits (Available starting Friday, September 17 at the Museum as long as supplies last.)
Stomp! Stomp! Discover more about dinosaur footprints in the Peace Region through this free take home kit. Stomp dinosaurs through play dough to make your own trackways. Try making your own dinosaur skin imprints. Match dinosaurs and footprints using a homemade projector craft. Learn more about local dinosaurs through our fun factsheet. 300 kits are available (one per child). Sponsored by Canadian Natural.
GIFT SHOP
New t-shirts for all ages and sizes up to XXL are on the way for the museum gift shop. Check out our new onesies for size 6 months and up. We’re also adding a variety of new mugs, shot glasses, snow globes, magnets, and more. Need a yoyo or a pen that reads Fort St. John? We have you covered. We have new sticker and colouring books from Usborne too featuring farm animals, horses and ponies, and dinosaurs. Purchases from the museum gift shop help us to preserve and present the history of the North Peace.
Website & Social Media
We’ve been working on a bigger and better website the past few months! This website will contain more information about our exhibits, archives, events, educational programs, and more. Visit www.fsjmuseum.com in late September when the site will be up again. We hope to expand this website in the future with more activities, videos, etc. In the meantime, follow us on Facebook (Fort St. John North Peace Museum) where we post a variety of artefacts, trivia questions, photographs, and more each week.
Heather Sjoblom is manager and curator of the Fort St. John North Peace Museum.
