The Sikh Society of Newfoundland Exhibit Launch

It's been a busy couple of weeks here at the museum. If you haven't seen our changes, this is your last day, and September 10 for Doors Open, then we'll be open again next summer!

We've made quite a few changes in the museum this summer, from installing UV filters to the windows to allow us to open the curtains and brighten up the museum, to moving things around to hopefully give you, the visitors, more space to explore more comfortably.



We've also updated our Ocean Ranger exhibit with a beautiful picture donated by Gerry Boland and have a couple of softballs signed by local teams donated by Tom Hickey.

Our Archaeologist for A Day program was a big hit this summer, and was run both for small groups and for summer camps. The program was a little different from last year with a focus on objects that could be found within the museum. This allowed kids to not only act as archaeologists as they dug up and recorded "artifacts", but then they could find those "artifacts" in the museum and talk about how they are used.

We also added scavenger hunt sheets which the summer camp kids loved to use as they explored the museum.

Our big even of the season was the launch of the Sikh Society of Newfoundland exhibit. Wednesday night the museum filled up with community members who were interested in learning more about Sikhism in Newfoundland. The Sikh Society came out to help open the exhibit, to answer questions about Sikhism and brought some amazing snacks. I believe everyone who attended came out of the exhibit knowing more about the role the Sikh community plays in the Northeast Avalon, and across the island. It was great to see a few museum regulars and some new visitors come out to see the launch of this new exhibit.

Thank you to everyone involved in the development of this exhibit. First, the Sikh Society of Newfoundland who supplied the museum with information and objects to tell their story. We hope the exhibit reflects your society and your place within the community. You do so much great work, and we're happy to highlight it. Next, Andrew, the museum assistant, who took care of visitors so that I, the museum coordinator, could run around getting all of the supplies, drop off and pick up signs, and research. My volunteers, Shannon and Jane, for helping with the last minute set up. The Town of Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove for their support and power tools. And of course, the Heritage Committee for starting this project (in particular Katherine Harvey, the former coordinator for making initial contact and starting the research) and for their support and suggestions throughout. To be honest, with so many wonderful people backing me, there was little for me to do!

And this is it for this season, but please, visit on September 10th for Doors Open, and keep watching facebook and twitter for when we open again next year and start #CapelinRoll2017!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Outer Cove Air

Image
Today is  #CleanAirDay in Canada, a day to highlight how important good air quality is for our health and our environment. We may be biased but we believe that, here in Newfoundland, we have some of the freshest air in all of Canada. Outer Cove Beach, 2017. Photo credit: Lisa Daly And, if we may be so bold, perhaps Outer Cove has some of the nicest air in all of Newfoundland! Some people from St. John's certainly thought so, according to stories from Mary Boland of Outer Cove about her mother and the laundry from St. John's. Mary was born and lived in the Rocky Hills area of Outer Cove in 1920, and during an oral history interview in 2000 conducted by her son, Martin Boland, she shared the following story. When Mary was in grade 7, which was likely around 1932, her mother Catherine Hickey (nee Dyer) broke her arm, so Mary left school to help her mother out at home. Her mother took in the laundry for several affluent families from the St. John's area. At the ti
Read more

St. Francis of Assisi Grotto and O'Brien Park

Image
In June, a visitor to the museum asked about the historical significance of the Grotto located at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Outer Cove.  A picture of the Grotto located in the museum taken by Garland Studio [011.6.1] The Grotto is located a little to the side of the church, and contain a statue of the Virgin Mary with a little girl and the pedestal reads: THIS PEDESTAL HAS BEEN ERRECTED TO THE MEMORY OF MAURICE O'BRINE MICHAEL O'BRINE JAMES O'BRINE DAVID O'BRINE MAURICE O'BRINE JR. The Grotto at St. Francis of Assisi Church. Photo by Lisa M. Daly. According to Mrs. Mary Boland in an April 200 interview, Aunt Marg O'Brien lost four sons in World War II. Mike O'Brien was in the Merchant Marines; David was the youngest and was torpedoed while in the army; Jim was serving with the United States and Maurice also died. Aunt Marg was given the title of The Most Bereaved Mother. More information can be found in downtown St. J
Read more

The Forerunner

Image
It's a wet and miserable day outside, but the museum is cozy and we've got the kettle on. It's the perfect type of day to have a mug up and share some stories. My favourite kind of stories to tell on a wet and windy day are ghost stories, and I think I've found a good one. Fishing Stages - Outer Cove (from DAI) I've been doing some digging in the collections of the Digital Archives Initiative at Memorial University , looking for interesting stories from the Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove area. This one comes by way of correspondence between "Big Willie" Croke and Martin Boland. "Big Willie" tells the story of Jimmy Carroll, a planter from Outer Cove, who had signed on as a deckhand for the S.S. Beverley when he was young. The S.S. Beverley was to transport codfish between Harbour Grace and Gibraltar in the winter of 1918. According to "Big Willie" Croke, Jimmy said, "I was living on top of the world that day and so e
Read more