Manitoba Museum Program Receives International Guardians of Culture and Lifeways Award

Manitoba Museum Program Receives International Guardians of Culture and Lifeways Award

Posted on by Rebecca Watson
Dr. Matthew shaking the hand of an individual behind a podium.

Winnipeg, MB (October 10, 2018): The Manitoba Museum has received the International Guardians of Culture and Lifeways Outstanding Project by a Non-Native Organization award from the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) for its Spirit Lines education project. As a part of the 2018 International Conference, the award (a medallion and certificate) was presented today to Dr. Maureen Matthews, the Manitoba Museum’s Curator of Cultural Anthropology, by Walter Echo-Hawk, Board Chair for ATALM. Spirit Lines, an outreach project with two Canadian First Nations communities, was a collaborative and innovative initiative, merging Indigenous heritage and museum expertise to preserve part of a cultural history that may have otherwise been lost.

“The Manitoba Museum is honoured to be the recipient of this prestigious international award,” says Claudette Leclerc, Executive Director and CEO of the Manitoba Museum. “This award affirms the importance of collaboration and connection with Indigenous people as museums work to build relationships with communities whose collections we hold in trust.”

The Spirit Lines project was conceived by Dr. Matthews who discovered a 200-page binder containing oral history transcripts in the Manitoba Museum’s holdings that had been collected by the late Anishininni artist Jackson Beardy while he was employed at the Museum in the early 1970s. The idea of returning these stories to the communities where Jackson Beardy first recorded them became the inspiration for the Spirit Lines project. Heritage Canada’s Museum Assistance Program funded the creation of education kits for schools in Garden Hill First Nation, Jackson Beard`s home reserve, and Norway House First Nation.

The Spirit Lines project privileged community collaboration and creative working relationships with community leaders including Elders, teachers and school administrators. Richard Laurin, the Education Kit Developer, worked with Byron Beardy, Jackson Beardy’s son, to engage community experts and Elders. Partners in the Spirit Lines project include David Swanson, Superintendent of Frontier School Division; David Flett, Director of Education at Garden Hill Education Authority; David Williamson, Dean of Education at University College of the North, and many community members who read stories, translated and transcribed texts and replicated artifacts.

A computer keyboard with English, Ininiwag, and Anishininiwag syllabics on the keys.

The kits contain a wide array of materials ranging from audio recordings voiced by community members and replica artifacts created by local artisans to instructions for making such traditional items as snowshoes and birch bark baskets. In addition, five bilingual publications provide educational materials to facilitate local language teaching. These include a Cree dictionary and transcriptions of the kit’s oral histories with side-by-side translations in English, Ininiwag or Anishininiwag languages in English orthography and syllabics. A unique feature of the Spirit Lines project is the inclusion of Unicode syllabic keyboards, enabling teachers to digitize syllabic lesson plans and communicate across computer networks using Ininiwag and Anishininiwag syllabics.

“The Spirit Lines project was an opportunity to use our collections and expertise to highlight the oral traditions, artifacts, and languages of Norway House and Garden Hill First Nations,” says Dr. Matthews. “Working collaboratively with Indigenous communities, the Manitoba Museum has provided a rich cultural resource for Indigenous teachers, bringing the oral histories collected by Jackson Beardy back to life for the students of today and making them available for generations to come.”

In November 2017, the Manitoba Museum Spirit Lines project also received the Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Museums: History Alive! presented by Governor General of Canada Julie Payette. This award recognizes institutions that demonstrate excellence in the presentation, preservation, and interpretation of Canadian history.

ATALM is an international non-profit organization that maintains a network of support for Indigenous programs, provides culturally relevant programming and services, encourages collaboration among tribal and non-tribal cultural institutions, and articulates contemporary issues related to developing and sustaining the cultural sovereignty of Native Nations. Established in 2007, the awards program identifies and recognizes organizations and individuals who serve as outstanding examples of how Indigenous archives, libraries, and museums contribute to the vitality and cultural sovereignty of Native Nations.

Reshaping Chemical Structures: The Conservation of a Home Chemistry Set

Posted on by Carolyn Sirett

This home chemistry set came into the conservation lab for treatment after being selected for display in the soon to be constructed Winnipeg Gallery which is part of the Museum’s Bringing Our Stories Forward Capital Gallery Renewal Project. The set was acquired by the museum in 1979 and was manufactured by Lotts Bricks Ltd., a toy company based in Waterford, England. 

It was noticed during an initial condition report that the cardboard insert was weak, ripped, and warped in several locations and needed to be stabilized before display. Since the cardboard had warped over time, the loose and broken parts would no longer fit together and therefore the cardboard would need to be reshaped before repair could be completed. 

Two photos side-by-side. On the left, a detail image showing the tears in the upper left corner of the chemistry set’s insert. On the right, a detail image showing damage to the insert in the upper right corner of the chemistry set insert.

Detail images showing damage in upper left and right corners of chemistry set.

Catalogue Number: H9-9-622 © Manitoba Museum 

The chemistry set consists of a red cardboard box which has a grey blue box adhered to it. There is also a moss green cardboard insert which holds the pieces of the set in place. There are twelve cardboard canisters with pop-off metal lids, and four glass bottles with metal screw-on lids. All of these containers still have their labelled chemicals inside. There is a small glass tube with a cork stopper which containing purple coloured litmus paper. Hidden under the cardboard insert is a small envelope labelled ‘Litmus Paper’ which has two pink papers inside. Lastly, there is an orange rubber tube with a glass end covered in a black coating. 

Three images side=by-side. Detail images (left to right) showing red box with insert removed, damaged cardboard insert, damaged right corner of insert of chemistry set.

Detail images (left to right) showing red box with insert removed, damaged cardboard, damaged right corner of insert of chemistry set. Catalogue Number: H9-9-622 © Manitoba Museum 

Two photos side-by-side. On the left, looking down at an angle on one of the cardboard canisters from the chemistry set with its metal pop-off lid. On the right, five of the cardboard canisters in a row. The canisters have “Lott’s Chemistry” written on the sides.

Components of Chemistry Set. Catalogue Number: H9-9-622 © Manitoba Museum 

Two photos side-by-side. On the left, the cardboard insert with an old pencil catalogue number written on it. On the right, the insert with the old catalogue number removed.

Eraser bits used to clean off an old pencil catalogue number. © Manitoba Museum 

In the conservation lab, the set was disassembled and the individual parts were examined. In general all surfaces of the set were dusty and covered in grime. The red outer box was very stable but the moss green cardboard insert was ripped in several areas and the structure was warped. The canisters and glass bottles have small areas of corrosion on the metal lids. 

The first step was to clean every surface of the set. This involved brushing all the components with a soft natural hair brush which loosened dust off the surface and allowed the dust to be carefully vacuumed away. The cardboard and canisters were further cleaned by gently rubbing eraser bits over the surfaces to pick up grime and loosen ingrained dirt. 

The most complicated step of the treatment was reshaping the cardboard insert. The insert was reshaped by misting the surface with distilled water, causing the paper structure to relax, which allowed for the manual repositioning of the cardboard to the original position. The insert was placed onto custom cut wood blocks which were covered in absorbent paper (blotter paper). The wood form was clamped and weighed down which prevented the cardboard from deforming during the drying process. 

 

Four images put together in a collage. On the upper left, the cardboard insert laid on a flat surface, wetted and being reshaped. On the upper middle, blocks of wood with blotter paper, used to reshape the wetted insert. One the upper right, blocks of wood with blotter papers placed onto wetted cardboard. On the bottom, wood inserts clamped and weighted down in a vice to hold the wetted carboard insert still as it dries.

(Top left) Cardboard insert wetted and being reshaped.

(Top middle) Blocks of wood with blotter papers.

(Top right) Blocks of wood with blotter papers placed onto wetted cardboard.

(Bottom) Wood inserts clamped and weighted while drying.

© Manitoba Museum 

After a week, the cardboard insert was dry and removed from the wood form. The cardboard was then repaired by reattaching the loose sections and reinforcing ripped areas with light-weight mending paper and conservation grade cellulose based adhesive. The ripped cardboard was further repaired on the front of the insert by adhering tinted light-weight mending paper to breaks in the structure. 

Three images in a collage. On the top, the cardboard insert being repaired with light coloured pieces of mending paper along the weak or torn joints of the insert. On the bottom left, the cardboard insert beside painting supplies, as the mending paper is painted with watercolours to blend in with the cardboard. On the bottom right, close up of the tinted mending paper now painted to match the cardboard insert.

(Top) Cardboard insert being repaired with light-weight mending paper and conservation grade adhesive.

(Bottom left) Tinting mending paper with watercolours to match cardboard.

(Bottom right) Tinted light-weight mending paper used to stabilize and hide rips in the structure of the cardboard.

© Manitoba Museum 

 

Once everything was stable and dry the insert was set back into the red box and finally all the components were set back into place. 

Treatment completed, the cardboard insert back inside the chemistry set’s red box.

Stabilized cardboard insert placed back into place.

© Manitoba Museum 

 

You will be able to see this home chemistry set in the new Winnipeg Gallery when it opens in the fall of 2019. 

Two photos side-by-side. On the left, Conservation Technician Loren Rudisiela, wearing a white lab coat and teal gloves, holding up the stabilized and reassembled chemistry set. On the right, looking down into the red carboard box with the stabilized insert holding the many pieces of the set in place.

Reassembled and ready for display.

Catalogue Number: H9-9-622 © Manitoba Museum 

Loren Rudisuela

Loren Rudisuela

Assistant Conservator

Loren Rudisuela holds a B.A in Art History from the University of Guelph, a certificate in Art Fundamentals from Sheridan College, and a Graduate Certificate in Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management…
Meet Loren Rudisuela