The current federal government seems to be trying to put its imprint on history with the renaming of the 91原创 Museum of Civilization to the 91原创 Museum of History, a comprehensive review of 91原创 history by a committee of Conservative MPs, and the slashing of budgets and staff at Library and Archives Canada.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper鈥檚 intentions may be good, but it鈥檚 too 1984-ish for comfort. You just shouldn鈥檛 try to put one perspective or political slant to history.
Fortunately, we have institutions that won鈥檛 let that happen. They are not richly funded, they don鈥檛 have massive staffs and they are not housed in lavish premises, but they do admirable work.
They are local museums, and 91原创 Island is richly endowed with these gems. They live in the shadow of the province鈥檚 best-known museum, the Royal B.C. Museum, but it鈥檚 not a question of competition. One kind of museum isn鈥檛 better than another. We need them all.
The provincial museum is one of my favourite places, but it won鈥檛 cure my addiction to small local museums where you can get up close and personal with regional history. They name names in those little museums, and those names are intimately linked with the landscape. Those are the places where you realize history is a continuum from past to present.
A visit to the Royal B.C. Museum is like dining out at a fine restaurant, with an elegant maitre d鈥�, liveried waiters and a vast menu. A visit to a place such as the Metchosin Pioneer Museum is like finding a humble mom-and-pop eatery where you鈥檙e served a great homestyle meal by the apron-clad proprietors. They鈥檙e both good experiences.
It was a privilege to be part of a small group that toured the Metchosin School Museum last week with the guidance of volunteer Pat Holloway, then walked across the street to the Pioneer Museum where we were met by curator Bert Harrison. I came away understanding a little more about Metchosin鈥檚 past and its fiercely independent spirit.
Each museum, regardless of its size or focus, faces the challenge of finding the resources to survive and thrive. The Royal B.C. Museum has a budget of $18 million, of which the province chips in $12 million. One means of bringing in more revenue is the gift shop 鈥� as you leave the museum, you have the opportunity to choose some souvenirs from a wide selection of merchandise.
As you leave the Metchosin museum, you can buy a Metchosin T-shirt or a used book.
The Metchosin Museum Society built a small used bookstore at the front of the museum. The bookstore raised nearly $4,800 last year, which Bert says is about 90 per cent of the museum鈥檚 funding. People buy bags of books, he says, read them, bring them back as donations and buy some more. Now that鈥檚 sustainability.
You can鈥檛 say that if you鈥檝e seen one museum, you鈥檝e seen them all. The south Island has a wonderful buffet of museums, each with its own personality and focus.
Whether it鈥檚 the Sooke Region Museum with its signature lighthouse, the Saanich Historical Artifacts Society with its collection of steam engines and farm machinery or the Sidney Museum and Archives, after you have visited a museum, you see its community with different eyes.
Most community museums are quite eclectic; others in the region focus on particular fields, such as the Maritime Museum (which really deserves more funding), the B.C. Aviation Museum and the Naval and Military Museum at CFB Esquimalt. You don鈥檛 have to be a maritime or naval enthusiast to get your money鈥檚 worth out of these.
It adds to the experience when museums housed in buildings that have been something else: old schools, churches, post offices and railroad stations (like the Cowichan Valley Museum in Duncan).
And in Highlands鈥� Caleb Pike Heritage Park, the buildings themselves are the artifacts.
All these couldn鈥檛 exist without dedicated volunteers, many of whose roots go deeply in the community. Their links to the past are personal. They might fight fiercely among themselves over how to portray the past, but they are motivated by a passion for history, not by politics.
