Happy New Year!
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A toast to the Museum...may 2011 be filled with inspiration, lots of funding, great ideas, thought-provoking programming, and community involvement!

The holidays were nice and quiet around these parts - no office renovations or gift shop facelifts this year. Instead, we all took time to rest and rejuvenate and we're back at work feeling fresh and energized. Good thing because we're starting the year off with a bang!

Saturday, January 15th, we will be screening the film "Around Cape Horn". It is a 37 minute DVD documentary of a voyage taken by the commercial sailing vessel, the Peking. The black and white footage was taken in 1929, with narration done in 1980 by Captain Irving Johnson, one of the deckhands that was on board as the ship rounded Cape Horn during a storm. Quite spectacular!

The event will take place in the Museum at 2:00 so be sure to come a bit early to settle in. Call 886-8232 for more information.

Holiday Closure

The Museum and Archives will be closed for the holidays from December 19 to January 3.  We look forward to bringing you fresh exhibits and exciting events in the New Year.  Happy Holidays!

A wintry scene on the Granthams Landing Wharf  in the 1930s (subjects unknown). SCMA photo #3620

Sunshine Coast Day of Listening a Great Success!

On Saturday November 27th, the SCMA in collaboration with Christenson Village hosted a Day of Listening, a chance for participants to interview someone special in their lives and have the conversation recorded with professional audio equipment. The event was a resounding success - all of the time slots were booked up in advance and the participants raved about their experience.


As the participants arrived, they were treated to the hospitality of the organizers who had created a cozy environment in the museum’s library for the interviews to take place. Once the tape was rolling, the participants told stories and shared memories as their conversations were recorded by a make-shift recording studio set up outside the room. The 40-minute sessions were over in a heartbeat and many of the participants commented that they were just getting started, obviously enjoying the atmosphere and conversation! After the session was over, the organizers burned a copy of the interview onto CD so the participants could take a copy home to share with others or keep for the future. All in all, it was a wonderful day and a great way to kick-off a series of events to honour the act of listening and preserve the stories of the Sunshine Coast residents.


Due to the success of the event, another Day of Listening is planned for the new year, so keep posted to our website or call the SCMA if you have any questions at 604.886.8232

Rob interviewing Bertha.

Fabulous Bruce Devereux

Activities Coordinator at Christenson Village

A Piece of Gibsons goes to Poland

We receive visitors to our Museum & Archives from all over the world, but not all of our visitors come through the building’s front door. Our website and blog help us to reach people that may not have the opportunity to visit us in person.

We recently had a pleasant exchange with Mr. Dominik Sasim, a private collector from Warsaw, Poland. Mr. Sasim collects museum tickets and lapel pins, and he happened to contact us to inquire about acquiring items to add to his collection. We happily sent Mr. Sasim a Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives rack card and a Town of Gibsons lapel pin, in exchanged we asked him to share a bit about himself and his collection. He wrote,

I have been collecting lapel pins and badges from museums all over the world for over two years now.

My hobby has begun with the collection of post stamps together with my father. Later I switched to badges and lapel pins from various museums.

See Gibsons'  Molly's Reach - 2nd row down, 2nd pin from the right.

Now, after nearly two year of collecting I have managed to gather over 600 of them, out of which 300 are of foreign origin. My collection expands mainly thanks to exchange with other collectors as well as via internet auctions. My friends and colleagues also remember of my hobby and often bring these small souvenirs  for me from their domestic or international voyages. Additionally I often visit museums myself in search of new gadgets for my collection. With some of them I maintain contact relation. Sunshine Coast Museum & Archives has recently made me a great surprise: they have sent me beautiful lapel pin for my collection!

The oldest and most valuable exhibit in my collection is the badge from the already nonexistent Mausoleum of Zwirko and Wigura in Cierlicko that dates back in 1935. I also posses rare exhibits from most remote locations in the world, like for example the ones from Dorothy G.Page Museum in Wasilla, Alaska, or from the Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum in Japan. My favourite badge is the one form the Juna Museum of Earth from Szklarska Poreba as well as the badge representing   Bluenose II Lunenburg schooner from the  Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in New Scotland.

This is in fact only a start of a collection which I intend to systematically develop and expand with new exhibits!

Museums & Archives are wonderful places for sharing histories, stories, and interests. We are fortunate to be able to be part of people’s lives, including those that live on the other side of the world.

A Day of Listening

Your chance to interview someone special in your life
And have their stories recorded for the future…

Date: Saturday, November 27th

Time: 1 hour sessions - from 9 am to 3 pm

Where: SCMA– 716 Winn Road, Gibsons

Contact: Call the Museum at 604-886-8232 to book a time

 
Is there someone in your life whose stories have always amazed, intrigued or inspired you? On Saturday November 27th, the SCMA in collaboration with Christensen Village would like to invite you to a Day of Listening, your chance to record a conversation with someone special in your life. You choose the person to interview and the questions you would like to ask them, and we will provide a private location at the museum for your conversation to be recorded with professional audio equipment. The question and topics that you speak about are up to you: there is no right or wrong answers and it is important to keep in mind that this is an informal process. Picture a kitchen table conversation with that person whose stories make you laugh, learn or capture your heart and imagination. Afterwards, we will burn a CD with your recorded conversation on it (or transfer it to a USB memory stick-user provided) for you to take home and share or to keep for the future. Do you have someone in mind but can’t find the right questions? Check out the Story Corps website to get started at http://storycorps.org/record-your-story/question-generator/list/.



It is the act of listening that honours another person and it is our goal to help capture the stories that are important to your life and help preserve them for the future. To pre-book a one-hour time slot, please call the SCMA at (604) 886-8232. Book soon as there are only 6 slots available and they will fill up fast.