The year is flying by...

April already! A quarter of 2010 has flown by and we here at the museum are having a hard time believing it. This sort of thing happens when you're busy, I guess, and we've been busy.

We had a very successful Antiques Roadshow on March 20th. Thanks to all of you who came out and supported the museum by having your treasures appraised. Hopefully there were lots of pleasant surprises - I did notice that there was a fellow on the front of The Local last week who'd had a painting valued in the tens of thousands. Amazing - and just think, it could be you next year!

In museum news, our Manager/Curator, Kimiko Hawkes, has just completed a course on the theory and practice of oral history, which was offered by the Archives Association of British Columbia. This is a great thing for the museum, as we have an enormous collection of oral history interviews that are in need of - well - they have various needs. Some cassette tapes need to be digitized. Some audio recordings need to be transcribed. Some transcripts need to be indexed. All of the records need to be properly catalogued. On top of that, we need to get out and interview people! There are countless people here who've lived long lives on the Sunshine Coast, and who have stories that ought to be recorded. Now that Kimiko has received training in this area, the museum is ready - almost - to get serious about the work of improving our oral history collection.

But we can't do it without volunteer support. Over the past few years, we've had a few dedicated volunteers help us with transcribing interviews and re-typing old interview transcripts that weren't preserved digitally. Hats off to them! Well, now we're looking to assemble a list of volunteers that can help out with:

-Transcription (must be able to type quickly and be able to spell competently)

-Interviewing (must enjoy talking and be willing to attend training - experience appreciated!)

-Other jobs (there will definitely be other jobs)

We'll also be looking for tips on who to interview. Do you know somebody who's been around the Sunshine Coast for a long time, and who remembers it as it used to be? Do you know anyone whose story ought to be told? Let us know. If you know anyone like this, or you're interested in joining our volunteer roster, contact Kimiko at scma_manager(at)dccnet(dot)com. (Substitute an @ sign for the (at) and a period for the (dot) - putting an email address out on the internet is an open invitation for junk mail!)

Thanks for reading! Drop by the museum sometime!