PEMBERTON MUSEUM 29TH ANNIVERSARY

Pemberton’s oldest community project.

Powered by: Volunteerism

Statement of PurposeThe purpose of the museum at Pemberton is to collect, preserve and display artifacts which illustrate themes connected with the human history of Pemberton and district. These artifacts should have a long lasting association with the district. (Until the society has expanded and appropriate facilities for artifact storage, the museum society reserves the right to accept only those materials which can be stored and conserved (adequately).

THE BOOKTHAT STARTED IT ALL…

THE PEMBERTON PIONEER WOMEN’S COMMITTEE (W.I.) BEGAN RESEARCHING “THE BOOK” IN 1958.THEY WERE:MARGARET FOUGBERGMARY (MOLLY) RONAYNEFRANCES DECKER

THIS IS THE BOOK THAT LED TO THE CREATION OF THE MUSEUM ARCHIVES.

AND MARGARET SAID…”Slim, I have a dream… Can you help me?”

MUSEUM FOUNDERSSLIM & MARGARET FOUGBERG

AND SLIM SAID, “Margaret, I found you a museum building…it may need some work.”

Mr. Warner Oberson & family donated the first museum building

“The Shantz House”

Margaret got a grant to fix up her museum building and hired some local lads to help.

Slim said, “Margaret, I found another building for you…and it needs some work too”.

The Sam Jim house

“I found a Trapper’s cabin for you Margaret”, Slim said, “and it just needs a little work.”

John Andrews cabin

“The Barney House would make a great addition to the site,” said Slim.

A Machine shed was added, and the collection continued to expand….

And more things were donated….

And a few more…..

PEMBERTON MUSEUM OPENS – JUNE 1983

And Margaret said, “Slim, this is good…,but, I still need some help.”

Margaret said, “The office is small and the collection needs to be catalogued”. So, Margaret got a grant and started the work with the

help of an archive worker.

“We need programming on site,” Margaret said, and got another grant. The basket weaving program, with Margaret Lester, ran for many

years.

The Village of Pemberton, and Mayor Shirley Henry helped recognize the value of the museum, and a “Friends of Heritage”

Certificate from the National Parks Citizen’s Committee was awarded in 1985.

And a whole lot of other people helped whenever Slim or Margaret asked, because everyone agreed, this was a GOOD Community Project.

And then…in 1995 the museum had to move and Margaret asked Florence, “Would you like to be the

new curator?”

And Flo said, “OK”. And then she asked her husband Orville if he was busy, as she may need his help

moving the museum to the new site

Moving the Museum 1995

Moving the Museum 1995

Moving the Museum 1995

Moving the Museum 1995

Sign of the Times

George Henry built the new site a sign from a piece of wood donated by Drew Oberson.

Phyllis and the Fence

Along with the new sign, the new site required a fence. Thanks to Phyllis Chandler & John Jansen.

And Margaret & friends were happy with how the little museum was progressing

THE PRESIDENTS

MARJORE GIMSE, CARL GIMSE, PHYLLIS CHANDLER, PHILLIP PERKINS, GEORGE

HENRY

AND GEORGE SAID, “Flo, I found you an office & gift shop building and it only needs a little work”….

The Soo logging coalition said, “George, let’s build a logging display building, it will only take a little bit of work”…..

First we need some really big logs. Then we have to mill them.

Then a foundation, then the logs, then the roof….

And then, George built a stage and

Port Pemberton night happened…

And the party continued….

Flo said, “George, the parties are great but we really need an Archives building…can you find

us one”?

The Village was selling an old airport building And George said, “We’ll take it”! And Flo was very, very happy.

And George said, “So, now can we have another party?”

So we had a Quilt Show

And an annual W.I. Country Fair

Another annual tradition is the W.I. Strawberry Tea. “get your dessert before dinner”!

We’ve had a lot of Toonie teas too, now called “Tea & Tales”

And “Little Pioneers” really like the museum too

The work continues 2009

Sam Jim House gets a new roof

New machine Display & Admin

THE PRIEST’S BUGGYGeorge Henry and Margaret McLeod with the help of George Henry Sr. clean up the wagon

from top to bottom. A new box was built.

COVER BUILT FOR THE PRIEST’S BUGGYGeorge Henry with the help of George Henry Sr.

, built an attractive cover for the refurbished buggy.

The work continues

2010

Staying current

We launched our website in 2008 with help from Roy Mclean and continue to develop this important tool to ensure the Museum connects with visitors from afar.

The site continues to evolve and we are approaching build out. Once the site is complete, all of our activities and resources will focus on collection and archive

management and development and public programming. The museum is poised to be an important social asset to the community for years to come.

THE SITE - 2010

The Site, once completed, will include The Pemberton Station School and the John Arn cabin [currently at risk at the old Outdoor Mtn School site]

and these will be the last historic buildings moved to the site.

Museum Master PlanWe have started a master plan and will have this completed by 2012.

Key Museum Roles:

 •Enhance Pemberton’s growing cultural tourism sector and contribute to the ongoing success of the local community and regional economy.•Preserve Pemberton and District’s history and celebrate local culture through museum collection development and outreach activities (collection management, exhibits, programs, events).•Provide a “third place” for residents and tourists to socialize, reflect, relax and explore the past and present of Pemberton and District.

Thematic FocusThe thematic focus was developed originally by the museum founders and the first Curator, Margaret Fougberg. These themes have informed museum collection and programming activities since 1982.

Core Themes Theme C – sub-themes

THE MUSEUM COLLECTION

none 1-20 21-100 101-500 501-1000

1001-5000

Archaeology x

Arms & Armour/weapons x

Botany x

Ceramics & glass x

Ethnographic x

Geology/mineralogy/paleontology x

Historic Objects x

Metalwork/metal sculpture x

Musical Instruments x

Paintings x

Science/Technology/Medicine x

Stone Artifacts and sculpture x

Scope of Collections

none 1-20 21-100 101-500 501-1000 1001-5000 5000-10,000

Photographs x

Manuscript collection

x

Oral histories x

VHS videos x

Posters x

Postcards x

Information files x

Pamphlets x

Local newspapers x

Maps x

Scope of Archives

The description of holdings is as follows:

Inclusive Dates: 1846 to present. Pre-dominant Dates: 1914 – 1958The holdings consist of both public and private records generated by residents and organizations of Pemberton and District. Holdings include personal records of families and individuals in the community as well as the records of organizations and businesses that reflect the social, political and economic life of Pemberton and District. The collecting district is defined as those areas drained by waters entering the north end of Harrison Lake and those areas drained by waters entering Anderson Lake.References are made to surrounding areas such as: Pemberton (Aggerton, Port Pemberton), Port Douglas, 29- Mile, Poole Creek, Mt. Currie (Creekside), Birken, D’arcy, Whistler (Alta Lake), and Lillooet (Cayoosh). Skookumchuk (At. Agnes Wells, Skatin).

We receive 100+ acquisitions per year. As early as 1983, storage for objects and archives was considered a priority, just like it is today.

Pemberton and District Museum and Archives Goals 2011-2015:

1. Complete Capital Plan

2. Program Development

3. Collection Management & Development

4. Archive Management & Development

Program Plan 2010-2015:1. Oral Histories. Continue collecting oral history at Tea & Tales program and providing access to these online via the website.2. Heritage Walk. Continue to develop Heritage Walk for destination visitor experience.3. Children’s Programs. Continue to build educational programs with local schools and daycare providers to improve visitor experience.4. Arts & Cultural Programs. Continue to promote local artists in the museum gift shop, on site via partnership exhibits with Arts Council members and continue to host the Summer Music at the Museum

event.

Pemberton and District Museum and Archives Goals 2011-2015:1. Complete Capital Plan

2. Program Development

3. Collection Development

4. Archive Development

Program Plan 2010-2015:1. Oral Histories. Continue collecting oral history at Tea & Tales program and providing access to these online via the website.2. Heritage Walk. Continue to develop Heritage Walk for destination visitor experience.3. Children’s Programs. Continue to build educational programs with local schools and daycare providers to improve visitor experience.4. Arts & Cultural Programs. Continue to promote local artists in the museum gift shop, on site via partnership exhibits with Arts Council members and continue to host the Summer Music at the Museum

event.

Heritage site designation

The Museum is working with the Village in the context of the OCP: Pemberton needs to develop with community partners a Heritage Plan that will address the local and provincial context of heritage initiatives, the purpose of a heritage program, a review of local challenges related to possible heritage initiatives, goals and strategic priorities, development of a heritage inventory or registry, and planned actions and performance measures.

The Historic Structures at 7455 Prospect include:The Shantz HouseThe Barney HouseThe Sam Jim HouseThe Pacific Salmon Commission bunkhouseThe John Andrews Trapper cabin

These represnt the few remaining buildings in the District from the early 1900’s. The Shantz House is the oldest building in the Village municipal boundaries.

Professional MembershipsThe Museum has been a member of the BC Museums Association since it’s inception. We also hold memberships with the Canadian Museums Association, the BC Historical Federation and the Archives Association of B.C.

Museum Trustees and staff have attended conferences and professional workshops through the years.Our professional memberships help us in many ways: We are notified of grant opportunities, funding strategies, collection and archive management training and conferences, and our networking capacity is improved.

Our memberships demonstrate that we adhere to museum principles and practices and that we are genuinely stewarding the community memory of Pemberton and District, which supports the national mandates of the Museum and Archive associations.

We support research requests on a year round basis as public accessibility is one of the most important practices we can support.

Annual Visits

The Museum visits rise and fall in line with general tourist traffic in the District and the museum usually sees an average of 5800 visitors between April and September on an annual basis.

This equals an average of 30% percent of the tourist traffic counted by the Visitor Center at the junction of Pemberton and Highway 99.

Years of visitor increase in 2004 and 2007 were generated by increased use of the site by community members due to site rentals, programming and events. We expect this trend to continue as we approach build-out.

The Museum is powered by volunteers. We have 100+ members and see more than 1000 hours in volunteer time donated every single year. The Museum has remained a viable community project for almost 30 years!

Staff & Volunteers