We don’t often blow our own horn around here, but I think we deserve to, just a little.
You see, one of the most important things we do – that any museum does – is build connections. Connections between people and their community, between people and their personal stories, even between people and themselves. And these last few weeks have been pretty powerful in that respect.
Let me give you a few examples:
Community Connections: Prior to the Second World War, there was one Japanese family living in the Creston Valley – the Kamo family of Canyon. They were forcibly relocated in 1943. Three generations of the family came in last month. We were able to help them find their grandparents’ former residence in Canyon, “introduce” them to their former neighbours, and share a couple of photos of family members that they hadn’t previously seen.
Family Connections: A woman and her son visited recently, looking for information about her grandfather. Her grandparents having been estranged, this woman, as a child, spent a lot of time with her grandmother but very little with her grandfather. As it happens, we have quite a bit of material in our collections from her grandfather – objects he had donated from his own life, objects he’d helped collect from other people to build the Museum’s collection in its early years, boxes of documents and even his own writings that he’d left behind.
Personal Connections: We do presentations in all four seniors facilities every month, working with facility staff to help residents stay active and connected. Given that many residents are dealing with some combination of mobility limitations, cognitive impairment, and social isolation, this is probably one of our most impactful and important programs. And, while we get comments all the time about how the presentation “really brought back memories,” this week, one resident took me aside to tell me something that really hit home.
“I’ve picked up a bug that has taken a lot of my memory,” she said. “I’m trying to get it back. It’s hard, but your talk really helped. I remember so much of what you showed us.”
This one elicited an entertaining story about why the name Wynndel was chosen over Duck Creek!
Believe me, when someone is standing in front of you, in tears, thanking you for helping her find their family’s roots, or get to know her grandfather, or regain her memories…well, that just makes working in a museum the absolute best job in the world.