This past year, one of our 60th Anniversary projects was to obtain new, Canadian-made, conservation-grade exhibit cases. We have been thrilled with the results. These cases, installed in late October, will allow us to project and celebrate our rich, Chilliwack-focused artifact collection, for the next generation, at least. Thanks to everyone who made this dream a reality!
If you haven’t yet stopped in to the Museum to check it out – come and experience it for yourself!
Completing that project, however, yielded a new one.
What would we do with our existing casework? We definitely did not have room to keep it on site in the Museum! Over the decades, we had ourselves benefited from the generosity of other Museums, which had “cascaded” some of their old exhibit cases down to us. In addition, in past years we had a few cases produced locally for us, which were totally functional, and still had great lifespan in them.
We asked around, as we are in contact with other Museums and cultural organizations here in the Fraser Valley. Thankfully, three organizations let us know that they could put the cases to good use!
- Trethewey House Heritage Site, Abbotsford
- CFB Chilliwack Historical Society
- Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre
Threthewey House Heritage Site’s Executive Director, Christina Reid, gave us an update:
Cases recently provided to Trethewey House Heritage Site in Abbotsford are being painted for their new format.
“Right now, we’re in the process of re-painting the cases. Once they’re done, we will fill them with artifacts to go in our new Legacies on the Lake exhibit. The larger case will hold our temporary exhibits, which will centre on individuals who worked at the Trethewey’s lumber mill. The new-to-us cases enable us to show more of our collection, and thus tell more of Abbotsford’s story.”
At the Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre, the experience was similar. Our Curator, Adrienne Rempel worked with their Director, Dr. Dave Schaepe and their Education Coordinator Amber Kostuchenko, providing them with some of our older casework. It looks tremendous in their newly renovated Shxwt’a:selhawtxw (“House of Long Ago and Today”) Interpretive Centre.
Cases in the newly renovated Shxwt’a:selhawtxw (“House of Long Ago and Today”) Interpretive Centre.
Dave mentioned how the “donation of the large display cases from the Chilliwack Museum were a much appreciated, very useful and timely addition to our newly renovated Shxwt’a:selhawtxw (“House of Long Ago and Today”) Interpretive Centre. These cases allowed us to bring out and display more cultural items from our Stó:lō Resource Centre Repository, expanding the scope of our cultural education program. The donated cabinets provide more opportunity to display delicate items like handmade Coast Salish baskets and textiles. It is of great value to bring these items to the attention of our visitors and use within our programs.”
Cases in the newly renovated Shxwt’a:selhawtxw (“House of Long Ago and Today”) Interpretive Centre.
A couple of the other cases are remaining with us, to be used for our own Education and Engagement programs, as well as smaller-scale exhibits located in our Archives location at Evergreen Hall. The rest of our former cases have been donated to the CFB Chilliwack Historical Society, and are already making a major difference in their presentation galleries, which are located on Hocking Avenue in Chilliwack. Stay tuned for that story!
At the Chilliwack Museum and Archives, we’re glad that we could “pay it forward!”
In the meantime, come by the Museum to see our refreshed galleries, and why not plan an excursion to visit these other great local places, and experience what they have to offer!
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