Summer is always a busy time at the Sooke Region Museum.
Over the past four months, five students have played a crucial role in our ongoing projects at the museum and visitor centre.
Two of the five students are hired as part of the collections and exhibits team. With their invaluable help, the museum staff can complete many projects beyond its regular capacity. Our collections and exhibits students worked primarily on the textile collection and a display for the Sooke Fall Fair this September.
The museum’s textile collection comprises of more than 2,000 objects from as far back as the late 1800s. It features wedding dresses, hats, uniforms, and, let’s not forget, hundreds of doilies.
The textile collection was stored upstairs in the service building and needed to be moved down two floors to join the rest of the artifact collection.
The students came across lots of interesting items; among these were eight samples of the original wallpaper from Moss Cottage. We know the samples were taken from each room in Moss Cottage in 1977 before the structure was dismantled, moved to the museum and reconstructed. We suspect it to be the original wallpaper that was put up in the 1890s, offering a glimpse into that time period.
You can meet these dedicated and inspired students at the Sooke Fall Fair on Sept. 7 and 8. With the theme of Water Is Life, we will have a display on water technology in the region.
When we were invited to participate in the fall fair, we wanted to show how to learn from our past to inform our future. We will explore how water technology has evolved in our region.
Featured in the display are moisture sticks. This simple yet effective method of measuring how dry the forest environment is can assist in predicting the severity of our fire seasons. Moisture sticks are made from ponderosa pine and weigh precisely 100 grams. They are left out in the forest for 24 hours. If the sticks are heavier, there is moisture in the air. If the sticks come out lighter, the surrounding environment is dry, and the fire risk is high.
As another productive summer at the Sooke Region Museum comes to a close, we want to gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Young Canada Works program from the Government of Canada. Thank you to the students for sharing their knowledge, energy, and passion for local heritage at the museum all summer long.
The textile project is an example of important behind the scenes work that ensures artifacts and stories are preserved and can be enjoyed by the community for many years, while the water technology display allows us to engage with the community.
Emma Wilton is the collections and exhibits manager for Sooke Region Museum. Email musasst@sookeregionmuseum.com.
