Galt Museum awarded for capturing the stories behind the collection

By Tim Kalinowski on May 18, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDtkalinowski@lethbridgeherald.com

The Galt Museum and Archives has won the prestigious Canadian Museum Association award for Excellence in Stewardship of Collections by going above and beyond to capture the human story and history behind every object in its collection.
“Most people would think it would be about our care for the physical objects themselves,” states Kevin Maclean, Galt Museum collections technician, “but, in fact, it is about our stewardship of the intelligible qualities around objects. That’s the things you cannot smell, see or touch. We realized many years ago is what makes things distinctive isn’t the physical form or the object itself, but its connections to specific people. And those people’s and the objects’ connections back to place (in southern Alberta). That is what makes it unique and distinctive is the folks themselves.”
To this end, says Maclean, the museum has made a conscious effort for most of the last decade to interview the donors of the objects at the time they bring them in to capture why the object is so important to them, how the object was used, and the entire context of the object in the donor’s life history. This is recorded in an interview and transcribed into written form by local volunteers which is then placed in the museum’s permanent database and searchable online data collection to aid researchers, historians or those with an interest in these types of objects.
At the end of the day, says Maclean, it is not the objects themselves which are irreplaceable– it’s the stories behind the objects which are most apt to be lost in the passage of years.
“The other thing we realized is people are fragile,” explains Maclean; “so even if we are in receipt of the object, if we don’t spend time with (the donor) right then and there, we risk losing them in a week, a month, or in five years. So we engage with them on the spot.”
It is the Galt Museum and Archives’ dedication to understanding the context of every object in its collection which gets the praise and attention of the Canadian Museum Association, says the CMA’s chair of its Awards and Membership Committee, Benoît Légaré.
“This award is presented to Galt Museum and Archives for their remarkable undertaking in capturing the oral histories behind their acquisitions,” he states. “Their approach allows for unique and human stories to be told about each item in their collections, giving them new life and personality. The Galt and their wonderful team of staff and volunteers have been implementing this practice for over a decade to help sustain a living memory of their collections and of Lethbridge as a whole.”

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