April 2010 Update

ANSM Spring Conference - April 22-24

As you’ve all heard, the ANSM conference took a very unexpected turn with the passing of our friend and colleague, Ned MacDonald.  While everyone at the conference found it difficult to continue on, we felt that it was important to do so.  After cancelling the next scheduled session and giving everyone a long break to compose their thoughts, we resumed the proceedings.  Thank you to everyone in attendance for your care and sensitivity.  Thank you also to everyone who has left comments on Ned’s memorial blog post.  The posting will be forwarded to Ned’s family along with photos taken of him at the conference.  We hope that this will be of some comfort to them during this very difficult time.

As someone said to me at the end of the conference, “all things considered, this was a very good conference”.  The keynote address by Dr. Brad King was very interesting, and reviews of the heritage strategy response, best practices in community partnerships, and adopting a heritage building sessions were all very positive.  Since I was working at this event, my notes are not as extensive as they usually are for these events, but they will be posted on the blog over the coming days.  I’ll also be including a few photos so people not in attendance will be able to see what they missed.

Thank you to our Dalhousie University MLIS Records Management intern Colleen for taking notes at the best practices and architecture talks. 

ANSM Website – Resources Section

Remember to check out the ANSM website as the resources section is slowly being built up.  The long-awaited collections management documentation package will be available in the coming weeks.  Any ideas on other helpful resources can be sent to me and I’ll do my best to accommodate them.

New Site

Last month you heard about the Mount Hanley Schoolhouse Museum joining our IT/CM group.  This month I have another museum to tell you about.  The Wedgeport Sport Tuna Fishing Museum and Interpretive Centre is located along Highway 334 in Lower Wedgeport, just outside of Yarmouth.  Opened in 1996, the museum is home to a touch tank, café, C@P site, and gift shop.  Every year Wedgeport hosts an International Tuna Cup Match, which means that the museum’s collection includes archival images of the tournaments (dating back to the first one in 1935), souvenirs from international teams, a variety of trophies and prizes, as well as material relating to the Acadian community of Wedgeport.  If you’ve never visited this part of the province, it’s well worth the trip. 

Regional Meetings / Equipment Delivery

It’s been great to see everyone at the regional meetings.  On April 10^th I was at the Iona Connection meeting in St. Peter’s, Cape Breton.  The group held their annual general meeting, and voted to change the name of the organization to the Heritage Cape Breton Connection Cooperative Limited.  This is the 25^th anniversary of the organization, and they will be celebrating through a variety of events over the coming months.  Check out their website for more information.

The Southwest Curator’s Group met in Liverpool at the Queens County Museum on April 16^th.  After discussing updates from ANSM and CNSA, the group decided to tackle the heritage strategy response draft that was up for discussion at the conference.  Since many of the group were unable to attend, they spent a fair bit of time talking about it and provided some very valuable input.  For anyone who hasn’t sent his document, it is available on the ANSM website.  Feedback can be sent to Anita Price, ANSM’s Managing Director.

Due to a scheduling conflict I am not able to attend the Cumberland County Heritage Network meeting on May 1^st, but will be at the Central meeting in Dartmouth on May 7^th.  If you’re in the central region and asked for a webcam, I will have those with me.

For anyone in the Northeast region (New Brunswick border across to Canso, down the eastern shore and back to Truro), Dayle Crouse and Darrell Burke have expressed a desire to resurrect the old Northeast regional network.  Dayle is willing to host the first meeting at the Hector Exhibit Centre in Pictou, and is looking for feedback on who wants to get involved and what their availability is for meetings.  ANSM fully supports this initiative, as we are witnesses to successes of the other regional groups.  They have joined forces on local advocacy issues, submitted funding proposals and completed special projects as a group.  The timing is especially pertinent as the Northeast will be hosting next year’s ANSM spring conference.  If you would like to learn more about this, please contact Dayle.

Blog Polls

I decided to leave the online marketing blog poll for another month or so since we only ended up with 13 responses.  If you’ve already voted, thanks for your input.  If you haven’t voted, please let me know how you’re marketing the museum online.  I will be factoring this information into the Internet Marketing Report & Recommendations that I’ll be working on over the coming months.

Archives Blog Posts

Just a reminder that if you ever want to check out older posts, you can access them on the right-hand side through the blog archives.