Recycling

Once upon a time a Swedish girl went with her father-in-law to a concert in Vancouver. He had been so kind as to purchase the tickets for said show as a birthday present for her, just because he had heard that she loved to play the fiddle. Completely disinterested in fiddle music himself, he none the less ever so kindly engaged in a conversation with her about fiddles and confessed to her that he had a "piece of junk" under his bead in the apartment, something that came from some great grandparent. The Swedish girl, who, despite the blonde hair, is not as dumb as she looks, put two and two together along the lines of "great grandparent when there is Norwegian in the family + fiddle = possible Hardanger fiddle". Several hours later, after the concert and a drive to White Rock plus elevator ride up to dad's apartment, she was able to confirm that yes, it was an 8 string Hardanger, complete with carved dragon head, scrimshaw decoration all over, except for the parts that were inlaid with mother-of-pearl. I'm just telling you that story because again I want you to realize that what may seem to be junk to you, may not be junk to me. To that end, I'm also re-posting something from British Columbia Historical Federation's Newsletter (ISSN print 1710-1433), just because it's such a god article and because it most definitively applies to the MSA Museum. Pretty please with a cherry on top read this and think hard about what you may have in your closet (or, as it were, under your bed)! Other BCHF newsletters and such can be found at their web site, http://www.bchistory.ca/.

It’s time to share those hidden treasures

Every closet has a box, every basement has a trunk, every

garage has a container and many contain bits of history in

photographs, collectibles, invoices, programs, etc. This is a good

time to relax and reminisce and to share some of this history with

your local museum or archives.

Many of the local museums and archives were established in the

1950's - 1960's and often have periods of time with little history,

pictures, etc. One of our new Associate members was sharing

with me her childhood when she lived in Richmond and

mentioned her grandparents operated a general store. In

checking with the Archives, they advised they had nothing on the

general store. Our new member is sharing pictures, bits of history

and memories with the archives. Another BCHFmember is a garage

sale addict and recently arranged a donation from an owner of five

1914 leather bound volumes of BRITISH COLUMBIA FROM THE

EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT by Scholefield and Howay

PLUS three BIOGRAPHICAL volumes of this series. We are

Presently researching them for information for articles, etc. and will

be donating them to libraries for research purposes.

I came across three boxes of service club memorabilia - I was a

Charter Member of the Richmond Kinsmen Club in 1959. The

boxes contain the Charter Group photograph, pictures of events,

parades, etc. that are now 40 to 50 years old! The Richmond

Archives advised they have nothing on the Richmond Kinsmen

Club and were thrilled that this missing part of Richmond’s history

will soon be filled.

When you look at your old photographs of buildings, events,

parades, etc. they could be of great interest to your local museum

or archives, so talk to them about it. Old street pictures from the

1920's or 1930's often show merchants’ store signs, invoices from

local businesses no longer operating are local history. If you wish

to keep the originals, the Museum/Archives can take copies that

are often better than the originals and you can retain the originals.

When checking through your boxes of forgotten memories, share

with us any unexpected item or special parts of history you have

shared with your local museum or archives.

In the Chinese Zodiac, this is the year of the Rabbit, so this is a

good time to HOP TO IT and start checking out your closet, attic,

basement, etc.

Ron Hyde, Editor