Mr. Young and the War of 1812 Overload

At the Military Museum, it's no secret that this year, we will be changing the entire museum into a totally new exhibition all about the War of 1812. In case you haven't heard, it is the Bi-Centennial of the War of 1812 (most of which was actually in 1813/1814). But if you live in Canada, of COURSE you knew that. Commemorations of the War of 1812 have been happening all over Ontario lately. 

One day, I was talking to a family visiting the museum, and I was explaining the changes coming in the near future - as soon as I said "War of 1812," they all burst out laughing! I was super confused and it probably showed on my face, so the Mom explained what was so funny: 

On YTV (aka - THE Canadian kid's TV channel, which I watched exclusively as a kid), there is a sitcom-y type of show called "Mr. Young". It is about this very smart kid who breezed through school, finished university and teacher's college at an early age, and begins teaching at a high school when he is the same age as the students. Him and his zany exploits. Anyways, I guess there is a running joke in this Canadian-made show about this one, very old, very crotchety history teacher, Ms. Byrne, who only teaches one thing: the War of 1812. There is nothing before, there is nothing after - 1812 is everything. 




It's actually a pretty funny concept, considering how much attention the War of 1812 has been getting lately!

Camp Day 2013

For the last three years now at the Steam Museum, we've been running a summer event called "Free Camp Day" - it's a special day where we invite kids from subsidized day camps in Hamilton to come and enjoy a full day of fun stuff: free lunch, free transportation, relay races, art activities, train rides, puppet shows, snacks, and of course, museum tours!

This is all made possible by donations from people and companies in the community, and this year I got to organize the event. It ended up being a lot of fun, despite being the hottest day of the year so far (35 degrees!) 

We beat the heat with lots of cool water (which the kids got to drink from fancy reusable bottles, c/o Hamilton Water), freezies, and this cool new contraption, built by our resident grand wizard of making things, Nancy!

We haven't really come up with a name for it yet....so for now we'll just call it the PVC pipe sprinkler waterfall run-through thingy. I found the idea on Pinterest, which came from Instructables.com, and Nancy used her magic ways to make it happen. Everyone loved running through the water to cool down.

instructables.com

There were lots of other excellent activities too, including a Puppet Show also sponsored by Hamilton Water/Waste Water:

Puppet show sponsored by the Water Treatment Plant will obviously have lots of poop jokes

Train rides from the Golden Horseshoe Live Steamers:

Fun activities hosted by staff from Battlefield House Museum and Park, and Westfield Heritage Village: 

A delicious, halal-hotdog lunch, cooked up by the lovely ladies of CUPE Local 5167:

Chalk and bubbles just for kicks:

A "Trip of the Drip" relay race:

(more poop jokes here) 

And a quick tour of the Museum!

Julia explaining how Steam Engines work 

Really, really, a fun day - I hope for all the kids, as well as for me. Thanks to all of our awesome sponsors and partners, and to Caillin Kowalczyk who took all these lovely pictures! 

Seen and Heard

Little boy to mom, walking into the museum:
"It this a McDonalds?!" 

...

...we DO have the arches...

Overheard this past Sunday during Golden Horseshoe Live Steamer Day at the museum.

Screaming for Sanitation!

Yesterday at the Military Museum:

Adorable little girl to Grandma: "Gotta go bathroom!"

Grandma: "OK, you're a big girl, go on in, you can go by yourself!"

...


(goes in.)

....


Little girl, inside bathroom: "GRANDMA!!!! GRAAAAANDDDD--MAAAAAAA!!!!"

Grandma: "WHAT?! WHAT'S WRONG!?"

Little girl: "THEY HAVE PINK SOAP!!!!"

Grandma:

For the record, we do indeed have fabulous pink soap.

A Little Bit About the Erland Lee Museum

The Erland Lee Museum in Stoney Creek has had a tumultuous few years. At the end of 2010, the governing body of Women’s Institute members decided to close down the museum, with very little public notice, citing financial and structural problems. There was no official plan to do anything about it, until a dedicated group of volunteers came together and demanded action. They called themselves the Friends of the Lee, and with community support they have spent the last 2 years tirelessly working to get approvals, get funding, and get things done so the museum can once again be opened to the public.

This museum is in a fabulous location on Ridge Road; designated a National Historic Site, it was where very first Women’s Institute was created (yes, it started in Canada before going over to the UK!) The museum is housed in the Gothic Revival home of the Lee family, overlooking the entire south shore of Lake Ontario from the Niagara Escarpment. Inside the home is set up to reflect the 1890’s time period when the WI originally was thought up at the Lee’s dining room table.

Due to the dedication of these volunteers, many of which are in their golden years of life, the Erland Lee Museum re-opened this past May. I’ll be helping out by teaching volunteers what I learned during my 4 summers as an interpreter at the site, and I'm super excited that the museum doors are open again. 

FISHIES!

At the Steam Museum, we have ventured into the realm of live exhibits. This Summer, we are installing our new and improved water-themed exhibition, Slippery When Wet. It's a fun, interactive exhibit all about the wonderful ways we, and other creatures, use water to live.

While learning a bit about wise water use and ecosystems,  kids (and curious adults too, of course) can try one of the many interactive activities - giant game of snakes and ladders perhaps? Or maybe try pumping water with a Waterloo Pump, or discovering how a toilet works? All sorts of fun things in store. Including a gigantic outhouse.  

A waterloo pump

The reading nook 

Giant outhouse

But, this time around we've got something extra special - two live water ecosystems to observe. The first has little darting silvery fish and live plants, and the second has slow, slimy snails.

Live ecosystems! 

Does this make us a zoo, then? I remember a while back, the ROM hosted it's own WATER exhibition, and the most memorable part was their live collection of fish, crustaceans, and (most fascinating/disturbing of all) a tank full of blood-sucking lampreys. I have to say I'm glad we will NOT be having any lampreys.

I have tentatively named the fish we DO have Inky, Blinky, and Stinky - but it's pretty hard to remember who is who. The snails are all nameless; perhaps we should have a voting area to determine their names, or a visitor suggestion box?

The exhibit officially opens June 21, 2013.

Pop-Up Exhibit

In the office at the Museum of Steam and Technology, someone has posted a comic from the funny pages:

And it's funny because it is true. Most museums I have worked at have gigantic collections that have been amassed over many years (and many different collections policies), but only a small percent is actually on display.

This is the case with Steam. Not seen by the public is a huge collection of material culture from Hamilton's industrial and manufacturing history. A giant steam roller (badly rusted out); a wooden canoe; a Westinghouse fridge from the 50's; an ammonia compressor; among other big, (occasionally rusty) treasures. 

This past week, we got a call from the elderly donor of one such item. 

The artefact in question was a massive, solid wood, hand-crafted bedroom set. Yes, we know. An odd thing to have in a museum about water-pumping steam engines. But part of our mandate is to interpret the manufacturing history of the city, and it just so happens that this furniture set is a rare surviving example of one made by the Malcolm and Souter Furniture Company of Hamilton, founded c. 1885

Although it is a very nice set, I don't think it has ever actually been on display. 

This donor still felt a very strong connection to the pieces she gave to the museum, and expressed her great hope that one day the bedroom set would be exhibited, because she really wanted her family to see it. 

Not wanting to disappoint her, on Friday the curator, assistant curator, and I took it upon ourselves to bring the bed out of storage, put it back together (it was stored in several pieces to save space), and display it for one exclusive week in the back of the Woodshed building so the donor and her family could come and admire it on the weekend. 

Deb even had a brass plaque made up recognizing the donors 

Not a bad little exhibit by any means! We really hope the donor and her family will be pleased with our effort to give her treasure the attention it deserves.

**UPDATE**

They were. Apparently there were some tears. :*-)