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. :*-) 

Drill Sergeants in Dresses

This week is the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Stoney Creek! Like, to the day!

To catch you up: 200 years ago, there was a war going on between the British and Americans, known as the War of 1812. There were several reasons why it started. Most notably, the British navy was still bossing around the American navy, even after the US gained their independence in the Revolutionary War; and the Americans wanted to control all of North America (incl. Canada), and the British didn't like that idea. The Native Americans, who were allied to the British through trade, DEFINITELY didn't like that idea.

The battles largely took place on Canadian soil, and one of the crucial ones, the Battle of Stoney Creek, took place where I live and work. In 1813, the American army were camped at the Gage farm in Stoney Creek, Ontario, waiting for a chance to invade further into Canada. The British army, camped at what is now Dundurn Castle, initiated a sneak attack on the Americans in the early hours of June 6. They were badly outnumbered, but the shock of surprise and the illusion of a larger British force thanks to smart leadership by John Harvey led to a British win.

Battlefield House museum sits on the site of the Battle of Stoney Creek, in the Gage house where the Americans were camped. This weekend, they have a huge re-enactment, with merchants, children's activities, fireworks, cannons, old-timey food, British, Native, and American encampments, etc. etc. Fun stuff.

Yesterday was the day for school groups to come and see the transformed park. As employees at other civic museums in Hamilton, staff from Dundurn and the Military Museum led a mock-battle activity for the 2000-odd visiting students. This involved a cannon demonstration (with real gunpowder, but without a cannonball), and large-scale broom drill battles.

To fit in with the reenactors, we came dressed in historic costume, of course - so the majority of our commanding officers were dressed like proper new world Edwardian ladies (we had a few gentlemen as well). And our job was to scream (in good fun) at children about how to form lines, fire and load their muskets (brooms) in an orderly fashion.

It was a brutally hot day, but I think generally everyone had fun. For me, this was the first time I got to wear my 1812 costume (a dark red, empire-waist dress), so I was pretty excited to run around in my skirts being all hard-boiled drill sergeant-y.

Don't be deceived by the dress; I'll make you do push ups

Shortbread by the Slab

When visitors go on a tour of Dundurn Castle, they'll usually be treated with cookies, fruits and veggies from the castle garden, pickles, jams, breads, etc. etc. All sorts of yummy things made from traditional recipes in our historic kitchen.

One of the many perks of actually working on site is that sometimes, the crazy old stove doesn't behave, and lightly scorches a big batch of shortbread - this means that instead of being served to the public, it is plopped on a plate in the staff room.

Imagine a thick, golden, crumbly slab of shortbread, the size of a large baking pan. Drool. Seriously, even slightly burnt, Dundurn shortbread is the best I've ever tasted. Scarfed it before I could take pictures, sorry.

Butts on the Ground!

Today at the Military Museum, we had a school program with students in Grades 1, 2, and 3 - and because the weather is now sunny and warm, we were finally able to run an outdoor activity as part of our programming: Practising 1812 military drills, using a kid-size corn broom in place of a musket! (We call them 'Broom Drills')

This is actually something that was done in Canadian schools in the 1800's - should the military require your help in an emergency, all students would practice the basic procedures for loading and firing a musket, using brooms as stand-ins for real guns.

This was my first time running Broom Drills, and I was pretty excited. For the most part, my group was very good at listening and responding to my commands of "SHOULDER - ARMS!" "MAKE - READY!" and "COMPANY - FIRE!," amongst other orders. 

But the highlight was definitely the phrase I used to describe the proper resting position, to the command "ORDER - ARMS!" This command asks soldiers to place their muskets vertically, with the base resting on the ground beside their right foot. At first, 'ORDER - ARMS' was a little too confusing for these young kids. Now, the real name the base of the musket is called the 'butt' (one of several cheekily-named musket parts - we've already discussed the "Cocking mechanism"), so I started following up the ORDER ARMS command with "Butts on the ground! Butts on the ground!"  

This became the catch-phrase of the day. Even when we were done the Broom Drills, the kids kept repeating "Butts on the Ground!" to their friends. My apologies to their teachers who may be hearing this phrase the entire bus ride back to school.   

  

Children's Water Festival

The Children's Water Festival happens once a year down at Pier 4 Park in Hamilton, and us staff from the Steam & Technology Museum participated this year by offering free educational water-themed activities for hundreds of kids. Possibly thousands. It was crazy, non-stop action. Crazy. Non-stop. Action. But fun. 

I had no idea how huge this event was until I actually got to go participate this past Thursday - there were dozens of other organizations - rowing clubs, Royal Botanical Gardens, Hamilton Water/Waste Water division team, EcoHouse, etc. etc. who came out to provide activity stations for the busloads of Grade 4's visiting throughout the week.  

The Steam Museum activity was two-fold: learning about the history of the Hamilton Waterworks and the importance of testing and filtering our drinking water; and then participating in a relay race called "The Trip of the Drip:" kids pretend they are a drop of water starting in Lake Ontario, and by crawling through pipes, pumping water, and jumping off the 'reservoir,' the drops eventually get to your facilities at home. Kids celebrate their successful water system travels by popping up through an oversized toilet and yelling "FLUSH!!" at the top of their lungs. Good, silly fun.  

I think our station probably was the loudest, with so many kids yelling and giggling as their friends rush through the relay. All of the groups of kids, their teachers and helpers, were happy and excited to learn and try new things at this event. I had three wonderful volunteer helpers on Thursday, and honestly running our activities wouldn't have been possible without them. 

By the end of the day, I'm pretty sure everyone on site had lost their voices - myself included. But it was worth it for a fun, beautiful, educational day learning about the importance of water! Added bonus: everyone now has a snazzy new t-shirt and reusable water bottle! 

Swag

Rock and Roll Zombie

Yesterday at the Military Museum, we had a Rock and Roll Zombie come through our doors. I regret that I didn’t get his autograph…

(It was ‘dress-up-as-a-character day’ at one little boy’s school, and he wanted to be the Rock and Roll Zombie from his favourite show, Scooby Doo.)

During their visit, he and his family also tried on our military uniforms - it may be the first time in history that anyone has ever dressed up as a rock and roll zombie British soldier from 1812.   

*Update* The same week, we also had a young Princess visit us at the Military Museum and Dundurn Castle. She came in full Princess regalia; she was going to a castle after all. I think she and her Mom enjoyed becoming warrior Princesses when trying on our shakos.  

These Things Happen

Stuff happens sometimes at a museum. Stuff like being infiltrated by birds crashing through windows.  This morning at the Steam Museum, we made the unfortunate discovery that some kind of bird of prey – a hawk or falcon – had crashed through a window pane in the Pumphouse. The bird unfortunately did not survive, however, staff were very quick to address the problem and new glass has already been ordered.

But that’s not the weirdest part. In the morning, it was the hawk. In the afternoon just before closing, it was a blackbird. That’s right – we had not one, but TWO bird-related issues this day. As we closed up the Woodshed for the evening, I found that a blackbird had somehow flew inside the building.

Could this beautiful weather be making our birds act a little crazy?  

Staff Field Trip

Every few months, we have a staff meeting at the Museum of Steam and Technology. I realize this sounds boring - but our staff meetings are actually just big potlucks, where we happen to discuss museum business.

Not an exaggeration

But in April, we upped the fun factor of our staff meeting, and went on a field trip. First stop was to Taylor's Tea Room in Dundas, where we had some lovely tea and scones and discussed museum things. Second stop was to visit the old Gartshore Foundry on Hatt Street.

The 1859 walking-beam steam engines at the Museum of Steam and Technology were built in this building in Dundas, which originally housed the iron and brass foundry of one John Gartshore. The building changed hands many times since, and currently has a few new offices for rent inside; but the original workshop area is vacant.

Through her other job with the local theatre, one of our historical interpreters made the connection with the current owners, who graciously took us on a tour of the buildings where our beloved engines were born. 

Usually we receive groups for field trips; this time, it was really fun (and educational!) to be the ones actually going on the field trip!

I definitely did not make Joe and Nancy pretend to be reading something really interesting for this picture. 

Good Question!

'Good Question!' is a recurring feature post about an interesting question or comment that has been made at one of the museums I work at. This question was about a strange story alluded to in a War of 1812 display.  

At the Hamilton Military Museum, we have a display case containing the cutlass belonging to Major General Phineas Riall – who was one of the British leaders during in the Battle of Lundy’s Lane, 1813. 

To give some very limited context, the Battle of Lundy’s Lane (near present day Niagara Falls, Canada) was a fight between the British/Canadians and the Americans in June 1813. It goes down in history as the bloodiest battle on Canadian soil during the War of 1812. 

There was no clear ‘winner’; both sides experienced crippling losses, and the battlefield was chaos. Initially, the Americans seemed to out-manouver the British, and were able to capture some British officers. But at the end of the long night, the Americans were out of supplies and despite some strategic advantages decided to retreat back across the Niagara River into the United States. 

The text panel for the cutlass talks about what happened to Phineas Riall during this battle; let's call him Phineas, because that is an excellent name. Unfortunately for him, he was one of those British officers captured by the American Major Thomas Jesup. The story that follows is admittedly odd: the cutlass on display was given by Phineas to his captor, Thomas, and Thomas used the cutlass for the remainder of the War of 1812 before giving it back to Phineas.

Wait, what? Phineas gave his weapon willingly to the enemy, the guy who just captured him? 

That is correct. Apparently, even though they were enemies on the battlefield, officers in the two opposing armies still treated each other with gentlemanly respect. In 1812, officers were not necessarily made by leadership skills and merit. Mostly, they were made by money. So there was a sort of aristocratic understanding between the higher-ups. 

During the battle, Thomas lost his cutlass. Not wanting to see a fellow officer go without the largely symbolic weapon,  Phineas offered up his own to his enemy.   

Basically, they were adversaries on the battlefield, but they were still members of the same exclusive club. 

But can you imagine that conversation, as Phineas is being held captive by the American army? 

The...*ahem*... "Cocking Mechanism"

When talking about battles from the War of 1812 to school groups, it is important to explain the use of muskets; when explaining the use of muskets, it is useful to discuss the parts of the gun and how it works, in order to show how cumbersome these weapons were in battle; and when discussing the weapon parts, is necessary to say a taboo word in front of a large group of children. The cock.

It’s the part that holds the flint to make the spark that ignites the gun power. It looks like the head of the rooster; hence the name. And it always get students riled up. 

The joke gets kind of old for us interpreters just trying to do our job. So at the Hamilton Military Museum, we have re-written history and now refer to the cock as the very official and technical sounding “Cocking Mechanism.” No more disruption!

All credit goes to Mike.   

The Bug Building

At the Museum of Steam and Technology, we usually cook up some activities for kids on Family Day. This year, the theme was ‘Building Cities’ – one of the activities was to recycle old cartons, cardboard, paper, tubes, etc. and add a building to our 3D model city.

The activity area is not always staffed, and because it was quite a busy day with tours, I didn’t get a chance to see the city building in action. In a way, that made it even more impressive when I walked into the Woodshed at the end of the day and saw this awesome recycled city that had grown in just a few hours.

There were not one, but TWO versions of the Museum of Steam and Technology, recreated with cereal boxes and toilet paper tubes.

My favourite was the mysteriously labelled “Bug Building” that was still under construction at the end of the day. When I asked the little girl who had made the “Bug Building” with her Dad what a Bug Building was used for, she gave me an odd look and said very matter-of-factly, “It’s for Bugs.”  Makes sense. 

What Does Assassin's Creed III Have to Do with a Museum?

One weeknight at the Hamilton Military Museum, a scout group was scheduled to come in and participate in our Red Coats and Muskets program, which would help fulfill the requirements of their Heritage Badge.

During our programming, I tend to ask the kids a lot of questions to get their brains ticking. Although the other scouts were very excited to raise their hands or even shout out answers to my questions about the War of 1812, one in particular did not have any interest in participating. He was actually becoming quite disruptive – until I started asking questions about the use of flintlock muskets by British soldiers.  You could almost hear something clicking in his head.  

I showed the leather bag used to carry the ammunition and asked what you would put in a musket to make it fire. For the first time, this scout raised his hand and confidently said “They are called cartridges; they aren’t bullets!” Before I could ask my next question, this boy who had previously shown no interest at all starting excitedly running off facts about the use of a musket – "you’d bite the end of the cartridge paper with your teeth to expose the gunpower; you'd use the ramrod to shove the entire cartridge into the barrel; then you’d use the flintlock to make a spark to ignite the musket; it  is very slow and doesn’t shoot very far, and makes a lot of smoke" etc. etc. 

All true by the way, and all important to understanding how the available technology affected battle in the War of 1812 – for example, the smoky muskets is one of the main reasons why the British wore bright red: so they could see their own soldiers through the fog of the battlefield! 

At first I thought it was a little strange that this 13 year old knew so much about muskets after showing no interest at all in military history. So after praising his knowledge, I asked him how he’d learned all this. He told me his favourite video game was called Assassin’s Creed III.

This is a popular video game, which creates an alternate history of the American Revolution; it features Red Coat soldiers and muskets, and battle tactics that were very similar to those used in the War of 1812.

Now, I’m not saying it is great that this 13 year old was playing violent video games rated for adults. I am saying that sometimes you can get kids to connect with history in unexpected ways. Once this scout saw the connection between his game and real history, he was much more excited to learn and participate. 

Oiling Engines with Dessert

During Christmas Break at the Museum of Steam and Technology, we held a drop-in program for kids exploring the Science of Ice and Snow. One of the activities included making ice cream in a ziplock bag. So before taking a tour of the 45 foot tall steam engines in the museum, one little boy visiting with his sister and parents had frozen desserts on the brain.

On the packing deck of the Pumphouse, I started discussing some of the jobs that had to be done to make the engine work – one of which was to oil the engine. For little kids, I explain the process in this way: First, to illustrate the concept of friction, I get kids to rub the palms of their hands together quickly, creating heat. Then I tell them that when the engine is turned on, all the big metal parts moving creates friction. If there is too much friction, the engine might break down. So, they fixed the problem by putting something slippery on the moving parts, to reduce the amount of friction. 

Then I asked them what kinds of things they might use to make the engine parts slippery. The little boy on this tour very earnestly and enthusiastically suggested “ICE CREAM?!”  

Now, the oilers at the Hamilton Waterworks originally used things like lamp black and melted down sheep’s fat (mutton tallow) to make the engine slippery. But I think ice cream could work. This kid is on to something. 

Soldier on Guard

On Saturday, an 8 or 9 year old bespectacled  boy came to the Hamilton Military Museum with his grandpa. As the interpreter manning the front desk that day, their visit turned out to be one of the most delightful interactions I can remember.

Part of my job is to direct visitors where to go, and to encourage them to do the activities we’ve set out – like trying on various military uniforms, or playing strategy games. Usually people nod appreciatively and go on their way, but this boy’s eyes lit up as I explained all the hands-on activities he could participate in; we was clearly a fan of playing soldiers.

I brought him over to the first dress-up station, where I put him in one of our replica 1812 British red coats. He wanted more. So I also put a shako on his head. “What else would they wear?!” I went to the office closet and brought out the full outfit, usually reserved for school programs – a bed roll and backpack; a canteen; a bread bag; a cartridge bag and a bayonet cross-belt. We piled every piece on until the boy was just about to fall over, but he was so excited to look in the mirror and see a real, if rather short, Red Coat soldier.

There was a lot more to see at the museum, but he did not want to take the uniform off. He politely asked me and his Grandpa if he could keep the coat and hat on while he looked through the museum exhibits. We have many others available to use, and besides it wasn’t very busy – so I said he could if he was careful and could remember to bring it back to me at the desk. For about an hour, he and his grandpa played soldiers in our Discovery Gallery; pretending to cook a hock of meat on the campfire, loading our miniature cannon, building a fortification with our big foam blocks. He didn’t want to leave when 4pm came and the museum had to close.

So he, and his Grandpa came back the very next day and did the same thing all over again.

Here’s the best part: On Sunday, when I had him all dressed up again in the Red Coat, he wanted to get other museum visitors excited about dressing up to. So for about 20 minutes or so, he stood by me at the front desk, and greeted new visitors with a salute and a cheerful “HEY! Do you want to dress up like me?! Come over this way and try on a uniform!”

Weekend made.