Everyone who loves Revelstoke visits the Revelstoke Museum & Archives at some point in their lives. It has interesting and, indeed, pretty good displays for a small-town museum. But this local institution has far more artifacts that most people know. Here, Harumi Sakiyama and Sheryl Wolgram discuss their work cataloguing the Revelstoke Museum & Archives’ subterranean storage rooms. This is one of the new rooms where the Museum has installed a new storage system. David F. Rooney photo
By David F. Rooney
Everyone who loves Revelstoke visits the Revelstoke Museum & Archives at some point in their lives. It has interesting and, indeed, pretty good displays for a small-town museum
But this local institution has far more artifacts that most people know.
“We have over 6,000 artifacts, as well as about 100 metres of archival records, and over 8,000 photographs (the archives and photographs are in storage on the top floor),” says Curator Cathy English.
Most of the artifacts have, until now, been kept on dusty wooden shelves in the museum’s basement. But now, thanks to funding from the Province’s Creative Spaces program, and the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance (an arts, culture and heritage program of Columbia Basin Trust) the museum has been able to purchase and install a new and professional accordion-style storage system that allows personnel to turn a wheel that opens and closes the entire system.
“The shelving came from Hi-Cube storage out of Vancouver,” Cathy said. “It cost $33,000. The company was able to re-use shelving from other buildings, which brought the costs down for us. The installation took one week, and allowed us to consolidate three rooms of artifact storage into the one room. This has provided us with secure, safe storage for our artifact collection.”
With this new system n place the Museum has hired Harumi Sakiyama to re-catalogue all 6,000 artifacts onto a computerized data base, a task she has been aided with by volunteer Sheryl Wolgram.
This is very much a labour of love. Every artifact tells a story about its owners and admirers. And when you put them all together they tell a remarkable human story about our community.
I envy Sheryl and Harumi. They’re doing something intensely interesting and, in terms of preserving our past, something very valuable to us all as well.
Here are’s a photographer’s-eye-view of some of the things they uncovered while exploring the museum’s treasures:
How much stuff do you think the Revelstoke Museum & Archives has.It owns hundreds and until recently they were stored in boxes on wooden shelves in jam-packed rooms such as this, Now Sheryl Wolgram (above) and Harumi Sakiyama are reviewing and re-cataloguing the collection. It’s a BIG job. David F. Rooney photoHere’s another part of one of the old storage rooms. David F. Rooney photoThere are even a couple of old wringer washing machines. Countless mothers and grandmothers warned children to never touch these things for fear of getting their hands and arms broken in the wringers. David F. Rooney photoAn ancient, dusty children’s carriage languishes beneath a rack of plastic-coated clothes from decades past. David F. Rooney photoHere’s an ancient horn from a long-gone band. It’s not alone. There are other musical instruments and different devices from the past, both machine-made and hand-made, locked away in the bowels of the museum. David F. Rooney photoHere’s something you don;t see every day. It’s a dress-maker’s form. David F. Rooney photoHarumi examines the dress maker’s form. Every portion of the form was adjustable so that the different fabric portions of a dress or blouse could be fitted to it. David F. Rooney photoSheryl Wolgram wonders at the super-petite size of this corset that was a must-wear woman’s under-garment from the mid-to-late 1800s. They were braced with whale bone, steel, ivory or wooden stays and were often (but not alway) laced up the back. They exaggerated women’s curves by compressing their waists. Sheryl couldn’t believe women actually wore these things, some even fainted because they were laced up so tightly that their blood circulation was cut off. David F. Rooney photoIf you thought that corset was tiny get a load of these leather women’s gloves. Whoever owned these long ago was a tiny woman. David F. Rooney photoA colander, toasters and other, now-unfamiliar household devices, await a future of being on display for the entertainment and education of children and grown-ups. David F. Rooney photoHere’s a real find. This is a dress sword that apparently belonged to an American military cadet in the 19th century. It was found on the banks of the Columbia River. David F. Rooney photoThi is the hilt of the dword. It was manufactured in the US David F. Rooney photoHarumi displays a fragment of a broken cane. A snake was carved onto the cane. David F. Rooney photoDid you ever have skates like these? David F. Rooney photoSome of the history isn’t even hours, such as this american souvenir marking the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of the New World in 1492. David F. Rooney photoEven old traps have a place in the story of Revelstoke. Trapping was once a common occupation and is still practiced by a few people today. David F. Rooney photoThe museum has a number of hand-made farm implements such as these branding irons and wooden rakes. David F. Rooney photoSheryl particularly liked liked some of the smaller items like this ceramic mason jar. David F. Rooney photoHere’s another mason jar, this time from 1858. David F. Rooney photoHarumi and Sheryl discuss where to store newly re-catalogued items. The storage shelving you see on the left and right are moveable components of the museum’s new Hi-Cube storage system. David F. Rooney photoRemember these. There are probably a few of these still in use, probably by seniors, in our community. However, the ink-impregnated ribbons they use are now hard to come by. David F. Rooney photoTarnished by time these silver-plated trophies from bygone sports events could probably tell a few sports field tales. David F. Rooney photoWith a lick of red paint and some steel wool to rid its runners of rust and you could probably use this to revive some childhood memories. David F. Rooney photoAs a winter city it’s appropriate that Revelstoke’s local museum has a collection of antique skis. David F. Rooney photoVolunteer Sheryl Wolgram talks with Harumi Harumi Sakiyama who has been contracted to re-examine and re-catalogue the Museum’s 6,000 artifacts stored in the basement of the venerable building at First Street West and Boyle Avenue. David F. Rooney photo
