Small Museum Has Unique Fighter Plane

 A small museum in Quebec's Eastern Townships has an important piece of WW1 history. Knowlton Museum attained a Fokker DVII (German fighter plane) years ago and are fighting to keep it.

Sure hope they can hold on to it. A little money sent their way instead of to the big museums for a change would help.

Boy, this is a story to which I can relate.
The publicity will help their cause too.

The link to the news story is
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/09/08/f-fokker-biplane-knowlton.html

Bird Houses and Museum

So what do birdhouses and museums have in common?
Well, this one in particular was part of a fund raising effort by a few lady friends of the museum. We had a lovely time letting our creative juices flow into the small painting projects that were offered for sale in the museum this summer.
There were also boxes and trays with old Cut Knife photos.
It was fun to do and even more fun to share the time with the women.


The items sold quite well. Hopefully the purchasers enjoy them as much as I do this bird house.

Now that we are just sitting around twiddling our thumbs...

"Since the museum is now closed, what are you doing?"
There is actually more work done after the museum is closed for the season.

• All the paperwork for payroll needs to be done. Final cheques made out, ROE forms, and final grant info filled out and sent away. Fingers crossed that everything meets with their approval.
• Each month bills have to be paid. Our Treasurer never has a slow time.
• Mice have invaded our space and the trap line needs constant vigilance. :(
• Eavestroughing is being installed on Duvall House. This is being done by a commercial company but still requires some supervision to ensure it is done as needed.
• Cat tails (yes, cat tail plants) have been removed from Ovenstown eavestroughing. ??? They were growing about 2 feet tall when someone noticed them.
• Items need to be transported over to our heated office. Lots of items. May take a few more trips.
• Codes need to be changed on buildings. We have keyless entries on quite a few of our buildings and the Staff codes are changed every year.
• We are offering booked tours now. These are still being requested so tour guides need to be arranged. This can be a challenge as harvesting has begun in our area.
• Vulnerable items need covering for the winter (textile exhibits for example). But this has to wait for the last tour to go through.
• At the last moment before freeze up, the sump pump in Ovenstown needs to be pulled out so it doesn't freeze as well.
• Planning for exhibit changes begins now. Some signage improvements still are needed. Very time consuming project.
• The archival materials are in disarray in the MAC. Lots of work is needed to organize them. 
• The Collections Management program needs hours of work updating the records.
• Sales stock needs to be evaluated and plans made for 2011. 
• Fund raising is always on our minds. Does anyone have any new ideas to make lots of money with minimal effort?? lol

I am sure there are more tasks that are sitting there ready for our volunteers to do. We just haven't noticed them yet.
Yup, we are really enjoying the 'off season'.

Homestead Papers and Land Grant Certificates Available

Copies of homestead papers and land grant certificates are available to the public.
For more information:

• visit the Saskatchewan Homestead Index at  www.saskhomesteads.com ; or
• visit the Saskatchewan Archives Board website at www.saskarchives.com or phone the Saskatchewan Archives in Regina, 306-787-4068, or in Saskatoon at 306-933-5832.

I imagine there will be a small fee for the copying service.

New Acquisition

Russell Stewart is standing beside the melodeon that he donated to the museum this year.
It belonged to his grandmother, Lucinda Rebecca Cunningham Atton, 1854-1940. As a young woman in Kincardine, Ontario, she taught music on the melodeon. When Lucinda and her husband, William Matthew Atton, came west to homestead in March 1906, the melodeon came with them. Their son Fred rode in the train box car of settler's effects guarding his mother's treasured instrument.
Lucinda and the children spent the summer in a rented house in Battleford until their home was ready for them to move into on SW 14-44-20 in the Riding Hill District in September. Lucinda and William lived for the rest of their lives in this house. The Attons owned the land that bordered the lake that was named after them, Atton's Lake.
The melodeon was passed down to Lucinda's daughter, Annie, who gave it to Russell.
We are very honored to have this treasured musical instrument in our museum's collection.