The inaugural meeting of the Collections Working Group (CWG) was held on August 9, 2023. Over the course of one year, this group of volunteers have considered the history of 19 different donors and reviewed a total of 608 objects.  The members of the CWG have used their lived experience in the community along with donor history and staff research, to carefully evaluate each object, determine how they are connected to the former Township, and make decisions about their long-term preservation. The Museum preserves items in many ways and the Collections Working Group is tasked with placing items in the Museum’s artefact, digital artefact, reference, and prop collections.

The CWG approves accessions to, and deaccessions from, the Museum’s collections placing what used to be an internal decision-making process into the hands of a diverse group of community members.

 “The group has been given the authority to make decisions about the long-term preservation of the community’s story,” says the Museum’s Registrar, Sarah Holla. “The knowledge and lived experience of these volunteers is incredibly valuable and adds to our understanding of the historic significance of each donation.” 

“Our staff learns so much when we meet with donors. We build a relationship,” says Holla. “I like to say that each family holds a piece of the puzzle and when we put all these perspectives together we get the real picture.” She’s proud of how the Museum has built trust with many local families. “It’s because of this trust that the community benefits from the amazing stories that donors have to share.”

Holla says the community is incredibly generous and that an April donation of family history from Munster has raised the number of items in queue for review to over 1,000. The Museum and the CWG invest a lot of time learning about each item so to ensure this continuity, the decision has been made to close the intake of donations for the remainder of 2024. “We must ensure the Collections Working Group can give the time and attention to every item that is at the Museum awaiting a decision.”

The Museum currently has seven openings on the CWG community panel and is looking to add more voices and diversity to its decision-making process. Ideal candidates include those with lived experience with communities that have been historically underrepresented in cultural institutions, those with an interest in collections development, and those with a connection to culture, individuals, or locations relevant to the former Goulbourn Township area before, during, and after its incorporation.

Click HERE for more information about becoming a CWG volunteer.