Success Stories Archives - Museum of Lennox & Addington

Summer Wrap Up with Ellah, Elizabeth, and Zee!

August 28, 2026 by County Museum Leave a Comment

We had an incredible team at the Museum this summer thanks to our amazing students Ellah, Elizabeth and Zee! Thanks to grant programs through Young Canada Works and Canada Summer Jobs, they assisted us with so many projects and were a pleasure to have around. Read on to learn more about their summer at the Museum and Macpherson House!

Ellah

As my summer student placement at the Museum of Lennox & Addington comes to an end, I find myself feeling incredibly grateful for the past two months. Having worked here a few summers ago, I was excited to have the opportunity to return. This experience felt a little different though. The last time I worked here I was in the middle of high school, preparing for grade 11. Now, I have finished high school and am preparing to begin a completely new chapter of my life at university. Looking back, I can see just how much I have grown since my first experience here, both personally and professionally.

One of my favourite experiences this summer was planning, organizing, and running my own program: soap carving. Being able to take an idea and turn it into an actual program was incredibly fulfilling. I was involved in every step of the process, from preparing materials and organizing details to creating content and eventually running the program myself. It was rewarding to see everything come together and most importantly, to see participants enjoying something I had created. Running my own program gave me more confidence in my ability to take an idea, bring it to life, and make it happen.

Another highlight of my time at the museum was giving tours at Macpherson House. One of my favourite parts of working at the museum has always been connecting with people from all over and sharing the history of the house with them. Every visitor brings a different perspective, and I enjoyed having conversations with people about the house, its history, and the community around it. Being able to share something I had learned with someone who was genuinely interested made those moments especially rewarding.

My time at the museum also gave me the chance to build relationships with the people around me. I am incredibly thankful for the connections and friendships I have made throughout my time here. Working alongside others, learning from them, and sharing so many experiences together made my time here that much more enjoyable. I am especially grateful to everyone who took the time to answer my questions, offer guidance, encourage me, and support me during my placement.

As I head off to university and begin this next chapter, I will look back on my time at the museum with a lot of appreciation. I am proud of how much I have grown, thankful for the relationships I have built, and excited to take everything I have learned with me. I am incredibly thankful to have had the opportunity to spend another summer here.

Elizabeth

This summer, I had the privilege of cataloging the Archives’ collection of Napanee Beaver negatives from 1976, and even halfway through 1977. This process involved scanning the negatives and then going through issues of the Beaver to find where they were published. I could then identify the people depicted and write short descriptions for our catalogue records.

1976 was 50 years ago, and the negatives highlight a lot of what was going on in the County back then. The 1976 Olympics were held in Montreal, creating quite the hubbub all over Canada, Napanee was host to the Swedish Vallentuna hockey team, and our very own Museum of Lennox and Addington was officially opened! All these events, and many more, were documented in the Beaver.

Having lived in the County for most of my life, I was surprised by how many new things there were to learn about it. I often found myself driving around and recognizing many of the locations I had just been studying at work! For example, below is a picture of the Odessa Water Tower. If you drive by it today, it still looks pretty much the same!

I also stumbled across some rather humorous headlines in my cataloguing, including one that read, “Frightened filly fractures windshield, keeps on running” (don’t worry, the horse was ok).

This project was definitely a bit of a learning curve for me, beyond what I first expected. I found my knowledge of municipal and provincial government systems challenged, as well as my awareness of county geography. I also grew to be able to recognize the faces of several notable County figures. I could identify the Napanee Kinsmen Club president, Al French, within my first month! Then I got a tiny bit annoyed when all the clubs changed presidents for the next year and I had to relearn all their names :)

This summer, I created over a thousand records, but there are still many more to go. So far, negatives up to June of 1977 have been digitized and are ready to be used for research, exhibits, and events!

In addition to my main cataloguing project, I also had several opportunities to supervise the reading room and help researchers use the microfilm (something else new for me this summer). I even got to help out with a few of the museum’s birthday parties, which were a lot of fun!

This summer has provided me with many opportunities to learn new things and experience history in a new way. Below are some interesting items from the collection!

Azalea (Zee)

At the beginning of the year I had no idea what my summer would look like, but I do not think that I would have chosen many other ways to spend it. I have learnt a myriad of things over the course of this sumer, from learning local and general history, to working with folks of all ages. Part of my summer working for the Museum has been spent at the Macpherson house, where I’ve helped with programming, tours, and so much more. Within this part of my time here I’ve learned so much about how to handle and log artifacts, as well as learning about the Macphersons themselves (or how the current wallpaper is upside down). I have also been able to explore my passions for things like fashion history and textiles, with aiding other museum staff in photographing the collection.

My favorite part of this summer however, has been working with various people from all walks of life, even just working at the front desk means interacting with people on the daily (and we all know that those who visit museums are the coolest). Numerous people have told me their family stories and let the museum become a part of it, and running workshops means I get to aid in kid’s and adult’s creative process. Not only have I interacted with many people and learned many things this summer, but I also got to work alongside some incredible professionals. I don’t think it’s possible to comprehend just how vast museums are and just how much they do for the community until you’re in one for a lot of time. It seems that the artifacts that meet the eye are never actually all of them. Not to mention just how interesting it is to be surrounded by artifacts and history on the daily. So, whether it’s recruiting your co-workers into silly videos, assisting artists, running workshops, or the people, the Museum of Lennox and Addington has made a better summer job than I could have ever asked for.

BYOB Genealogy Club: Looking Back and Ahead

February 19, 2026 by County Museum Leave a Comment

After a winter hiatus, our BYOB (Bring your own Brick Wall) Genealogy Club officially returns on March 28, ready to pick up where we left off and dive even deeper into the stories waiting to be uncovered! In this blog, Marilyn looks back on a year of breakthroughs while looking ahead to new tools, topics, and discoveries.

BYOB Genealogy Club: Looking Back and Ahead
by Marilyn Stewart

Having concluded our second year, our BYOB Genealogy Club is excited to prepare for yet another year of growth and discovery.

The idea for this club began three years ago as a way to bring together genealogy enthusiasts to learn, collaborate, and expand their research skills. Our first year focused on exploring interest levels and identifying which topics would engage members. Year Two built on that foundation, ensuring we could sustain interest and deepen participation.

We now have a dedicated core group who attend regularly, some traveling several hours each month to attend along with members from nearby Frontenac and Hastings counties. New faces continue to join us, and all are warmly welcomed.

This past year, our focus was on Land Petitions and Land Records, including a hands-on workshop that guided members through finding these valuable documents and uncovering the historical insights they contain. We also delved further into DNA research, exploring how matching technology can open new paths of discovery.

The genealogy world continues to evolve quickly. Platforms like FamilySearch, with its new Full Text Search, and Ancestry, with its new Protools feature including the new DNA Clustering tool, are adding exciting features that enhance our research abilities. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also emerging as a powerful new aid for genealogists, providing fresh insights and making searches more efficient.

During our winter break, members have stayed connected through our Facebook page, where we share research tips, webinar announcements, and new resource leads.

Personally, it’s been incredibly rewarding to watch our group sharpen its skills and experience those “breakthrough moments” — whether it’s solving a long-standing mystery, uncovering a new ancestor, or validating a hypothesis with that elusive record.

As we move into 2026, our leadership team has expanded, and we are planning an engaging lineup of topics. We’re also exploring new interactive elements to make meetings even more dynamic. Together, we’ll continue uncovering underutilized resources both online and in our local archives and other local resources and work toward our shared goal: Breaking Down Brick Walls and Celebrating Breakthroughs.

Learn more about Genealogy Club and become a Member today!

Guests at the Macpherson House

December 18, 2025 by County Museum Leave a Comment

In this blog, Dr Mariah (Mo) Horner, Queen’s Drama professor and Cellar Door Project artistic director, reflects on the idea of “guests, hosts, and ghosts” and how historic houses come alive through the people who inhabit them. Drawing from her background in site-specific theatre and her work on House Guest 2 at Macpherson House, she explores how performance, memory, and place can create meaningful, living connections with history.

Guests at the Macpherson House
by dr mariah (mo) horner

I first met the phrase “a guest + a host = a ghost” when I was participating in a residency under the same name at the Agnes Etherington Arts Centre at Queen’s in Kingston. Initiated by Sunny Kerr, Neven Lochhead and Dylan Robinson, this residency invited artists to explore “a method for transitioning the [Agnes Etherington House] back into a home that furthers the cause of art in the community, both physically and symbolically…” The house, standing next to the vibrant on-campus museum, was the home of Kingston cultural figure Agnes Etherington, known for her leading role in the creation of the Fine Arts program at Queen’s in the early 20th century. She was also known for her parties. As a key social figure in the early cultural scene in Kingston, her home was a gathering space for artists and arts lovers until she died in the 1950s. After it was donated to the museum, the house remained open to the public as an additional wing to the museum, holding rotating exhibits throughout the seasons. Staff offices sit on the second floor.

Among other programs and exhibitions, “a guest + a host = a ghost” was born out of the desire to enliven the house before Agnes Reimagined, the $100M renovation that would totally change the landscape of this museum. In “a guest + a host = a ghost,” we were invited to find ways to activate the house not as a gallery, but as a home. We found old posters of exhibitions in the basement and tacked them on the walls. We ate lunch and napped in the space. We sang guilty pleasure karaoke in the closets. At one point, we painted fixtures a neon orange. A band rehearsed in one of the empty rooms. I hosted 30 elementary-aged children (mid-pandemic) to square dance with live fiddles. We were noisy. The house shaked. We made a mess. We were guests, the house was the host, I felt the ghosts dance around me.

Later research revealed to me that this phrase was first used as a title to an artwork by French-American surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp in 1953, to reference the alchemic relational and transformational potential of people and the spaces they inhabit. There is plenty of scholarship and artwork about site and space as a key player in our material reality as people. I don’t need to tell readers of this blog the importance and resonance of living history museums. French cultural theorist Pierra Nora writes about these “lieux de memoire,” or places of memory that hold history in complex ways, just like people do. Victor Hugo writes, “Exact locality is one of the first elements of reality. The speaking or acting characters do not alone engrave the faithful impression of facts on the soul of the spectator…. the absence of this sort of silent character makes the greatest scenes of history in the drama incomplete.”

My own obsession with the hosts, ghosts, and guests of site-specific performance is 15 years old. I co-founded site-specific theatre company Cellar Door Project with Devon Jackson in 2012 after a class project for a social history class presented me with an empathetic and embodied approach to six people, later characters, who were once temporarily incarcerated in the holding cells underneath Kingston City Hall. Since that moment, I’ve become obsessed with collaborating with sites as tethered witnesses to the past, present, and future(s). I’ve made this kind of theatre in the Lower Burial Ground at St. Paul’s Anglican in Kingston, the Royal Tavern, Brian’s Record Option, Murney Tower, and the Diefenbunker. Over the years, many of these spaces and their ghosts hosted me as their guest. Site has seen it all. Theatre allows us to activate some of these other past and possible future realities that may share a geography with us.

Enter House Guest 2.

In this case, the guests were five brilliant undergraduate students (Maddie Cottreau, Jo Patey, Kaitlin Schuttler, Taylor Snelling, and Anandi Dajka) from the DAN School of Drama and Music at Queen’s University. The host? The Macpherson House at Christmastime and the remarkable curatorial team from the Museum of Lennox and Addington: JoAnne Himmelman, Liz Watkins-McLean, Karen Price, Alannah MacGregor, Heather Wilson, and our two ushers Z and Ellah. The ghosts? Mary, Hennie, and Willie of course!

The hosts were the best in the business. The house itself is breathtaking and resonant but the innovative curatorial team are the real stars of the show. Imaginative, generous, and inviting, their dedication to the decoration of the space astounded us. Like true hosts, everyone who attended was served cider or shortbread to drink under the gorgeous and festive kissing ball. These folks brought an incredible openness to our process that is a gift as artists. JoAnne gave us so much creative freedom in the space while simultaneously offering us substantial historical information as inspiration. JoAnne is a supportive visionary, dreaming up creative ways to bring life into this house. This team was exceptional at both respecting the house as a historical artifact and enlivening it for the contemporary community. Bravo!

Photos by Liz Watkins-McLean

The guests, the student team, were playful and dedicated. Maddie, Jo, Kaitlin, Taylor, and Anandi, wrote, directed, starred in, and designed this original show in only eight weeks! When we first met at the end of October, they started by pouring through the research from the curatorial team (one of them even read The Secret of Willow Castle) to find these characters and give them the texture they deserved through performance. Of these five students, none of them had ever worked together before and only one of them worked site-specifically before (last year at House Guest 1!) These students approached this challenge with skill and commitment, bringing so much insight to the process and being very open to collaborating with each other, the folks on the curatorial team, and the house itself. As a professor, working on a project like this is a total gift. Students had the opportunity to face a challenge, make something brilliant, and develop new relationships in the community. I feel lucky to host my students as they develop skills through experiential learning in immersive and participatory theatre in a striking environment.

The ghosts kept us company too. The actors often felt the presence of Mary in the house, faucets would turn on without warning and sometimes we could hear knocking on walls. It was never scary though, rather, it simply felt like we were in good company.

Here’s to finding messy, embodied, and playful ways to commune together as guests, hosts, and ghosts! Here’s to finding ways to bring the vibrant public back into relation with these historical spaces, inviting a kind of up close and personal look at the host and her guests. My sincerest gratitude for the amazing team at the Macpherson House that held up this house and this project.

Approximately 50% French

October 31, 2025 by County Museum Leave a Comment

By Alannah MacGregor

Early in 2025 I set a goal for the programming side of my position here at the Museum of Lennox and Addington. I was going to offer at least one school program in French this year. This goal had been on my mind for a couple years and I was eager to take on the challenge.

I fell in love with the French language early on in life and I was excited to bring it to our school groups, however there were a few challenges ahead. The biggest challenge was that that despite over 12 years of French immersion education here in Lennox and Addington County, it has been a long time since I last had to conjugate a French verb or roll an ‘r’. At some mysterious point in time that bilingual certificate flew right out the window. Luckily, I found a fantastic organization just one town over called La Route du Savoir which ran conversational French lessons twice a week, in person. This offered me a great opportunity to kickstart my re-introduction to French.

As one might expect as I walked into “Le Centre Culturel Frontenac” the few remaining words I knew in French suddenly vanished from my head. I started feeling distinctly worried when someone casually greeted me with a “Bonsoir” and my reaction was to establish very a low bar and reply in English “…hello”. Fortunately, there’s only one place to go from an awkward rock bottom and that is up. The first step upward was meeting everyone in the evening class, we were definitely an eclectic group, some like me had once spoke French and were trying to regain it, others were from around the world and working on their third or fourth language, and one seemingly was there to find out what his French in laws were saying about him at family get togethers. The next step in the right direction was our instructor Victoria who’s direct yet encouraging teaching style created clarity on French rules I hadn’t understood at any point in my previous French education. When do you use ‘du’ vs ‘de la’? I know the answer now! By the third class a lot of that forgotten knowledge was returning, I found I was having no trouble conversing at all. By the end of course my biggest trouble was actually slowing down my speech so I could make sure I was applying all the rules I now understood. Everything was going according to plan.

Now that week five had passed and the course was over, I had a school program to design. I decided our autumn kindergarten to grade 2 program would be a good place to start. This program would feature our fun new photography exhibit “Through the Lens; Wild Souls” created by Becky Hinch and Michelle Trotter. This was a fun program where students got to make their own nature crown, play exhibit charades, and learn about the cycle of growing plants and seed distribution. The program would be offered in both French and English through September and the beginning of October.

I was over the moon excited when I heard from one of our local French immersion classes that they wanted to come for the program, and yes, they would like it in French. Finally, it’s show time. I spent the couple weeks leading up to their visit writing and grammar checking the translation of what I would usually say to our English classes, getting used to saying it with confidence followed by the English translation, so students had the benefit of both. When all is said and done, I’d estimate about 50% of what was spoken was in French, the other half being the translation for the kindergarten students new to French. Phew, mission accomplished. However, now that I’ve got my French reasonably back on track, I’m hoping to offer another school program in French in 2026, ideally for one of our older grades. I am also hoping that word of mouth will get out about the French program, and we might get a few more groups signed up for the next one to come.

I think the only question left to answer is why? Why put all this effort into creating French school programs? Why do 20+ hours of night school? Why does this matter?

Because, in 2023 our museum team worked many hours coming up with a strategic plan we could move forward with for the next three years and our actions, decisions, and goals are guided by this plan. Personally, I refer back to the museum values section of the plan more than anything else. We value respect, trust, learning, collaboration, and most importantly to this blog: belonging. To me, offering a program in French was a way of telling our French, and French immersion classes that they belong at the museum too. That we also value them and the language they cherish and work so hard to learn and preserve. Belonging matters, and it makes me so happy to see our whole museum team continuing to work toward the values we set out.

Curating the Art of Your Story: Reflections on My Exhibit at the Museum of L&A

September 24, 2025 by County Museum Leave a Comment

By Becky Hinch

Working with the Museum of Lennox and Addington has been an absolute blast. From the very first conversations, I knew this would be a project that pushed me both as an artist and as a storyteller. What began as a spark of an idea has become an exhibit two years in the making—a body of work that I’m incredibly proud to finally share with the community.

Breaking Out of the Frame

When JoAnne first told me that I would have access to the entire hallway gallery space, something shifted in my imagination. No longer confined to the traditional rectangle of a photograph on the wall, I could dream of pieces that spilled outside the frame, suspended from the ceiling, and surrounding the viewer in unexpected ways. It felt like permission to play, to explore the boundaries of what portraiture could be.

I knew immediately that I needed a partner who could help bring this expanded vision to life. Michelle, from Trotter Trades, was the perfect collaborator. Her creativity, attention to detail, and willingness to experiment meant that my ideas could actually take shape in physical, tangible forms. Together, we were able to create an exhibit that feels immersive—an experience rather than simply a display.

Portraits with a Touch of Magic

From the start, I knew I wanted this exhibit to stay connected to portraiture. Portraits have always been my artistic heartbeat. They are how I make sense of the world and how I tell stories. But I also wanted this collection to feel different, to have a sense of wonder and enchantment woven through it. That’s where the magical elements came in—details that hint at the unseen, gestures that extend beyond the photograph itself, and a layering of meaning that encourages the viewer to step closer, look deeper, and imagine their own place in the story.

A Photographer’s Journey

Photography has been part of my life for 25 years. I began with a photography diploma, and since then I’ve never lost my love for the process—the planning, the quiet work behind the lens, and the final reveal when an image comes to life. This exhibit feels like a culmination of that journey so far, but also a stepping stone into new ways of creating. For me, being an artist isn’t about staying still. It’s about growth, experimentation, and always asking: What’s next?

Inviting the Community In

One of the most exciting parts of this exhibit is the opportunity to connect with the community in new ways. On October 4th, I’ll be leading a children’s activity at the museum, and I can’t wait to welcome young artists into the space. We are working together to create their very own tornados. There will be a selection of items that they may find it their neighborhoods if a twister were to form. Add in some science and creativity. And we will have something really special. There’s something special about watching kids engage with art—seeing their curiosity spark and their creativity take off. I’m looking forward to a morning filled with imagination, laughter, and hands-on storytelling.

Looking Ahead

Even while this exhibit is on display, I’m already sketching out ideas for what comes next. The creative process never really stops—it’s a cycle of curiosity, experimentation, and expression. Each project opens the door to the next, and I find so much joy in following where those ideas lead. At the heart of it all is a simple truth: I love being an artist. I love the challenge of taking an idea and bringing it to life. I love the way art connects people, sparks conversations, and makes room for wonder. And most of all, I love the privilege of curating the art of people’s stories—because in the end, that’s what this work has always been about.

“Eureka!”: Napanee Beaver Negatives Project Update

August 28, 2025 by County Museum Leave a Comment

By Christian Van Campen

When we think of history, it’s easy to turn our mind to the ancient past, to founders and old stone ruins and near-forgotten relics from “a time before.”

What we tend to overlook and underappreciate is history that to many is still very much alive; history that my parents lived through, that many people reading this will themselves have lived through, and that feels to some like it was just yesterday; history filled with discotheques and Pierre Trudeau and a “new” metric system. That history is, of course, the 1970s.

As bizarre as it sounds, 1975 was indeed 50 years ago. Much has stayed the same, but so much has also changed in Napanee and all throughout Lennox and Addington County.

Since May of this year, I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside the wonderful staff at the Museum of Lennox & Addington in the Archives. Specifically, I’ve been tasked with sorting, identifying, and digitizing thousands of black and white photographic negatives shot from 1971 onwards. These images were largely captured by photographers of the Napanee Beaver newspaper, and many of them were printed in the paper and seen by citizens of Napanee and other surrounding towns. My job this summer is to make it so the photographs are seen once again.

The first step in this process is to identify the subjects of each photographic negative. This, in theory, is a very straightforward step. I look at a negative, I look at editions of the Napanee Beaver from around the same time, and when I find a published photograph that matches the negative, I throw my arms in the air and yell “Eureka!” or some other such cry of excitement (or maybe this is a bit too loud for a quiet archive room and I simply smile with satisfaction). With a match discovered, I scan the film negative, create a catalogue record, and write down all the information I can glean from the relevant newspaper article – who took the photo and when? Who or what is in the picture? What did the subjects do to warrant publication?

The trickier portion is dealing with the unpublished negatives. Not every picture in the paper exists in the negatives collection, and not every negative donated was published. Without newspaper articles to guide me, I have to turn to the Archive’s other collections to look for matching faces, business names, council records, and more. Fortunately, after a few months of seeing many of the same faces and buildings published time and time again,it gets easier not to rely on newspaper articles. Former Napanee mayor Lorne A. Smart’s slicked hair and aviator shades are recognizable anywhere, and former Bath clerk-treasurer June Carruthers’ clipboard and thick glasses seem to turn up at every local event. Other times, a 3-dimensional map like Google Street View can make a huge difference in identifying structures that may have changed their purpose, but still exist today as they did in the 1970s. Take a look at this picture, for example. On the left, a crowd gathers to watch in shock as the Gibbard’s Furniture storefront is consumed by fire – an event some of you readers will certainly remember! On the right, the same intersection looks much unchanged – the Texaco has closed, and some new crosswalks and accessible parking spaces have been added, but the buildings are all still there. Next time you pass through the intersection of Dundas Street E. and East Street, take a look towards the wall of the Gibbard’s factory and try to imagine what this crowd must have seen.

Aside from major events like the one shown above, dozens of more minor headlines have caught my attention and made me smile as I read through issues of the Napanee Beaver. For example, in February of 1975, police responded to a call about a break in at a local pizzeria, arriving just in time to step through a shattered window and find the culprit cooking himself a midnight snack of pizza and fries. And in July of the same year, this very museum’s first temporary exhibit opened to the public, displaying art by local painter Orval Madden. In the picture below, the museum’s first director, Helen Hutchison, prepares a few of Madden’s paintings for display.

The digitization of the Napanee Beaver Negatives is still underway – there’s just too much to tackle in a single summer! So far, there are records for all the donated negatives from 1971, 1972, and 1975, with a good portion of the negatives from 1973 finished as well. Take some time to browse our digital collection, using the keywords “Napanee Beaver Negatives” to find the photos above and over a thousand more connected to unique stories from the County’s past.

What an exciting and enlightening summer it’s been working with this truly unique collection at the archives! I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such a wonderful crew, and to fall in love with local history just a little bit more.

Below are some other personal favourites from the collection!

You can view the contents of the collection that have been digitized up to this point here.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

December 18, 2024 by County Museum Leave a Comment

By JoAnne Himmelman, Curator

This past 8 weeks, I have had the joy of re-acquainting myself with the sheer pleasure that is Macpherson House at Christmas. I first entered the old house in September 2001, I remember walking through the summer kitchen door and inhaling the earthy smell that is mixed with a bit of flour, a pinch of herbs, a splash of fire smoke, and something that is entirely just Mac House. While I didn’t get the job I originally interviewed for, I was offered a position to create programs for a year—little did I know that 1 year would be the start of my 24 year love for this House and the Museum of L&A collection as a whole.

That first Christmas was an incredible experience for my 25 year old self—I worked with a dozen volunteers to prep the House with its evergreens, pomanders, popcorn strings, and a giant kissing ball. We piled wood for the fire that would have to be started every morning to bake bread in the bee-hive oven and that would boil kettles for the plum puddings the visiting children would make as a class.

We welcomed 150 children a day at the Laird’s house—it was all such a bustle—voices, laughter, fire crackles, cookie nibbles, and just pure happy. Between the sessions, volunteers and staff sat together to eat homemade soups and sandwiches donated by other volunteers. By the time we were done our 2 week run, we had visited with 1500 students and we were all just little worn out and maybe a little tired of looking at the kissing ball. BUT—can I just say, that was the best time. For a gal in her 20s, the Christmas magic was truly well and alive. I was able to have so many conversations with the ladies who gave their time to the House—some were retired professionals, some were active in community causes, some spent their younger years raising a family and didn’t work away from the home until their children were grown. It didn’t matter—we were a sisterhood—and we were having fun and we bonded in the chaos that 1500 kids bring. I count the years and realize those kids who I met in 2001 are likely raising families of their own now and look to places like Mac House for holiday fun.

From 2001-2008, I facilitated hundreds of programs at the House, none were so magical as Christmas At The Laird’s. I left to pursue fulltime work with the County of Lennox and Addington, but when the House was acquired in 2012 by my employer, I found myself back in the spell of the House. While the House has taken on a new spin to its operations, it still sits there in its splendour along the river—a strong and wise old House that carries community stories and secrets. The House is preserved and looks good for her years but that pang of Christmas memory was nestled firmly in my mind.

I have wanted to do something to honour those memories for some time. So I pondered.

Last winter a thought came to me… to re-imagine the idea of Christmas At The Laird’s but with a 2024 twist. But who could help me? My friend and exhibit collaborator turned me towards Queens U. Yes!!

This Fall, I met 4 students from Queen’s University’s DAN School of Music and Drama, who understood the assignment. The candlelight story House Guest was created in 6 weeks by 4 drama students under the guidance of their mentor – Mo! I didn’t know what the reception would be—so we made it a short run of 3 nights only—but with 9 performances total.

The students took hold of the research we provided and made it their own. Mary Macpherson and Mae Vine, two strong feminine personas from the House’s past were brought back to life…in a Dickens kind of way. My heart sang a little bit when, on the final night of performances, I heard one of the actors say “We are home!”…Macpherson House…it just gets inside your soul like that!

I asked for help from a friend, Jen, from Holly Jolly Planters, whose grandmother was an avid volunteer at the House. In came the popcorn strings, oranges, red ribbons, evergreens, and yes the return of the kissing ball.

Museum staff shopped for flameless candles and fireplace inserts that could perhaps trick the eye into thinking they were real if you squinted just so…(unfortunately insurance costs don’t allow for actual fire). I think we bought about a million candles…just kidding…but man there was a lot. As a team of helpers and staff, we got the house ready for the holidays…it was during these days that I was both sad and elated we were decorating again. I am the bridge between what was and what will be. I often found myself just sitting in the space, embracing the memories and smiling while missing all of the people who use to add to the bustle.

House Guest has been a treat for creating memories for visitors today but it has been a trip down memory lane for me. I embraced some familiar faces who helped me 20 years ago and who were able to come see the performance (or watch the unfolding through Social Media)—Martin, Heather, Robert, Susi, Karen, Carol, and from away there was Sandra—I see you all!

The concept proved successful, we sold out every show but one. We hope to do more of this at the House—animated tours and “living” inside the rooms while you visit—we want you to step inside and imagine what the story is. This ties in beautifully to the Museum tag line “What’s Your Story?” Thank you to those who came to see House Guest—it sure was wonderful to hear the House alive with Christmas spirits and to see it aglow with candles and fire again, even if they weren’t real, it was real enough to me.

Happy Holidays—Be Well!

Establishing our Values…Two Years On

December 10, 2024 by County Museum Leave a Comment

By alannah macgregor, Programs & exhibitions co-ordinator

There is a sort of tranquility to something coming to an end, whether the year was good or bad, by mid-December you know that this too shall pass. It’s a time to take stock of the challenges that were overcome and pitfalls we tripped into; and all that knowing that a new beginning is on its way.

After a conversation with our Curator JoAnne about how programming has evolved in just the two years since we began the process of creating the Museum’s Strategic Plan, we thought it might be worth taking a few moments to look at how our successes and challenges are going.

One of my favourite parts of the entire process of creating the strategic plan was getting to brainstorm values. It was interesting to see what everyone came up with and how most of them could be simmered down to just five over-arching values. There are other components of the strategic plan which act as goals that we try to embody with everything we do, however I think our values are the building blocks to reaching those goals. So, let’s take them one by one and see how they’ve influenced the museum in the last few years.

Respect

We respect all individuals, ideas, experiences, and perspectives with consideration, courage, and accountability.

This value is so incredibly key to the reimagining of where museums are headed. For years museums and museum staff were considered the authority on so many subjects with little community input. As our exhibit topics diversify, and we become a space for everyone we must acknowledge the importance of going beyond our own knowledge and experiences. This hit home for me in spring of 2023 when I was trying to figure out programming for “Gone Fishin”. Without getting into it, in my personal life I don’t agree with fishing. So here I am talking to the community collector about all the fishing things he can talk about during his presentations, and how to get the kids interested, and all I can do is remember the values we agreed on as a museum, that we would respect all perspectives. I can absolutely respect the knowledge the community collector brought to audiences that were delighted to learn what he had to teach.

Trust

We build trust in all our relationships and act with integrity and transparency as we curate and share stories of the community.

A big part of being a museum in general is promoting trust with the community. Including the trust that the information on our walls and in our displays is accurate, as well as the trust that we truly are a place for everyone and more. One way we create trust is in our exhibits. We acknowledge the gaps in our collection and that neither it nor our body of knowledge is complete. For example, in The Beat Goes on exhibit it was acknowledged that on our timeline of music progression we were missing records of Indigenous music, as right now they don’t exist in our archival collection. We can freely discuss that none of us can be experts on everything and that is when our other values and community partners come in. With the help of several knowledge keepers from their communities, we were able to include two Indigenous drums in the exhibit, as well as a recording of a contemporary group Sisters of the Drum.

Learning

We encourage curiosity, open mindedness, and risk taking in ourselves to create immersive, experiential and transformative learning for our communities.

Learning is such a big part of our museum that I think we hit this one out of the park. First off, we have several exhibits that change out every 4 to 6 months. These exhibits are so much more than artifacts with labels, they include interesting facts, new perspectives, and often insightful thoughts on the past, present, and future. Hats Off currently resides in one of our front display areas and it is a delightful romp through the history of hats in our area. This exhibit is jammed packed with esoteric hat information, like that found in the image above, for our visitors to learn.

We have oodles of people come through our museum doors to do research in the archives. From my occasional trip down to the archives (usually trying to hunt down where my printed pages have emerged), I can say that Heather teaches new researchers all the time; how archives work and how to get the most of their research time. To my mind, an archive is built like an ecosystem, where almost everything is built off something else. Heather’s understanding of this system and her ability to teach people how to use it creates innumerable doors into the past for those who come to the museum in search of answers.

Nicole does our digital content and marketing; this past year she did a significant amount of learning with a community partner. To me, this knowledge Nicole gained had a huge impact on our online presence as a museum. Our social media looks professional and sets a cohesive tone. I have also seen the type of risk-taking encouraged in our definition of Learning. From bus stop ads, to new sellers for our gift shop, to whole new ways to advertise through theatres. Nicole keeps the evolution of our museum from stagnating.

As a museum team we all learn and teach in many ways. In my school programs I often prompt continuous re-evaluation: what do we know? What do we know now that we’ve done an activity? Are there still gaps in our knowledge? Some days they teach me; the kindergartners more than anyone. For example, they teach me about expressing joy by running chaotically around our program room, waving their magic fairy wands, full of laughter while they do. The lesson: sometimes order and organization are overrated. I even find time to learn about an assortment of interesting topics in assisting with exhibits. One of my favourite tasks this past year was doing research for our Marvelous Mushrooms exhibit. I went in with some basic knowledge but getting to explore a variety of different species was truly an engaging task. Learning as a community is incredibly core to what we do and who we are as the Museum of Lennox and Addington.

Belonging

We celebrate diversity by engaging and listening to our communities and striving for welcoming, inclusive and meaningful spaces.

I think having belonging as one of our values has made a significant difference in how we build ourselves up as a museum. This value not only guides the exhibits we chose to create or host, but also impacts the programs and the extra projects we take on. When Refuge Canada was here from The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Heather took on creating an oral history project called “Welcome Home: Conversations with New Neighbors.” This project brought together the stories of several people and families who were, either now or at one point, newcomers to Canada. By recording in-depth interviews with participants, Heather not only made our records of the people who live in Lennox and Addington more inclusive, but also made it so participants could find a place of belonging at the museum.

A project that has been very meaningful to me has been the creation of our “Museum Inclusive,” a P.A. Day program. The idea for this program had been running around my head since beginning this position in 2022; I knew I wanted to create a space where all kids and families could feel welcome and feel the wonder that permeates our museum in a way that made it their museum too. Late spring of this year I consulted with the Maltby Centre to get a more expansive idea of what was needed to accommodate as many people as possible in our space. The message I came away with was that families needed time to explore without judgment, where they could come in for maybe 5 minutes and leave without worry, if that’s what they needed to do. We created a program that included a quiet area, a sensory station, games and more. The goal of Museum Inclusive is simply to create a space where kids and families can come in and feel welcome to experience and explore the museum in whatever way works for them.

I think the rest of the museum team would agree that the museum creates a special type of wonder and sharing that, in every way we can, is a meaningful and fulfilling part of all of our jobs.

Collaboration

We work with our community to access and share strengths, knowledge, and experiences for deeper connection and understanding of each other.

Our final value for the museum is collaboration, which is a value that contributes to all of our roles. For me, the event that stands out regarding collaboration was in creating the “Indigenous Artist Panel,” a school program involving 5 Indigenous artists, almost 100 grade 7/8 students, teachers, and helpers. Going into the planning I knew what my goal for the program was; to create a space where Indigenous artists could speak and/or demonstrate their art and culture in an open platform, in combination with providing students with an opportunity to ask questions and learn in an immersive way. I am just beginning on this journey to start to understand local Indigenous cultures which made planning this event trickier. Luckily, I was able to meet with Rick Revelle who was able to make recommendations for structure and for other artists who might like to participate. With the collaboration of all the artists who participated, as well as the teachers who booked spots, the event was a success, and in my opinion a bright spot in the museum’s programs for 2024.

Vision and Mission

We have discussed the building blocks in the form of our values, but what in fact are we building? Our mission and vision of course! These are the overreaching statements that build upon our values to determine what we want the museum to be today and into the future; they guide where we want the museum to go. As such, I thought I’d better consult with some experts regarding how the museum is doing living up to our Mission Statement and Vision Statements.

Vision: Creating an inspiring space for everyone to experience the past, present and future with wonder.

Mission: We curate collections and exhibitions to connect people to the past through dynamic story telling, research and programming to foster reflection, meaning and hope for the future.

Below you can see what the rest of our staff think about our mission or vision.

Archivist Heather (Vision)

From a redesign of the Archives corridor, to putting the Archives on display for doors open events and other tours, to creating lighthearted and approachable exhibits like The Beat Goes On and To Be Kids Again, I have been working to lower that invisible barrier that so many experience when they see the Archives, to create a space where all feel welcome to enter and explore. With these projects, I aim to inspire that childhood sense of wonder as our visitors explore the Archives and find something of themselves, bringing the past to life through shared experiences and feelings.

Digital Content and Marketing, Nicole (Mission)

A large part of our mission is about connection and my position is all about fostering those connections, and perhaps, even initiating them through general awareness of the museum itself and everything we have to offer from the stories within the collections and exhibitions, to a wide array of programming and research opportunities. In the past 14 months that I have been here, I have not only grown the museum’s Facebook, Instagram and online presence, but also made and maintained meaningful connections and partnerships with local and neighbouring individuals, communities, and organizations (such as MyFM Napanee, Lennox Community Theatre, the Napanee Beaver, and more). I feel like it is important to share the museum’s and Lennox and Addington’s stories through new marketing avenues that directly or indirectly encourage people to connect and reflect on the question of “what’s your story?”

Curator JoAnne (Vision and Mission)

When we underwent the development of our new Mission statement I was nervous because I wasn’t sure what the new approach to THIS museum would look like. We were hoping for less stuffy, more fun and engagement from a more diverse Lennox and Addington. We wanted folks off all ages, backgrounds, beliefs, and economies to enjoy what we do here and that meant doing things away from our typical scope of traditional lectures and author reads, school visits, and heritage workshops. Over the past 2 years, I have been proud of the museum team’s creativity to include programs and exhibits for peoples of different backgrounds, as seen in our March Around The World during March of 2023. We enjoyed visits to China, Portugal, Indonesia, India, Afghanistan, Turkey, Syria, Israel all the while staying in the walls of the museum. We brought in Refuge Canada and were made aware of the plight of immigration today- from this we created an oral history project that captured refugee and immigration stories of our local newcomers. What was lost while we went about making sure our 1830’s history was present, was the fact that history is made every day. The histories of people new to L&A was not represented nor did it seem important. However from this experience, museum staff realized – EVERYONE who contributes to Lennox and Addington adds to its historical record in some way.

With this very thought – we started to look at the museum collection itself – what did it say and was the story correct? We have started to work with Indigenous communities to foster compassion and understanding of what has happened in the colonization of their world and what we need to do moving forward to reconcile and create space for their voices, culture, and history as they see it.

Museums are not just dusty, stuffy places. Museums are dynamic – they tell stories, they inspire, we spark thoughts, we connect people together. But we are also a place of community that has nothing to do with our history but as everything to do with our present – we wanted to make sure we are relevant and that the community continues to find need with us. That was a big concern. Are we needed? Why do we matter? How can we make space for the untraditional museum visitor. Well…we do this by making room at the table so to speak; we create programs and exhibits that are maybe are a little strange to people who like a traditional visit. We bring in old-time carnivals by the river to capture the imagination, we make Turkish lamps taught by someone from Turkey, we dance Zumba and hold yoga poses, we gather like-minded people for genealogy support, we make our space inclusive for those who maybe like a quiet visit and we bring in guest speakers to talk about mental health. We play loud music for those who love a little loud music, we create drama at our historic house for those who love a good play, and we make space for our youth so they can speak about how they feel when they can’t express themselves…..maybe this is sitting on the rug during a children’s book reading and telling the author in a safe space – “I am not always understood but I know I am smart” or maybe you are a teen that creates fun reels for our followers to enjoy. ALL of this together make for a very new museum experience and it is heartening to see the community coming back to visit over and over and over again…..clearly this is the museum they want too.

Just before we started working on our strategic plan (mission, vision, values etc.) I was hired as the museum’s Programs and Exhibitions Co-ordinator. When I think back to when I was first hired, I can see many changes in how I do my job. The first big change I can see was how I organized organizing various events. One of my biggest challenges at first was trying to keep all the information organized from various artists. When are they arriving? Have I asked them for marketing photos? What set-up do they need? All this information was initially just stored in sometimes more than a dozen emails per artist. I began making a standardized general info sheet for every single event with all the relevant details that needed to be shared with various other staff simply and efficiently in a single place. The other element that has increased organization has been implementing an event agreement with artists and presenters. By having artists fill out a single document with all the basic information required that both the artists and I can refer to, this has ensured clear communication and has set basic expectations. The other areas I’ve noticed changes in the last two years has been in my own confidence when delivering programs. While there is never an end to learning, I think that I have developed significantly more confidence, especially when running my own programs and speaking with crowds of people. I’ve also been learning to relax a little when it comes to booking programs; I can’t force an artist/presenter to email me back, but as long as I get an early start there isn’t much point in getting lost in unproductive worry. Overall, I feel like a have grown in my role, especially under the guidance of our strategic plan.

Circling back around, the holidays are almost upon us. This includes (in my opinion) the bane of the season, New Year’s Eve, always centered around one persistent question What’s your new year’s resolution? While I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a resolution, I have focused parts of my last year on gratitude, which I think is where I want to end this blog. Gratitude to all our visitors and community partners in the last 2 years. Gratitude to our volunteers and summer students. Gratitude to all of the fantastic coworkers who add their own stories and experiences to this museum: JoAnne, Heather, Nicole, Liz, Bonnie, and Karen. Gratitude to the assortment of furry and feathered friends who come by to cheer us up. Finally, gratitude for this odd obsession with owls that has snuck up on us, it’s really weird but I am grateful for all the smiles it brings to museum visitors and staff alike.

Happy Holiday everyone, we’ll see you in the new year.

Hidden Voices of WWII: Canadian Soldier’s Voice Letters Found in Napanee

November 6, 2024 by County Museum Leave a Comment

By Heather Wilson, Archivist

One thing about working in an Archives – you just never know what is going to show up on your desk.

A short time ago we received an unusual donation: two aluminum vinyl records from the Second World War, found hidden inside the walls of a house in Napanee. These records, known as “voice letters,” were a way for soldiers to send recorded messages home. In this case, they contained heartfelt messages from Gunner Alfred Thomas Sutton, who served overseas in the Royal Canadian Artillery, to his family back in Strathcona, Ontario.

[Featured image above (L to R): Archivist Heather Wilson, Archives friend Cam Eadie, the donors and friend Bill Walravern.]

Discovering Alfred's Voice

The story of these records is as fascinating as the records themselves. The couple who discovered them had been renovating their kitchen in the late 1990s when they uncovered a sealed envelope inside a wall. In this envelope they found two records and wooden gramophone needles, still in pristine condition. Captivated, they kept the records for more than 20 years, hoping to one day hear the voice they preserved.

When a friend tracked down a record player earlier this year they came to us to play the records for the first time here in the Archives. The first side was muffled and difficult to hear. On the second, Alfred’s message began, “Hello sweetheart… This is Saturday afternoon, September the 27^th.” In his brief message, Alfred spoke of receiving a parcel from his wife, shared his hopes to return to “good old Canada” soon, and sent love to his family. No year is given, but with a bit of sleuthing and logic we have narrowed this down to 1941.

At this time we don’t know how many of these voice letters have survived. In researching them we found scattered references in the US and the UK, and a rare few mentions in Canada. This is the only of its kind in our holdings. We do know that aluminum was gathered and melted down to supply the war effort. Many of these voice letters may have met that fate.

Transcription of Voice Letter of Alfred Sutton (side 2):
Hello sweetheart. [Muffled] records. This is Saturday afternoon September the 27^th. Well dear how are you, and the children getting along, over there, in Canada? I am well but [muffled] [get] lonesome for you and the boys. But never mind, dear. You… I will be back, in good old Canada again, one of these days. I got your packet ok and [muffled] sure do come in handy. Well now [muffed], take good care of yourself and the boys. And remember I … love you always. [Muffled] [keep our friends in mind] and good luck. Good luck sweetheart. [Give all my love to you and the boys]. Yours forever. Al. God bless you. [Muffled]. Take good care of yourself. Bye now. [muffled]. Goodbye.

The Life of Gunner Alfred Sutton

Alfred Richard Thomas Sutton was born in Leeds, England, in 1906 and moved to Canada with his family in 1913. By age 15, he was working in Strathcona as a laborer and later took up work at the local paper mill. In 1939, he married Constance Pringle, and together they had two sons.

Alfred also enlisted in the war effort, joining the 14th Field Regiment, and shipped out to England. His voice letter was recorded while he was stationed in Aldershot.

Little details are currently known regarding Alfred’s life following the war, but we do know he survived the war and returned home. Alfred died at the Lennox and Addington County General Hospital on Monday, June 12, 1967 at 61 years of age. At the time of his death he lived with Constance at the house where his voice letters would later be found. His sons had relocated to Saskatoon and Colorado.

From Behind a Wall to the Archives

How these records ended up hidden in the kitchen wall of Alfred’s home remains a mystery. Now, thanks to the generosity of the couple who found them, these voice letters are preserved in the Archives, a moving reminder of the resilience and connection between those who served and the families they left behind.

The recordings may be brief, and a bit muffled, but hearing Alfred’s voice still gives me goosebumps. We have plenty of letters from the war, but actually hearing someone’s voice from that time? That’s rare. I can only imagine what it must have meant to Alfred’s family back then, waiting and wondering when, or even if, he’d come home. It’s easy to forget these days—we can pick up the phone anytime and reach anyone, anywhere in the world. For Alfred’s family though, those few words would have been everything. They capture a real and powerful reminder of the sacrifices made and the hope that kept people going, even through the darkest times.

Let’s Talk About Genealogy

October 4, 2024 by County Museum Leave a Comment

By Jim Sova

“It is so nice to find someone who wants to talk about genealogy.”

It hit me after about the third time it happened. I volunteer at the archives reading room and I am also an avid genealogist. Every few weeks when I was assisting someone with a genealogy inquiry, we would start talking about our research and then the same comment: “It is so nice to find someone who wants to talk about genealogy”.

Researching your family tree and family story can be a solitary pursuit, but when you find an interesting tidbit, you want to share it. Often, family members do not share our passion. Adults find excuses and children prefer time on their screens. Ironically, they will be the ones that years later will utter the second most common comment: “I wish I had listened more closely to my grandparent’s story” or “I wish I had asked more questions when they were still around”.

I don’t think I can address all the comments, but maybe making a place for genealogists to meet at the Museum can address the first one. I raised the possibility with the Museum staff and a few fellow genealogists and the “Genealogy Club BYOB” idea was born. The “BYOB” stands for “Bring Your Own Brick Wall”.

The next step was to find a location, timeslot, format and if possible, a bit of funding. The Museum is a very busy place, especially in the summer with Macpherson House open, but staff managed to find a time, a place and some funding from the Government of Ontario under a program targeted at seniors. The format part is still a work in progress with a mix of presentations and workshops. We have also tested something we are calling “Stump the Genealogist” where we invite the members to put forward one of their “brick walls” of research and see if a volunteer group can look with “new eyes” to see if they can help break that brick wall. We also include some social time just to meet and “talk genealogy”. We are still welcoming input on any different formats or topics people would like.

So far, as of September 2024, we have held 4 meetings with about 20 people at each. We aim to cover a variety of topics around genealogy, both at a beginner and more intermediate level. There has been a mixture of attendees so far with people just starting out through to grizzled veterans.

The October meeting will be a new offering with a full day workshop on working with 19^th century criminal justice records. Renowned Professional Genealogist, Janice Nickerson (check out her company website UpperCanadaGenealogy.com) will be here to lead this special edition workshop. You can find the stories not just about the criminals, but also about the victims, witnesses, jury members and magistrates. This meeting will also be our first attempt at including remote access via Zoom. We hope to do a workshop early next year on using Land Registry Office records in your search.

Everyone is welcome, regardless of your experience, just no eyerolls permitted!

Ellah

Elizabeth