Kimberley Wilson cleans an artifact with a brush and a vacuum.
Kimberley Wilson cleans an artifact with a rag and smiles.
Hello, my name is Kimberley. In January of 2023, I began an internship at The Canadian Canoe Museum as an Algonquin College Applied Museum Studies student on the last term of my three years of study for an Ontario College Advanced Diploma. Prior to interning, I volunteered in my boat-iful hometown of Kincardine. I enjoyed helping as an assistant for children’s programming in festivals and also facilitating at the local Walker House Museum, greeting visitors with handouts and directing them to the different galleries and exhibits upon arrival.
My internship here at the Canoe Museum was the first opportunity I had to work with museum collection staff and with archival records. It was an honour to be on the team during this very important time for the Museum, with all hands on deck to get everything organized, both digitally and in-person, cleaned, photographed, and packed to be unpacked at the Museum’s new home on the shores of Little Lake. This was a great opportunity for me to really be able to apply and enhance my understanding of the theoretical and practical skills that I gained in my first two years of study with a unique perspective given the timeline the Museum is on to move the collection.
Kimberley Wilson documents the collection.
Throughout my internship, I have worked with the Museum’s one-of-a-kind collection to help make sure its small artifacts and paddles are organized within their database so they can be easily searched. Additionally, I have been making sure that each object’s history is entered into its database record, ensuring the stories in the Museum’s collection continue to inspire connection, curiosity and new understanding. My work also included some digitization of donations or new accessions that were received in 2022.
I have also been able to help with preparing the watercraft collection to be moved to its new home. This involves removing canoes from exhibits and cleaning, photographing, documenting and tagging each watercraft before sealing it for transport to the new museum.
It has been an immeasurable pleasure to help The Canadian Canoe Museum in any way possible to make this dream come true, not just for myself but to see all the hard work reflected in the results!
Kimberley Wilson cleans an artifact with a brush and a vacuum.
An artifact is set up for photographing.