Since the New Year, the Sooke Region Museum has received 18 artifact and archival donations, and around 50 photograph donations. These donations, in line with our collections policy, have historical, cultural and/or educational value to the Sooke region.
A decorative plate from 1983, our third donation this year, was donated by Corey Cartwright, and links us to some religious and art history. The plate was specially made for St. Mary’s Ecunemical Church in Port Renfrew. St. Mary’s, a shingled wooden structure with a tall bell tower, is originally from Somenos, near Duncan. It was moved to its current spot on Klannanith Rd. at the entrance to Beach Camp in 1970, and was dedicated on November 5 of that year. The church operates by four denominations – Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and United, as a result of Christian unity initiatives of the 60’s. The plate is circular and white with a gold border around its edge. An image of a church, some foliage, and the words “Port Renfrew B.C. Canada”, are painted on front centre in red with yellow detailing. Penny Hillard of Peneles Creations contacted Sandra Berrow, who had done the image, to get the image on a plate, and later fired them in her kiln.
Another recent donation to the museum was two crosscut saws donated by Anna West, one of which still has the original handle. The saws were used in the Shawnigan Lake area for felling trees by West’s father, Kai Jensen. Jensen emigrated to Sooke from Denmark in 1922, and worked in the logging, fishing and farming industries. The saws came accompanied with a photograph of Jensen circa 1926-29 standing beside a half sawn tree, holding an axe. We hope to make use of these saws in the upcoming summer exhibit Sawmills: More than Machines.
Other donations this year include a menu and bookmark gifts from the 2013 Centennial Dinner at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church, given by Beverley Myers, an overhead hay trolley bracket from an old barn from Gordon Stewart, some Sears/Eatons/Roebucks catalogues that were used by Betty French to order supplies for her store Knit Nook and the dressmaking shop in her home, and a baseball jersey worn by Bill Perry in the 1956 “Champion of BC” baseball game against New Westminster, which Sooke won! We also received 50 photograph donations to our SRHS Photograph collection, which we are currently working on providing online access to.
