STURGIS — The Sturgis Station House Museum executive board members have completed another successful museum season.
The first task accomplished in January was a review of the museum treasurer’s books, carried out by Katrina Wasylenchuk. Her review revealed no problems, so the museum prepared a financial statement as requested, and submitted it to the Town of Sturgis. All documents were submitted to the appropriate organizations in a timely fashion.
The Annual General Meeting was held on Feb. 13. Along with the elections, a discussion on the museum’s financials was reviewed. It was acknowledged that, due to the fact that the museum is under the umbrella of the town, the Town of Sturgis will be auditing the museum’s books on a yearly basis, in addition to the usual review.
The museum was approved by SaskCulture MGP (Museum Grant Program – Stream 2) for $7,500 which covered 50 per cent of the operating costs, including the maintenance workers wages. The financial help from Canada Summer Jobs ($4,278) enabled the museum to actively seek a curator for the 2023 season. Ads were placed in the Town of Sturgis local newsletter, the museum’s Facebook page, the museum’s web page, University of Regina – careers, Museums Association of Saskatchewan, posters, and job descriptions were also faxed to local schools, (Preeceville, Norquay, Canora and Sturgis) and of course, word of mouth was utilized. The museum board always felt that giving a student an opportunity to work and gain experience in the workforce is a valid reason to employ youth. A local student was hired for the position of curator for the 2023 season.
Additionally, the museum was awarded financial assistance ($800) from the Government of Saskatchewan’s Mico-Technology grant which enabled the purchase of a laptop, as well as the Recreation Grant ($1,000.00). Follow-up reports were finalized and approved by each funder. Two grants applications that were unsuccessful were Documentary Heritage Communities Program and Community Initiatives Fund. These two grants would have been utilized for scanning, identifying people and events where pictures were taken along with proper storage of the museum’s huge collection of photos.
Eleven regular monthly museum board meetings were held in 2023.
The Seneca Root Network held two regular meetings in 2023. The first was on Apr. 20 in Pelly where three Sturgis board members attended.
One board member and the museum’s grant writer participated in the Museums Association of Saskatchewan Chat, SaskCulture Grant Writing Workshop: A Zoom meeting on tips and tricks to a successful Museum Grant Program application, held on Sept. 27, was facilitated by Tara-Leigh Heslip, SaskCulture Outreach Consultant. A de-accessioning and disposal webinar by Sarah Durham, Museums Advisor MAS, presented a two-part online course attended by one board member.
The following fundraising/events were organized by the museum’s board of directors:
- May 16 – Cleanup day of the museum grounds. (19 attended)
- April 21 – Meatball Supper
- June 8 – Opening Tea
- June 9 – Co-op equity days hamburger sale
- June 20 – Amazing Race and Tour (61 attended)
- June 24 – Sports and Rodeo (selling ice cream)
- June 25 – Sports and Rodeo (selling ice cream)
- June 26 – Student School tour (22 attended)
- June 27 – Student School Tour (23 attended)
- July 5 – Long Term Care visit – (14 attended)
- Aug. 27 – Potluck supper for all interested residents of Sturgis, there was no charge for this event. (27 attended)
The museum will be organizing its annual Christmas Baking Trays held in December.
The goal is to continually update the Sturgis Station House Museum’s Facebook page by making relevant information available to the general public, stated a museum member. A volunteer museum board member has taken on this task and provides current information to its members on upcoming events planned by the board of directors, along with providing recognition to our funders
Networking with the local school and providing educational tours to students is an exceptional way of creating positive involvement at an early age, not to mention the publicity that these events generate. The museum also sponsors a scholarship to a graduate student with the emphasis on volunteerism in the community.
This year the communications committee collaborated with the Town of Sturgis in creating eye-catching posters, which were published in Explore Saskatchewan’s Assiniboine Valley booklet, and Saskatchewan Travel Guide 2023, published by Tourism Saskatchewan.
The Board of Directors has decided to email all of members to notify them of upcoming projects and fundraising events to hopefully increase attendance at functions.
The museum held a cleanup day at the museum grounds on May 16, and members were ecstatic to see 12 students join to help rake, pick stones, clean flowerbeds and take away debris which accumulated over the winter. What usually takes almost a full day only took three hours. The museum board showed its appreciation by organizing a wiener roast for all the students and volunteers, which was much appreciated, especially by the students. During the summer months, the maintenance worker is responsible for maintaining the grounds under the direction of the Building and Grounds committee chairperson.
Exhibits and displays are what guests will remember after a visit to the museum, and as such, they are given special care and attention. The museum board sets the curator/manager’s goals regarding exhibits and displays (refer to Curatorial report for the 2023 season). Being that the summer student had no experience in exhibit design, the board concentrated on preparing for next year. Volunteers spent days in relocating various artifacts from storage into the newly built Agricultural Heritage Building. Some items that were moved were: all the blacksmithing tools (estimated 200 items), laundry washing machines and Sturgis’s United Grain Growers elevator weigh scales.
