BRESAYLOR — After Joseph A. Sayers retired, he started a small collection of historic items from his parents. Some of the items had been brought to the Bresaylor settlement from the Red River settlement in 1882. Joe purchased the Alex Lennie house and opened a museum. He continued to collect many more artifacts donated by other Bresaylor families.
Joe bought the Pool elevator agent’s house located across the street from the museum. During the summer when he ran the museum, he lived in this house, which is now the museum office. Most days in the summer he could be found telling stories at the campground or giving a tour of the museum. He returned to British Columbia for the winter months.
Around this time, the Pool committee developed a campground in the schoolyard of the former Federal School. A monument, playground, well and other camping amenities were constructed. The campground was enjoyed by travellers and the local community. When the Pool committee disbanded, the campground was handed over to the museum board who ran it for a few years before closing it.
Before he died in December 1982, Joe made known his wishes that the museum be turned over to a committee and run as a local project. A meeting was held on April 14, 1983, to organize the Bresaylor Museum Association to oversee and run the museum. Later that month on April 26, a history book committee was formed and the compiling of local history began. In 1992, the Bresaylor History Book was launched. The Lennie house was declared a heritage building, and by 1985, after extensive renovations, the museum reopened to the public.
The Bresaylor museum has been involved in a number of projects over the years. When the Pool committee disbanded, they also handed over the maintenance of the Bresaylor cemetery to the museum. The board compiled records of unmarked graves and constructed a sign with names of the people buried at the cemetery. The upkeep of the cemetery was later turned over to the RM of Paynton.
In the mid 1980s, an oat crop project was started on a plot of land just west of the museum. Oats were planted in the spring using antique equipment, then harvested in the fall with a binder, horse-drawn wagons and threshing machines. This continued until well into the 1990s.
Every year the quilting group makes a quilt which is raffled off at the annual potluck.
The museum’s latest project was started last summer when photographs were taken of 200 of our 2,500 artifacts, with plans to create a virtual museum.
Over the years, numerous volunteers have worked on the museum’s projects. Although there are too many names to mention in this article, one individual I would like to mention is Velma Foster. Velma became curator of the museum in 1983 and has spearheaded the many museum projects. Using her artistic talent, she has kept the displays well organized over the years and researched a lot of material in the Bresaylor History Book. Velma was also instrumental in starting an annual newsletter for museum patrons. In 2021, she received a well-deserved volunteer recognition award from Rivers West District for Sport, Culture and Recreation in the culture-historical preservation category. Without her dedication, the museum would not exist.
The Bresaylor Heritage Museum is open by appointment only until Aug. 31. Please phone Enola at 306-893-8002 or Bob at 306-895-2075 to arrange a guided tour by one of our volunteer staff. Check out the Bresaylor Heritage Museum Facebook page for more information.
