10-02-2023, 08:30 PM
Doon Heritage Village (previously Doon Pioneer Village (1957-1985; and Doon Heritage Crossroads (1985-2010)) is located where it is because of the crossroads of the east-west Huron Road and the north-south train line. That crossroads is now inside the Museum. The living history museum actually inspired the creation of Upper Canada Village (opened 1958). Black Creek Pioneer Village (opened 1960) is perhaps more accessible as it is nestled between York University and suburban development (and the highway 400/407 interchange).
I think the Museum struggles with what to do with itself; the outdoor space was envisioned as living history museum, but the living history portion definitely suffered when more attention was given to the new building and exhibits. The living history portion was quite purposely set to recreate 1914 rural life in Waterloo as that was an inflection point for the County. To try to dress it for any other time period would not work. The current renovations are largely infrastructure upgrades which would have made it difficult to keep the space open to the public.
The new Museum building has a very good permanent display of local history that runs from Indigenous history to today. The building has two smaller temporary exhibit spaces. I'm not a Museum professional so I don't know if there is a general guideline of how much exhibit space should be permanent and how much should be for temporary or traveling exhibits to entice visitors to come back once they have seen all of the permanent displays. Something like the ROM or the AGO in Toronto, or the various National museums in Ottawa likely have something where 80-90% of the space is for a larger permanent displays, but with enough variety that multiple visitors are possible without feeling that you have seen everything.
As for staffing, there are currently 5 vacancies available for External hiring in the Museums & Libraries department which covers the Regional Museum, Schneider House, McDougall Cottage and the back-of-house archives and collections:
- 2 "Museum Experience Specialist" (Permanent Full-Time)
- 1 "Student, Library Page" (Permanent, Part-time)
- 1 "Artifact Conservation Technician" (Temporary, Full-Time)
- 1 "Student, Museum Cataloguing & Records" (Temporary, Full-Time)
I think the Museum struggles with what to do with itself; the outdoor space was envisioned as living history museum, but the living history portion definitely suffered when more attention was given to the new building and exhibits. The living history portion was quite purposely set to recreate 1914 rural life in Waterloo as that was an inflection point for the County. To try to dress it for any other time period would not work. The current renovations are largely infrastructure upgrades which would have made it difficult to keep the space open to the public.
The new Museum building has a very good permanent display of local history that runs from Indigenous history to today. The building has two smaller temporary exhibit spaces. I'm not a Museum professional so I don't know if there is a general guideline of how much exhibit space should be permanent and how much should be for temporary or traveling exhibits to entice visitors to come back once they have seen all of the permanent displays. Something like the ROM or the AGO in Toronto, or the various National museums in Ottawa likely have something where 80-90% of the space is for a larger permanent displays, but with enough variety that multiple visitors are possible without feeling that you have seen everything.
As for staffing, there are currently 5 vacancies available for External hiring in the Museums & Libraries department which covers the Regional Museum, Schneider House, McDougall Cottage and the back-of-house archives and collections:
- 2 "Museum Experience Specialist" (Permanent Full-Time)
- 1 "Student, Library Page" (Permanent, Part-time)
- 1 "Artifact Conservation Technician" (Temporary, Full-Time)
- 1 "Student, Museum Cataloguing & Records" (Temporary, Full-Time)