Custom Woodturning Guaranteed to also Turn Heads at Old-Fashioned Christmas

Claude LeBel has been turning wood for seven years and now his beautiful handcrafted creations are turning heads.

Claude will be among the talented artisans taking part in Goulbourn Museum's Old-Fashioned Christmas - Art & Craft Sale on December 1st. Through his business, Redefined Wood, he makes and sells wooden pens, pencils, bowls, platters, serving boards, spatulas, bottle stoppers, mini styluses, toaster tongs, honey dippers, candle holders, and more.

An active member of the Valley Woodturners in Ottawa, Claude has also acted as an assistant instructor for the beginner's woodturing course offered by the club. He has studied under world-renowned woodturners such as Mike Mahoney and Jimmy Clewes.  Passionate about his hobby, Claude's artistic flare adds to the beauty and uniqueness of his creations.  Form and function are important elements in his designs because he believes his creations should not only be nice to look at but should be used and enjoyed as well.

Look for Claude in the vendor tent during our Old-Fashioned Christmas on Sunday, December 1st from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. and get a head start on your Christmas shopping!

Hope to see you there!

Lest We Forget - Wartime Exhibit at Stittsville Public Library

Throughout the month of November, the Goulbourn Museum will have wartime artefacts on display at the Stittsville branch of the Ottawa Public Library. The exhibit contains items from both the First and Second World Wars such as military hats and a civilian gas mask. Visitors will also be able to read a collection of wartime correspondence written by Pte. Sefton Stewart. Although the young soldier’s letters made it home to his family in Richmond, he did not.

The exhibit will be on display at the Stittsville Library until November 30th.

Oodles of Free Family Activities Planned for Old-Fashioned Christmas - Art & Craft Sale

Save the date! On Sunday, December 1st from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. the Goulbourn Museum will be hosting an Old-Fashioned Christmas - Art & Craft Sale.

Get an old-fashioned photo taken with Santa and a head-start on your Christmas shopping at this holiday celebration featuring local artisans, baked goodies, old world entertainment and festive crafts.

There will be oodles of free fun and activities for all ages. Children can write letters to Santa with expert help from The Calligraphy Society of Ottawa, play with old-fashioned games and wooden toys, and watch rope making demonstrations by Tom Stephenson of The Kettle Boys. Each child will even get a handmade skipping rope to take home!

Families can don period costumes, pose for a photo with Santa in our Village Store, and take home a vintage keepsake of the day. There will be free hot chocolate and hot apple cider for everyone, and Pizza All’Antica will be onsite making authentic Neapolitan wood fired mobile pizza.

Our list of handmade vendors features something for everyone including jewelry, woodwork, pottery, Christmas greenery, stained glass art, hand-painted textile, chocolates, baked goodies, natural soaps, hair accessories, and more!

Sure hope you’ll join us!

Seeking Vendors for Museum's Old-Fashioned Christmas Art & Craft Show

BECOME A VENDOR

Goulbourn Museum is accepting applications to our Old-Fashioned Christmas Art & Craft Sale being held at the Goulbourn Museum, 2064 Huntley Road on Sunday, December 1^st from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

In the past we have held an Art & Craft show exclusively. This year we are expanding to include festive Old-Fashioned Christmas fun including a children’s station for writing letters to Santa, old-fashioned photos with Santa, charming old-world entertainment and more.

We are currently seeking talented crafters to fill 14 vendor positions
in a variety of specialties such as clothing & accessories, home décor, Christmas greenery, art, bath & body, toys, textiles and baked goods.

Note: This will be an outdoor event in a heated tent. Vendors must dress appropriately. 

HERE’S HOW TO APPLY:
Send an email to marketing@goulbournmuseum.ca with:
Your name
Your business name
Contact info (web/blog/facebook/etsy)
A description of your handmade goods
A minimum of 3 quality photographs (Jpeg only, please)
Indication of whether you will need a table (at an additional cost)

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
This is a juried event. Vendors will be chosen carefully to ensure a balanced representation of each category.
Applications will be accepted by email only.
Only complete applications will be considered.
Acceptance letters will be emailed by October 15, 2013 and will include a contract for you to sign and return with payment.

CRAFTER FEES:
Space rental is $40 (approx. 6’ x 3’). Please add $10 table rental fee, if required).
Fees must be paid and contract received no later than October 30, 2013, if accepted.
Please do NOT send payment until you have receiv­ed notice of acceptance. Please do NOT send payment until you have receiv­ed notice of acceptance.

From the Depth of our Collection

Stephanie Miles has spent the past two months working as a Collections Assistant at Goulbourn Museum. Today marks her last day with us.  During her time here she has spent hours meticulously going through our collection cataloging and photographing artefacts. This is one of her favourite finds:


By Stephanie Miles

While going through a few artefacts I was surprised to uncover a book on the legendary ocean liner the R.M.S Titanic. The book, The Sinking of the Titanic and Great Sea Disasters: Thrilling Stories of Survivors, was donated to the Goulbourn Museum in 2011 by Donna Foster.

Having been published in the year of the historic event, 1912, it is in surprisingly good condition for its age with the exception of its missing spine and the delicate nature of the pages.

This artefact led to many questions in my mind. Why was the artefact donated here to the Goulbourn Museum? Is it possible that a citizen of the former Goulbourn Township was a survivor or a relative of a passenger on the Titanic? If so then what stories might they be able to share about this ill-fated ship?

The Titanic sank approximately 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. Interestingly, 100 years earlier during the War of 1812, many ships carrying Irish soldiers enroute to Canada also sank off the coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland when their vessels hit rough seas.

Help Bring Clarence Evelyn Rielly's War Medals Home!

It has recently come to the attention of Goulbourn Museum that a collection of war medals, belonging to Richmond's own Clarence Evelyn Rielly have appeared in an auction hosted on EBay. With the community's help we hope to bring Rielly's medals home to preserve this local hero's story for future generations.

Photo Showcased as Part of Auctioned Collection

Clarence Evelyn Rielly served as a Sapper in the First World War with the Canadian Engineers and continued on to serve in the Second World War with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). When Rielly first enlisted, his attestation papers show he worked as a telegraph operator from Richmond. Rielly was born in 1892 and was 24 years old when he enlisted.

This collection includes Rielly's WWI War Medal and Victory Medal, Second World War Canadian Volunteer Service Medal (CVSM) and War Medal, along with his RCAF Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, general service badge and RCAF Reserve service badge. Also included in the collection are two black and white photographs showing Rielly in his RCAF uniform. This auction of Rielly's war medals, pins and photographs will close on August 15, 2013 at 2:56 pm.

The auction was first brought to our attention by Dave Thomson from St. George, Ontario. Thomson's hobby is to find war medals belonging to Canadian veterans and help repatriate them to their family or hometown. The value of this collection to the Museum comes from collection of material as a whole, preserving the story of a war hero from Goulbourn Township. The rarest of the medals in this collection is the RCAF Long Service & Good Conduct Medal. Rielly earned this medal after achieving 18 years of service with the RCAF. These medals were awarded between August 1944 and September 1957. In comparison, there were approximately 1.1 million Canadians who served in the Army, Navy and Air Force during the course of WWII, the majority of whom received the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal (CVSM) and the equivalent Second World War Medal. What makes the RCAF Long Service & Good Conduct Medal so special is there were only 487 of these medals awarded to Canadians.  

In 2014, Canadians will commemorate 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War. The Museum will be launching an exhibition in June of 2014, and this collection could be incorporated into the exhibit if we can rally enough support and raise money to secure the winning bid. 

Cash or cheque donations can be made to the Goulbourn Museum. If we can raise sufficient funds to secure the winning bid, we will purchase the grouping and accession the items into our artifact collection. Otherwise donations will be used toward improving our collection and creating programs and exhibitions at the Museum. Goulbourn Museum is a registered charity and can offer tax receipts for all contributions over $10, so please be sure to leave your contact information with a donation.

The Museum is open Wednesday to Sunday from 1-4 p.m. and is located at 2064 Huntley Road, just south of Stittsville.

Help to spread the word and let's bring Clarence Evelyn Rielly's war medals back to Goulbourn Township!

Exceptional Women and the War of 1812 Exhibit on at the Stittsville Library

The Goulbourn Museum’s "Exceptional Women and the War of 1812" exhibit is currently on display at the Stittsville Public Library. Read about the bravery of Laura Secord and Maria Hill and see some artefacts belonging to women of that era.  

One featured artefact is an old-fashioned curling iron.  This item would have been a necessity for upper class women for the purpose of finding a suitable husband and maintaining the appearance of an upper class lifestyle.

Free copies of the Museum’s new booklet "Goulbourn's Top 12 of 1812" are also available at our display.  The booklet tells the story of 12 exceptional individuals from Goulbourn's past and details their achievements. Characters such as Andrew Spearman, Maria Hill and John Crozier are profiled. 

The Exceptional Women and the War of 1812 exhibit will be on display at the Stittsville Public Library until August 31^st.

Child's Christmas present from 1925 safely stored in Goulbourn Museum's collection

By Jennifer Adams

This doll was given to a little girl as a Christmas present in 1925. Just over six decades later, in 1991, it was donated to the Goulbourn Museum and has resided in our collection ever since.

Many of you may recognize this doll from our Museum banner at City Hall. It was chosen, along with two other artefacts, to represent our family-friendly site. Even though her paint is peeling and her face is cracked and chipped, this doll’s ability to represent a much loved pastime of many little girls cannot be overlooked.

The mid-1920s in Canada was a time of great prosperity for some, but for others it was a time of poverty. Many families did not have the money to buy their children toys and some children worked so hard in the home and fields that there was not much time for playing. More often than not, if a girl did receive a doll it was on a special occasion like Christmas.  Because a child would usually only receive one doll during her childhood, (if they received one at all), she would take extra special care of it. It not only had to last the rest of her childhood but there was also the hope of passing it down to her future daughter too.

This toy, known as a composition doll, reached the height of its popularity in the 1920s -1940s. The heads, and sometimes the limbs, of composition dolls were molded out of sawdust mixed with glue. Their heads were easier to manufacture and less likely to break when played with compared to porcelain dolls. Naturally, these American-made dolls gained popularity and German porcelain doll making companies lost favour.

The decades have taken their toll on this doll but like many women who can recall having a favourite doll, this one would have been loved and cherished by a little girl beginning on Christmas morning, 1925.

Question: At the height of the composition doll’s popularity, what famous person’s look-a-like doll was the most sought after? 

Answer:  Shirley Temple.

Early to mid-19th century style cloth dolls on display until the end of August

Two of the cloth dolls on display at the Goulbourn Museum.

By Jennifer Adams

Now on display at Goulbourn Museum until the end of August is a wonderful collection of modern made early to mid-19^th century style cloth dolls. These dolls were all handmade by members of the Ottawa-based cloth doll club All Dolled Up.

Each doll takes a lot of work to make, as well as time and patience to get it just right. The fine detailing on the faces requires trial and error until the final product matches the doll maker’s vision for the doll. 

This style of cloth doll is reminiscent of the toys that girls would have had in the early days of Goulbourn Township when the War of 1812 was still fresh in everyone’s mind.

Among the 12 dolls on display at the Museum there is also a horse, two dogs and a duck.  Sitting atop the horse is General Brock wearing his uniform and looking very dignified. Near him are a boy and young man, wearing pioneer clothing accompanied by their dogs and the firewood they have been collecting.  The display case would not be complete without the women that also played a valuable role in our nation’s history. They range from a young girl to older women, some wearing pioneer clothing, others wearing gentry clothing. These dolls are shown knitting, collecting food from the fields and doing laundry.

In addition to the Goulbourn Museum, All Dolled Up has also had their dolls on display at art galleries and local functions.  

Meet Stephanie Miles - Collections Assistant

Stephanie Miles

Goulbourn Museum has been like a second home to me over the past four years.  My initial involvement began as a co-op student during high school and this led to three years of volunteer service.  During those three years I completed the Applied Museum Studies Program at Algonquin College and recently graduated with Honours after completing a four-month internship as Educational Programming Assistant at Goulbourn.

I was extremely pleased to be the successful candidate for the seven-week Collections Assistant position at the Museum which is being offered through the Province of Ontario’s Summer Experience Program.  This position will allow me to put various elements from my last three years of learning into practice while at the same time gaining further experience in the area of Collections Management.

My main objective this summer is to assist with the organization of the Museum's large collection of artefacts.  There are a number of tasks that must be completed in order to meet this objective. These tasks include: recording artefact accession numbers and comparing these to the Museum's collections database, photo documentation of artefacts and recording each artefact’s dimensions and location.

I am excited to be involved with this project and look forward to the upcoming weeks.