What is Museum Anyway?

WHAT IS A MUSEUM ANYWAY?

I was reading an interesting article this morning attempting to define what exactly IS a museum in today's world? There were many attempts to define exactly what makes a museum a unique experience. After all, as the author said, "To non-museum goers, the line between museum and not-museum is blurry. Museums are quality learning spaces, but so are libraries. Museums are experiences, but so is Disney. Museums house things, but so do libraries. Museums are adjacent and overlap so many other things."

She concludes: "We aren’t just buildings with collections. We are the places people go to learn. We are the people who collect for the future. We are conveners of communities. We are the real in a world full of fake. We are the best of society and the worst—all there to remind people about both. We are humanity on display. We are nature in its most wonderous. We are what society needs today, tomorrow, and hopefully forever."

The Kings County Museum is glad you are all part of our community as we attempt to live up to such lofty goals in our little corner of the world. Thank you for your support.

Check out our new video of the Old Kings County Gaol (Jail), built in 1840 in the nearby community of Kingston, New Brunswick and relocated to Hampton when the shiretown moved here in 1870.

Heritage Week 2019

Heritage Week 2019

Each year at this time Canadians are invited to celebrate our heritage. This year, during the period February 11 - 18, the theme is Our Living History: Exploring our Cultural Heritage.

Museums such as the Kings County Museum have a critical part to play in preserving and celebrating our heritage, both physical and cultural. Museums provide a tangible link to our rich cultural history, and without them future generations will not have the opportunity to truly understand what our ancestors have achieved.

While much can be learned by reading about times past and looking at old photos, nothing compares to seeing it with your own eyes. When young people visit our museum and see how a roller organ (what I call "the ipod of a hundred years ago") works, and may even get to turn the crank and play the music themselves; when they see how underwear was originally made of two pieces that were fastened at the waist, and only in later years sewn into one garment and they suddenly understand why it is a PAIR of underwear, these experiences will stay with them far longer than reading an explanation in a book or on a computer screen.

We are open Thursday and Saturday afternoons all winter. Come by for a visit . . . and bring the kids.

Postcards from Home

Postcards from Home

The Kings County Museum has a wide variety of local and international postcards in our collection. This one is a photo of Church Avenue, Sussex that was mailed in 1908 to Miss Nellie MacFarlane of Norton by L.M.S.

Postcards were hugely popular during the early 20th century, and many families had albums of them holding greetings from near and far. Friends and relatives used them to keep in touch at a distance. According topostcardy.com, official United States Post Office figures for the year ending June 30, 1908 cited 667,777,798 postcards mailed in the United States. By 1913 the total in the United States was over 968,000,000, after which date the craze was reportedly declining.

ANNIDALE The Story of an Abandoned NB Community

ANNIDALE The Story of an Abandoned NB Community

We have recently received several copies of a newly published book on the community of Annidale from the author, John R Elliott.

In 1891 Annidale (located some 13 miles from Sussex) was described as a thriving community with a train station, a post office, saw and grist mills, a blacksmith and a commodious public hall. Sixty years later the community had ceased to exist. The book traces the settlement from the early 19th century through to its final years in the mid-twentieth century, and includes brief genealogies of the 40+ families who once lived there.

Annidale - From Wilderness to Wilderness is now available for purchase at the Museum.

LAND GRANT MAPS

LAND GRANT MAPS

One of the projects for this past winter involved finding a better way to store and utilize our New Brunswick Land Grant Maps. We have now organized the local ones into an art rack (which in this case would be better labeled as a map rack) which displays the local land grant maps in a protected and easily accessible manner. If you are researching your family tree it is great to be able place the grants geographically and see who your ancestors' neighbours would have been. We currently have the map rack in the main exhibit room, just in front of the 1862 Walling Map which shows the landowners from that year. Come see!

Dog Fur Coats

Dog Fur Coats

During our exploration and reorganization of the textiles in our collection we came across several dog fur coats. During the early 20th century it was not uncommon for the less wealthy who desired a fur coat to wear coats made of dog fur. We have several in our collection in various sizes from child to man. Pictured below are two ladies coats.

Although fur was worn as clothing in early history, as early as the 11th century, fur was worn as a symbol of wealth and social status rather than just out of the need for warmth. European royalty regularly wore fur coats, fur capes, and fur accessories made from mink, sable, and chinchilla fur. By the 1300s, laws were introduced that regulated which social classes were allowed to wear which types of furs.

The wearing of fur became more widespread during the Victorian era. The fur coats that were worn by Victorian men typically were lined with fur on the inside and crafted of other materials on the outside. Women’s fur coats were generally lined with fur at the collar, wrists, and hem.