Golden Bay Museum needs our help to “preserve our past and tell our stories”
Golden Bay Museum all-round assistant, Lee Rzoska, holds a carpet beater from the housekeeping equipment exhibition which is on display. Photo: Em Hofstedde.
The Golden Bay Museum needs you. Your talents and skills, and, if you can, your financial support.
The Golden Bay Museum is a community-owned resource, says Dilyse Roberts, spokesperson and former chair of the museum board.
“The museum has a huge range of local specimens, artefacts and records in its collections, making it an irreplaceable resource of great value to our region. Our mandate is to preserve our past and tell our stories.”
In order to do this, the museum operates with a staff of three paid employees whose part-time positions are the equivalent of one full-time position.
Funding from the Tasman District Council covers the wages of the administrator and collection manager Karen Johnson, contract archive worker Sally Gaffney and all-round assistant Lee Rzoska. These three women regularly volunteer as well, alongside the many others who donate their time and skills. “If we didn’t have volunteers we’d just have to stop,” says Lee.
The museum board is asking for help from the people of Golden Bay to volunteer their time as docents who operate the front-of-house by giving tours, answering questions and being a necessary watchful eye. “As little as three hours fortnightly would be a great help,” says Dilyse, “and we’d like to encourage young people to come along and take part too.”
People with technical skills are also much needed to volunteer their time. The museum needs the services of plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and those who can perform general maintenance.
A recent visit from Judith Taylor, museum development officer for the South Island, working on behalf of the National Services of Te Papa, gave the Golden Bay Museum “the thumbs up”, says Lee. “She said we’re doing well in our efforts to update the collection housing and take care of the museum.”
Lee says part of Karen’s focus is following the New Zealand Museums Standards Scheme as set out by Te Papa, which supports smaller museums to achieve new levels of professionalism – “something the current staff is passionate about”. But this takes time and money and, because of the shortage of both, jobs need to be prioritised according to realistic achievement.
Where does the money go?
The museum is an incorporated society, a non-profit charity run for the community by an elected board of five to nine members. The buildings are owned by the TDC and leased to the museum. Running costs are paid from visitor donations and the GB Gallery sublease of the front three rooms of the old Post Office.
“There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes,” says Lee.
Most of the items of the collection are not on display at any one time. By ensuring they are stored and documented correctly, the museum can locate and retrieve items when they are needed for viewing, display or study.
Particular care is needed to protect fragile items from light exposure, dust, chemical damage, insect or mould attack, and stresses or strains that could cause damage. Special boxes, padding, foams and acid-free tissue are used to protect and house items when not in use.
“We use acid-free tissue paper and acid-free boxing, both of which are very expensive,” says Lee. “We protect against insects, using silverfish repellents and insect traps. We also use a heat pump in our back storage rooms so we can have a temperature- and humidity-controlled area. This uses a lot of electricity but it is essential in protecting our collection.”
In spite of these measures, there is the smell of deterioration as one enters the archive rooms. “That’s the smell of photographic chemicals deteriorating,” says Lee. “There are methods for dealing with that, but again, time and money.”
One of those back storage rooms is meant to be a prep room for the exclusive purpose of documenting and preserving artefacts. It is essential to have this room separate from the main collection because of the possibility that an item may come in with an infestation of insect larvae which would be a threat to the entire collection, and also because the equipment and materials required for preservation take up a lot of space.
However, this room is already full of furniture, textiles, books and sculptures. High on the museum’s wishlist is more storage space that is temperature and humidity controlled. A great gift would be the donation of such a space.
The museum gratefully accepts all bequests, both natural and man-made, as long as the item has a Golden Bay provenance. This means the item must have originated in Golden Bay or have a strong connection to the Bay.
The exception is taonga, or Maori treasures, which, because of the amount of land court documentation currently required, should go to the Department of Conservation or directly to Chris Hill at the local marae, “unless they have been in your family for many, many years”.
“Many people like to have their family’s treasures in the museum because the museum will take good care of them and preserve them for future, especially against silverfish,” says Lee.
The clear desire here is to have the story behind the piece being donated and Lee says this means “ask your elders now”. A recent example of this is the gift of the still-functioning mantel clock of Nurse O’Lash, or Sister Lash as she was known to many of the Golden Bay families for whom she delivered babies between 1919 and 1945. The clock, with her story, was donated by her great nephew and was the first accession Lee documented.
Lee photographed the clock and uploaded that photo into the museum software, along with all the details of the clock and its provenance. “We want to do this for each piece in the collection,” she says. “In this way we can keep track of what we have, where everything is, what information is known about it and which items might need attention or further care, or be useful for an exhibition or educational programme.”
The museum began in 1990 with the purchase of the Mary Wilson collection, much of which is still not documented because of the amount of time it would take. Nor is it all preserved to the standards that the current staff would like to see.
Lee and Karen learnt their crafts from recently retired archivist and collection manager Jane McDonald and are doing papers to increase their knowledge and skills in museum preservation. The museum funds them for the workshops they attend, but the two women fund their own education.
If you would like to do some research, especially of the genealogical variety, the museum has a research computer which is available to be used for a small donation. You can also hire a staff member to assist you at the rate of $15/hour.
Meanwhile, the next time you’re in need of a card to send to someone, why not check out the collection of lovely note cards for sale at the museum, promoting Golden Bay and preserving your heritage at the same time?
Em Hofstede
