Richmond Hill seeks ways to showcase history: new museum or artifacts online?

Report shows not many know about current small heritage centre

Yorkregion.com
May 2, 2016
By Marney Beck

Do you know Richmond Hill has a museum?

Scratch that.

Do you know Richmond Hill has a history?

You may think, based on the number of newcomers and new construction, that Richmond Hill just sprouted up in the last few years.

In fact, this “rose capital of Canada” has a rich history dating back to pioneer days - and you aren’t alone if this is news to you.

With booming growth and more than half of the population first-generation Canadians, many residents of Richmond Hill are not aware of the town’s heritage, according to a newly released town study.

A Museum Feasibility Study is calling for an increased presence and relevance in the community - beginning with expanded programs and outreach and, over the longer term, a more permanent home for the museum.

Currently, the heritage centre/museum is located on Church Street North in downtown Richmond Hill, near Elgin Barrow Arena, and contains most of the town’s museum programs.

The small heritage centre may be ideally located in the historic core, but not many people know about it or make use of it, the report said.

As well, it suffers from lack of space for exhibits and programs, relatively small budget (compared to other communities of similar size) and “unclear focus”, the report said.

There are approximately 10,000 items in the museum collections, but few are on display; most are housed in storage areas of the town’s Operations Centre.

In 2014, the museum program cost $215,000 in expenses. About 5,344 guests visited the museum that year, bringing a revenue of just $94,000. Net cost to the town was about $121,000, the report said.

At a recent council meeting, local councillors approved the study’s recommendations that would ensure the town’s history and heritage is protected and accessible for future generations.

Based on public consultation and feedback from residents (including an online survey answered by 154 people), the study recommends that in the short-term, modest upgrades be made to the Heritage Centre, A.J. Clark Interpretive Centre (inside Elgin West Community Centre) and collections storage facility. As well, the study recommended the museum expand its reach by partnering with other locations in Richmond Hill to deliver programs (i.e. libraries, community centres, town hall) and with travelling exhibits for display at regional shopping malls, schools and community facilities.

Implementation will begin in 2016 with the expansion of programming, events and web-based initiatives.

The next phase recommends the town consider two options for creating a more permanent home for the museum, either through a new or renovated town-owned building (about 16,000 square feet at a cost of more than $4 million) or a new heritage museum and cultural centre (23,500 square feet, costing almost $13 million).

During one of the public discussions of a future museum, residents were asked to consider if the town could make a museum inside the renovated former post office at 10184 Yonge St., designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.

However, that building at Yonge and Centre streets is now occupied by a realty firm.

Councillor David West offered a further suggestion.

“I am not sure that this vision of a future museum even necessarily includes bricks and mortar in all cases,” West said in a Facebook conversation this week.

West pointed to an ongoing five-year project at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto to digitize every piece in its six million-piece collection.

The ROM’s project to move artifacts into cyberspace follows more than 50 major North American museums that have made significant portions of their collection freely available to the public online.

Like the ROM, but not nearly as extensive, Richmond Hill has a collection of artifacts and many of these items are not displayed at any given point in time, West said.

“Would a digital catalogue be interesting, coupled with the two sites that we currently have for physical display?”

Richmond Hill resident Katie Vee Kay loves hands-on museums, but thinks a digital museum may work for Richmond Hill, too. “Libraries are heading that way ... why not museums?”
Community activist Marj Andre isn’t so sure.

“Seeing an actual thing, presented in a good context, as a good museum would, is a much better experience,” she said.

“I do hope Richmond Hill will one day proudly tell its history in a way that will attract people to come and see it. Museums aren’t a dead concept. The ROM is packed.”

To learn more about the Museum Feasibility Study, visit RichmondHill.ca/HeritageCentre.