My Favorite Visitor

By: Allison McQueen
Throughout the summer, the Historical Museum receives a variety of visitors. Many visitors are people from Prince Albert and area, out for the day to see what the city has to offer.

Parents, young children in tow, visit us to engender respect for the past and foster learning in the new generation. Grandparents and grandchildren meander through the rooms so that the older generation can reminisce about their youth.

Other Prince Albert citizens come in to fill the time, and hopefully learn something while doing it. A number of visitors, certainly more than you would expect, are retired couples on cross-Canada treks, the length of which would make you shudder. These guests like to hear local history from the tour guides; they have embarked on a mission to learn about their country and intend to see it through.

A surprisingly large group of visitors arrive at our doors from other countries; bringing their own perspectives and stories with them. These people are generally a clear slate, eager to learn as much as they can about Saskatchewan and the country in which it resides.

Despite the varied collection of visitors described above, my very favorite group of visitors are a particular set of patrons who come and leave very quickly. This group is easily differentiable from other visitors. In this group, entering the doors does not prompt an obligatory reach for a wallet from which to scrounge up some change for the admission fee.

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Instead, this group enters the museum carefully clutching a package. To them, the museum offers not a leisurely afternoon of browsing the past, but a place in which they have pressing business to conduct. Their expressions make it apparent they are on a mission. Likely, this mission had been at the back of their mind for years. They approach the desk and place their package down – they wish to donate something to the museum and they have to do it now.

Receiving donations is one of my favorite aspects of working at the Historical Museum. It is always unexpected to receive a donation; and it is always exciting and surprising to see what the museum patron has brought for you.

In my three years at the Museum, I have seen a plethora of things be donated. Last summer, we had a donation mailed to us. Inside the package was artwork made from artillery shells used in WWI. There was an intricately made knife, a mirror and some other knick knacks, to my recollection. I have also seen gun bags, walking sticks, photos and portraits donated. Everything we have in the museum was donated at one time or another.

A few weeks ago, we had an interesting donation brought into us. Like all the others, this man came in clutching a small package – a Heinz mustard bottle with small, round, blue tokens in it.

Once it became abundantly clear that the man wished to donate these artifacts, the most enjoyable part of receiving donations – the detective work – could begin. As the person who accepts the donation from the owner, it is your responsibility to find out what the item is, why it is important, where it is from (the Historical Society prefers to accept local items) and any other pertinent information.

This can be quite challenging for a number of reasons. In some cases, the owner may not know anything about the artifact. In most cases, they know at least some information about the artifact and it is up to you to extract as much information from them as you can. In a rather large number of cases, people simply want to drop off the item and bolt out the door – you have to really work to get their personal information and the item’s story from the owner for the Historical Society to review.

Luckily for me, the man who brought in the small, blue tokens was in a story telling mood, and was happy to answer my questions about the items and explain their significance. As it transpired, the tokens he wished to donate were meat ration tokens from the Second World War.

WWII was a total war, and all Canadian assets that could be spared were directed towards the war effort. Rationing became increasingly commonplace to meet wartime demands. During WWII, Canadian soldiers spent a lot of time mired in inaction around Britain.

When they went on leave, they were free to leave the bases and explore England. However, when you did so, you had to observe the rationing going on in England as well. Thus, Canadian soldiers, like Canadian civilians at home, were issued Canadian meat ration tokens to use during their time on leave. To get yourself a hotel room in England, you had to have a meat ration token to give the owner, in addition to your boarding costs. The donor recalled a room costing about 10 shillings. If you did not have a token, you would not be fed, or would even be refused a room.

This is just one of the many things I have learned from visitors to the Historic Museum this summer. The Historical Museum is always accepting donations, so if you have an artifact from the Prince Albert area you would like to donate, feel free to bring it by the museum!