Spring 2021 Newsletter

SPRING 2021

ISSUE NO. 1

Newsletter

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: President's Message - 2 Meet the Team - 3 A taste of Powell River's History - 4 Nick Hudemka - 5

New Website Launches A brand new freshly re-designed website was launched in February 2021! With a new layout, the museum's website is now more user-friendly, making our resources readily accessible where ever you may be. Among many additions, all Digesters can now be read online. Staff is also working on continually adding historic photos as well as content to view from home, as we continue our efforts to engage our audience through the pandemic and social distancing.

The Crafty Corner - 6

Visit www.powellrivermuseum.ca

PRHMA | SPRING 2021 | PAGE 2

President's Message 2020

by Bill Vernon 2020 - what a year. A year that forced the world’s population into defending itself from a microscopic particle so small that you need an electron microscope to see it. The Powell River Museum, like so many other organizations, shared in the public duty of protecting staff, volunteers and visitors from this microscopic threat to our health and well-being.

Our staff are as resilient as they are talented, and we are proud of their success in maintaining many of the services we offer the public. They were very busy during the past year even though the doors had to be closed to visitors for periods of time.

Perhaps because of Covid, research requests during 2020 were up 133% from previous years. We continued to provide services to organizations, researchers, and students - services that will be much more accessible with the launch of our brand-new website.

This site has been under construction for some time, but with the Covid 19 closures extra effort could be put into its development so that by early 2021 it was up and running.

The list of groups and individuals that engaged with the museum is too long for this report, but it reveals an amazing range of activity. Hats off to all our staff and volunteers for getting this work done in difficult times. The board, staff and volunteers participated in the development of a 5-year strategic plan and implementation starts in 2021. In 2020 we added a new person to the team.

Joëlle Sévigny (Public Engagement Coordinator) joined us in the fall as part of our effort to engage more with the area’s community. Look for her writings in Powell River Living and her contributions on social media.

2020 also saw the retirement of longterm employee Fran Cudworth to whom we wish the best in her future endeavours. 2021 is going to be a breakout year of new initiatives for the Powell River Museum and we all look forward to having more, inperson interactions. We invite you, whether you live near or far from us, to come visit, engage with our staff, and get to know a history that spans thousands of years.

2021 Board of Directors President Bill Vernon Vice President Ellen Gould Treasurer Tim Wall Secretary Lauren Exter Directors at large Dave Sarnowski Dave McLennan Rita Rasmussen Claudia Westland

PRHMA | SPRING 2021 | PAGE 3

Meet the Team!

Laura Love Executive Director In March, We welcomed Laura Love to the PRHMA Team as Executive Director. Laura grew up in Fredericton, New Brunswick and eventually her family moved to a small town on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Laura received her Undergraduate Degree in Fine Arts at Memorial University of Newfoundland’s Grenfell Campus. After taking a year off in Ireland, Laura graduated from Ulster University’s Cultural Heritages and Museum Studies Program with her Master of Arts Degree. Shortly after graduation, Laura moved to Peace River, Alberta and spent just under 6 years as the Curator of the Peace River Museum, Archives and Mackenzie Centre. Though she is new to Powell River, Laura is looking forward to continuing and expanding on the work of the Powell River Historic Museum and Archives and immersing herself into the museum collection and community.

Terry McCune Volunteer In April, we also celebrated #BCVolunteerWeek and profiled Terry McCune, long-time volunteer at the PRHMA. Some years ago, Terry participated in a Black and White Photography night class at the Malaspina College. Little did he know, that that he would one day be back in the same building volunteering for the museum. For the past 8 years now, Terry has been a vital part of the museum's digitizing initiatives. Currently, he is scanning Powell River News' negatives into the PRHMA's database and also inputting information and captions to go along with the images. Terry, who is a vintage car enthusiast, has also gone through the entire PRHMA's photograph collection, and identified car models and years, which has greatly helped increase the accuracy of image dates. When asked about his favorite part of volunteering at the museum, Terry said he enjoys the good vibes and crew, as well as learning about the context of historical photographs - and let's not forget the views from his office window!

Thank you to all our volunteers!

A Taste of

Powell River's

History

INGREDIENTS 4 cups sifted flour 1 cup milk

NUT BREAD SUBMITTED TO THE POWELL RIVER COOK BOOK BY MRS. B.M. DOOLITTLE.

1 cup sugar 1 egg beaten light

½ teaspoon salt

Martha born

‘Mattie’

in

1873

Kansas,

1 cup chopped walnuts 4 level teaspoons baking powder

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Put in buttered pans.

2. Let stand in warm place twenty minutes.

3. Bake 40 minutes in moderate oven.

Boylan in

USA

was

Stockton, to

Mary

In

November

1911,

Benjamin

left his job as mechanic at the Clark

County

Saw

in

Alldredge and George Boylan

Washington,

and

with his family to White Rock,

was

the

third

of

nine

children. In 1880, Martha and

British

her

the

family

travelled

from

and

Mill

Columbia.

Doolittle

travelled

From

Family

here, made

Kansas, by wagon train, on the

their way to Powell River for

Oregon

Benjamin

Trail

and

settled

in

Clackamas County, Oregon.

mechanic

Martha

River

‘Matt’ 26th,

married Doolittle 1893

in

Benjamin

on

October

to

start

with

as

the

Company’s

master Powell

Pulp

and

Paper Mill.

Clackamas

County. The couple welcomed

By

a son, Edmund in 1898.

returned to the United States, and

1930,

the

eventually

family

settled

had

on

farm in Tillamook, Oregon.

a

PRHMA | SPRING 2021 | PAGE 5

NICK HUDEMKA

Left: Nick Hudemka. Right: cabin at the head of Powell Lake. Bottom: 114 foot log, hand logged

by Nick on Goat island.

A life in the Wilderness of Powell Lake / Thah Yetl An interesting research request recently, was an

cabin at the head of Powell Lake where he built

inquiry regarding one of Powell Lake's hermit;

a large root garden and root cellar.

Nicodemus

"Nick"

Hudemka.

His

story

is

perhaps less known than Billy Goat Smith's but

Nick came down to Powell River around once a

just as colorful.

month. Sometimes he also went to Vancouver to see football games; he called Powell Air and

Nick came to Powell River in 1940 and was

they would land at his shack up the lake, with

issued the last hand logger license in BC.

Nick waiting all dressed. He lived the hermit life

Sometimes it could take him up to two weeks

in style. It is also said that he often bought

to get a single log down the mountain to the

chocolates for women.

lake. The logs measured up to 138 ft. long.

In his later years, Nick was unable to keep hand The work was dangerous; once Nick was pinned

logging. However, he loved the wilderness so

under a log for 26 hours before he got himself

much, he also could not part with it. In 1976, he

free. There was also many bears but Nick didn't

was recovered from Powell Lake, after a massive

believe in hunting them, They were his friends

heart attack. He is remembered by friends as

and he wasn't afraid of bears - although it is

"part of Powell Lake."

said that he had a fear of hummingbirds!

Information from Mysterious Powell Lake by

Over the years, Nick built several cabins around Powell Lake; the most well known, was the

Carla Mobley

PRHMA | SPRING 2021 | PAGE 6

The Crafty Corner Fun activities for kids !

Prep Time: 10 min | Craft time: 30 min | Drying time: 1 day

Make your own fossil

What you will need:

Fossils are impressions of plants, bugs, and animals that were left in the mud a long time ago, dried, got buried, and eventually became rock.

Ingredients: 1 cup of used ground coffee 1/2 cup of cold coffee 1 cup of flour 1/2 cup of salt

When an organism dies, its body begins to decompose.

Before it completely decomposes, the body gets buried by sediment like sand, mud, or silt. Layers of sediment build up, and the pressure turns the layers into rock. A fossil is formed!

Equipment: mixing bowl wax paper small objects to make the impressions (seashells, dinosaur toys, plastic bugs) butter knife or empty can

Tag us in your photos! @PRHMuseum

Scientists study fossils to learn about plant and animals from thousands of years ago. For example, paleontologists study fossils of dinosaurs to learn about how they looked!

Instructions: 1. Mix together the coffee grounds, coffee, flour, and salt until well mixed.

2. Knead the dough and flatten it on the wax paper.

3. Use an empty can or butter knife to cut your shapes.

4. Press small objects into the dough, to leave an imprint. Remove the object.

5. You can use a toothpick to make a hole at the top if you plan on hanging your fossil.

6. Let the fossil harden overnight (or longer for thicker fossils). You can also place outside to dry.

PRHMA | SPRING 2021 | PAGE 7

qathet History Word Search find all the words!

PRHMA | SPRING 2021 | PAGE 8

UPCOMING AT THE PRHMA To stay up to date, follow us on Mother's Day - May 9th

BC Museum Week - May 17-23

Check our FaceBook page

This

on how to participate in our

Mother's

giveaway!

day

Answer

trivia

questions to be entered

year

the

theme

for

BC

Museum

Week

is

#museumACTION and explores a different topic each day

–

Inclusion,

Reconciliation,

Climate,

Emerging

Museums Professionals, Leadership, Accessibility, and Community.

into a draw. Winner will be

announced

on

May

7th!

The PRHMA will be participating online via a social media campaign, as well as through giveaways and kids

Father's Day - June 20th

activities. Stay tuned!

Follow us on social media to find out how to enter the Father's Day giveaway in June!

4790 Marine Avenue Powell River, BC V8A 4Z5

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10% OFF in the Museum Gift

Tuesday to Saturday 10 am - 3 pm *Currently closed due to COVID19

Shop 10% OFF Research Fees 10% OFF Workshops

info@powellrivermuseum.ca 604-485-2222 www.powellrivermuseum.ca