Arden museum has a home

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Published on Friday, March 4, 2016

By Kira Paterson

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

The Glenella-Lansdowne Heritage Resource Tourism Committee (GLHRTC) has plans to open a museum in Arden this summer. Richard Funk, Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Glenella-Lansdowne and member of the GLHRTC, said that this is the committee’s biggest project so far.

Funk said that this January, they purchased the Arden United Church building, which was closing down due to lack of attendance. The building, constructed in 1890, is “sound and solid” and doesn’t need any repairs. “It was an ideal opportunity for us to get a building that didn’t need any money put in, as such,” Funk explained. He also said it’s the perfect place for a museum, having vaulted ceilings that would allow for tall items to be displayed and ample room for any artefacts the museum will have collected. 

The museum will contain artefacts pertaining to the history of Arden, the municipality, the surrounding area and the province. Funk said that in Arden, an Indian burial ground was found, there used to be a Northwest Mounted Police site and there are still ruts where the Red River carts used to travel to where an old trading post called Miller’s Halfway House once stood. Manitoba is full of history and the small town of Arden has played a part in it. History is important and GLHRTC wants to be able to share it with the younger generations, explained Funk. 

He said that this spring, the committee will start talking to other museums around the area to get a better idea of how to go about this project, and more importantly, how not to go about it. He explained that many small museums that collect artefacts from local donors often run into trouble discerning old family treasures from historical pieces. As a museum, Funk stressed that the committee wants to make sure the items they have contain historical significance to the province and they don’t want the clutter of just family heirlooms.

GLHRTC has been thinking about starting a museum for a while. Funk said that people have been donating things and they have a collection of items already, but before, they had nowhere to put it.

The committee hopes to get the museum open by July, however, Funk noted that the collection will be meagre to start. They will be open to all donations and considerations of artefacts and information that contain history about the province. 

The committee is also open to opinions and ideas about how to proceed with the museum, whether it be what to include in it, how to set it up or anything else. They are also always looking for new members. The committee is currently made up of nine members. If anyone is interested in joining the GLHRTC or has an idea about the museum, they are encouraged to contact Rod Shuttleworth or Doug Popkes, who are the co-chairs of the committee.