Author Archives: Robin Nelson

Check out “A Walk Through Indigenous Memory”!

A Walk-Through Indigenous Memory: A Student Exhibit is a collaboration between MacEwan’s Indigenous Students Club (MISC) and Nicole Da Costa to showcase the names, cultural backgrounds, and notable histories of Indigenous persons from across Canada. The exhibit was displayed in the Macewan library from April 4th-8th 2022.

The Importance of People: The Dawson City Museum in the 1970s

Providing the second chronological consideration of the data, this working paper asks – What are some key moments, influential policies, and community activities that defined the Dawson City Museum’s development from the 1970s to the early 1980s?

After summarizing the answers and outlining our research approach, I give a short overview of the Museum’s development from the early 1970s to the early 1980s. I consider significant policies, focusing on employment policy and the relationship with Parks Canada. Then, a section on community activity describes the community of employees that moved to Dawson City in the 1970s and communities continued influence on the collections. Finally, the paper concludes with a summary and research implications. 

Interview Analysis: The Community’s Voice

Within this post, I am continuing to examine the role of the Dawson City Museum as a community resource (Community Resource, Museum as Employer). In particular, I am considering the Museum as the community’s voice – that is, a place for the community to tell stories. Becoming a place for the community to tell its own stories is also a goal for current staff, but interview data demonstrates it was a reality for the Museum in the 1990s into the early 2000s.

Teaching Resource: Mini Lecture on Museum Development

The history and development of museums in what we now call Canada is often misunderstood or not discussed. In this post, I am sharing a mini talk on the development of museums, which is embedded in my course. I would love to hear your thoughts – Did I miss anything you feel are important to consider?

Interview Analysis: Museum as Employer

Within this post, I am continuing to examine the role of the Dawson City Museum as a community resource. In particular, I am considering its role as an employer, which was mentioned in a few interviews. Interview quotes provided below highlight the Dawson City Museum’s role as an employer and its related expansion in the 1980s and 1990s. However, the Museum stopped being a major employer in the 21st century, which can be explained through an examination of both community and policy changes. The interview data thus serves as a starting point to discuss ways the Dawson City Museum’s development was shaped through government policy and community action.

Inexpensive and Impressive but Challenging and Restrictive: A Consideration of Non-profit Museum Management in a Historic, Government-Owned Space

Providing the first thematic consideration of the data, this working paper focuses on the relationship between the Dawson City Museum and the space it occupies – that is, the Old Territorial Administration Building or the OTAB.  The OTAB is a National Historic Site and a government owned building. So, this thematic consideration relates to policy and demonstrates the role of unarticulated or implicit policies in shaping the Museum’s development. 

Interview Analysis: Community Resource

Within this post, I am continuing to engage with the curator interview and the question – What is the Dawson City Museum’s role? Notable, the Museum was founded as part of an effort to encourage tourism and its static exhibitions primarily appealed to tourist (As discussed in Tourism Role). The new exhibitions, which opened in 2021, reflect a desire to be more responsive to and reflective of their community, becoming a community resource beyond tourism.

Interview Analysis: Tourism Role

As someone who loves museums but recognizes they are colonial constructs, I often wonder: What, exactly, is the contemporary role of a museum within a community? Do they perpetuate and reinforce colonial narratives or do they serve other functions?

In the working paper Dawson City’s Community Attic, I discussed the critical role of tourism to the Dawson City Museum’s establishment and early development. Within this post, I consider the interview with the Dawson City Museum’s curator to examine the Museum’s contemporary role in tourism.