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Preserving Nakusp’s history and heritage

Celebrating Nakusp’s efforts to preserve its history
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A miniature of the SS Minto is one of the many items on display at the Nakusp and Area Museum. The museum is open mid May through mid October.

Nakusp is extremely lucky to have two great places that preserve and protect our rich and colourful past. Housed in the Centennial Building, neighbours to the Library, are the Nakusp and District Museum and the Arrow Lakes Historical Society Archives.

In the 1960s, when all the upheaval due to the preparation of the Arrow Lakes for the flooding of the valley was proceeding two out-of-town BC Hydro workers contacted Doreen Desrochers, a BC Hydro employee, inquiring if Nakusp had a museum. They had concerns regarding the valley’s artifacts that were being taken away or destroyed.

There was no museum, but as it turns out the workers had asked the right person. Doreen went to a Kinette Club meeting and persuaded them to start a museum. The Village of Nakusp approved the use of the basement of the Centennial Building and donations began arriving.

With the help of the Kinette and Kinsmen Clubs, along with many volunteers, the museum opened in 1968. It now houses over 6,000 artifacts, antiques and one-of-a-kind curiosities including logging, sternwheeler and Sinixt Nation exhibits. When visiting, ask about the story behind the kidnapped pickled pig, or the art work made out of chewing gum.

Always interested in history, Milton Parent, originating from Nakusp, was living in Vancouver with his wife Rosemarie and their family. They kept in touch with family and friends back in Nakusp and subscribed to the Arrow Lakes News to keep up with Nakusp happenings.

About 1970 Milton began interviewing Nakusp’s pioneers and collecting their marvellous photographs. He built a darkroom in his basement to process these photographs. By the time the Parents moved back to Nakusp in 1984 Milton had accumulated over 500 hours of interviews and over 10,000 photographs.

Soon after he arrived an article was printed in Arrow Lakes News looking for people interested in forming a Historical Society. Fortunately for Nakusp, Milton Parent attended the meeting and he soon found himself voted in as the president of the Arrow Lakes Historical Society. The first thing to do was to restore the museum, which had been neglected. Several small books of local interest were printed with the help of Denis Stanley, owner and editor of the Arrow Lakes News, and $10,000 was raised for museum renovations. This was accomplished through volunteer work including the expertise of Harry Mason and Bob Swigart.

When the museum was closed for the winter, work on archival material continued in the Parent’s basement. Newspaper articles were copied, hand cut and pasted, and preserved in binders under appropriated date and subject. In 1998 the archives and museum separated due to differing focuses.

In 1999 BC Hydro closed all small customer offices and Rosemarie was the last to work there. When the manager stated the line crew would be moving into the main office the little add-on would be vacated. Rosemarie begged him to rent out the building to the Historical Society at a very reasonable lease. BC Hydro consented.

The archival material was moved out of the Parent basement and into town. After almost 15 years in this building it became obvious that an even a bigger place was needed with consideration to archival preservation conditions and space for technological equipment. So in 2014 with the consent of the Village of Nakusp, various grants, Columbia Basin Trust assistance, and the appreciated support of the people of Nakusp an addition was constructed on the back of the Centennial building.

The Arrow Lakes Historical Society let out a huge sigh of relief when the archive material was moved to its new and permanent home.

Having the museum and the archives in the same building has enabled both groups to work together smoothly. Many articles in the museum can be cross-referenced to material in the archives.

The museum has an old wooden chest containing the barge-building tools of Adelard Blondin, while up in the archives there is a story about Mrs. Blondin. When the Blondins lived at Blondin Point, just below Halcyon, Mrs. Blondin was preparing one of their ducks for Christmas dinner. Much to her surprise she found a sizeable gold nugget in the poor bird’s stomach. A minor gold rush followed, but the source of the gold was never discovered.

The future of both the archives and the museum is exciting as new material continues to be donated and the respective collections grow. The museum undertook renovation recently and the Archives, thanks to the expertise of archive technician Kyle Kusch, now has historical information, including photographs and audio recordings online.

The Arrow Lakes Historical Society is hosting the Annual BC Historical Federation Conference here in May. This is an incredible opportunity to show off not only the Centennial Building and its active occupants, but the beautiful area as well.

Presently the museum is closed for the winter, but the archives are open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.. People are always welcome to drop in and discover Nakusp’s unique and vibrant past.