County opens its expanded archives with hundreds attending

Wellington County officially opened its expanded archives at the Wellington County Muse­um June 25.

The Ventin Group designed the new 8,100 square foot facility, tripling the size of the existing one.

The addition provides space for the museum’s growing collection. The previous wing on the sec­ond floor of the museum is now artifact storage. The new stor­age vault is equipped with com­pact mobile shelving to fit various types of media and has a conservation quality environ­mental system to maintain ar­chives standards of tempera­ture, humidity and other air qual­ity controls. Lights in the storage area are motion sensitive and go out when no one is around.

“I am so pleased to offi­cially open the new archives expansion,” said county Ward­en Joanne- Ross-Zuj. “The Wellington County Museum and Archives contri­butes to the cultural vit­ali­ty of our com­munity and serves as an educa­tional re­source where local his­tory can be taught and handed down to younger generations.”

This project was paid for through a Building Canada grant, a museum assistance program grant and additional funds from the Investing in Ontario program, said coun­cillor Brad Whitcombe, chair­man of the information, heritage and seniors commit­tee.

“All three levels of government collaborated on this project, making it possible for the county to renew and improve its current cultural infrastruc­ture,” said Whitcombe.

Administrator Bon­nie Callen said, “This expansion will help staff continue their important work. The Welling­ton County Museum and Arch­iv­es is committed to preserving Well­ington County history and providing excellent service to our residents.”

The total cost of the project is estimated at $4.7-million and it created 1,190 weeks of work.

Wellington Halton MP Mich­ael Chong said, “A com­munity is built on its memory,” and he was pleased the federal government helped to fund the work. “A project like this re­minds us. Archives will ensure the memory of those who come before us.”

Wellington Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott said, “The weeks fly by in a flash, the years go by almost as fast, and the decades too. The inevitable truth is we are here for a time, then we pass the torch to the next generation.

“This is why history is so important – the past provides us a road map for the future. The road map is by definition a bit dated, but it’s more reliable than any ideology or fad that currently may be in vogue.

“These new archives allow us to preserve our history and understand it better. They will bring the interesting history of our county to life.”

Arnott cited Steve Thorn­ing’s weekly column in the Wellington Advertiser and said reading it shows “how rich and compelling the story of Well­ing­ton County’s history really is. The Wellington County Historical Society should be proud of its work in this regard as well.”

It seemed only fitting that Region of Waterloo chairman Ken Seiling was on hand. He was the first administrator of the museum, and he gave Callen her first job there.

“Thirty-five years ago I was standing at the podium when we opened the museum,” he re­membered, noting that was 1974 and the museum was being moved from Elora to Aboyne to a building that has been the county House of Industry.

He remembered he “bought back the District of Wellington [council] minutes from the man who stole them in the 1960s.”

He said that helped start the archives and, “What you have here today is one of the finest municipal archives in On­tario, if not Canada.”

The archives area itself contains over 5,000 square feet of space, climate controlled, as well as main rooms with banks of computers.

Rob Black, president of the Wellington County Histori­cal Society, noted he check­ed the minutes of that 82-year-old group and his grandmother, Isobel Jane Black, was part of a delegation to county council in 1972 to speak about archival mat­er­ial. She stated, “We need a place to store this stuff.”

The Ontario Genealogical Society presented Callen with a cheque for $1,000 to help the archive Newspaper from the northern part of the county.

An emotional Callen thank­ed everyone involved in the project and noted the county does excellent work. She is pleased that it is now finished. She said she and archi­vist Karen Wagner at­tended 59 meetings during the preparation and construc­tion work.

Whitcombe, too, noted there is a lot of work in such projects and said it is like sausage making. People do not want to see how it is done, “You just want to see the results.”

He told Callen, “What a pinnacle to the career you’ve had at Wellington County.”