From Kamloops Daily News: Student archeologists help restore Chase museum after fires in 2011
The slow and steady process of cleaning soot-covered artefacts from the Chase museum fires begins in earnest this weekend with the help of 15 Simon Fraser University students.
The Daily News reported last month that Barbara Winter, a professor with SFU’s Museum of Archeology and Ethnology, and a group of her students would spend a weekend helping museum staff and volunteers however they could.
Winters and her students arrive in the Interior on Friday and will work Saturday and Sunday under the guidance of museum archivist Theresa Scott, she said Monday.
“The students are very, very keen,” said Scott. “They’ve said things like ‘It is my duty to help.’ It’s quite remarkable.”
With restoration of the archives almost complete, the students will be tasked with cleaning artefacts. Scott said a conservator from the Kelowna museum will be on site to instruct the students on the proper ways of cleaning the stone, glass, wood and textile items.
“I know that you use a variety of things such as sponges, soap and stuff. I don’t know what you use on individual items,” she said.
After the students leave, the hope is Scott and her staff will be proficient enough to teach volunteers how to continue the work, she said.
The restoration is going very well. Scott said Chase can get a little sleepy during the winter months, so there’s been no shortage of people wanting to help.
Winter offered her students’ services as soon as she learned of the fires last summer. The museum was severely damaged during two separate blazes last July.
Arson is believed to be behind both fires. Anyone with information is asked to contact Chase RCMP at 250-679-3221 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
The Chase museum is housed in an old church on Shuswap Avenue. Among the artefacts in the museum are archeological materials held in trust for the Little Shuswap Indian Band and archival files
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