The Indigenous Peoples and Archaeology building at the Melfort Museum is now open. (Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW staff)

By Angie Rolheiser

Additions to Museum

Indigenous Peoples and Archaeology building latest addition to Melfort Museum

Jun 22, 2021 | 12:36 PM

The Melfort and District Museum now has an entire building dedicated to Indigenous People.

Intern Michael Peters told northeastNOW the building has been a work in progress for years and is now open to the public.

The Indigenous Peoples and Archaeology building is located on the southwest end of the museum grounds.

“Initially it was to be the bright red building on the other end of the grounds but the collection became so large that it became too big for the building that was built for it,” Peters said. “The red building became the hardware and tool store and then we moved the threshing machine out of this building because it was the only building standing that had enough space for it.”

(Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW staff)

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White walls were put up in the building, the centre unit was donated by the Prince Albert Library. Once renovations were completed, a series of getting all of the artifacts identified and cataloged in the museum system took place.

The building consists of the Tom Smith collection of around 2,000 individual pieces as well as the Isidore Morgan collection of artifacts from the Yellow Creek and Crystal Springs area of 3,500 pieces.

Peters has been working on cataloging the Smith collection since November. Smith’s research had a focus on archeology and local history. He was also a founding member of the Saskatchewan Archeological Society.

The Morgan collection was cataloged by Grace Morgan, Isidore’s daughter. The Morgan family donated the collection in 2016 after Isidore’s and Grace’s passing, Peters said.

“Once the donation was made it became an issue of finding the space for all of the artifacts to display them properly,” Peters said. “The museum got the idea of having a separate building for the collection.”

Peters said a sense of pride and relief is being felt by himself and museum staff to see the building open to the public.

“It has become quite the building with all of the pieces and of course the hundreds of pieces from the museum collection that we have been collecting over the years,” Peters said.

(Angie Rolheiser/northeastNOW staff)

They have offered a few private tours prior to the ceremony that was held on Monday as part of National Indigenous Peoples Day, and the feedback so far has been amazing— Peters said.

The Settler village is now open for tours Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

There are still spots open in the Museum’s time warp summer program for kids. Register by calling the museum at 306-752-5870.

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angie.rolheiser@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser