Behind the Scenes - Research Assistant/Heritage Interpreter Erin Baker

I will leave the Museum with so many valuable skills that I will make use of for the rest of my life, and memories that will last just as long! I am so thankful for the support and mentorship of my lovely managers and coworkers, and for all of the amazing opportunities that came with working at the Museum. This experience has allowed me to learn, explore my interests, and gain experience to be used in all future endeavours. 

-Erin

The Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre would like to thank the Government of Canada and the Canadian Museums Association's Young Canada Works program for contributing to this paid student opportunity.

Website Review

One of the major ongoing projects for the Museum is reviewing all of our website content to ensure that it’s fact-checked, properly sourced, and well written. I challenged myself to gather as much information as I could on the Red Chair and the Red Mountain Racers. Those topics are particularly interesting to me as a former ski racer, and learning about their history has been an absolute joy! Thankfully, our little town has an abundance of information and artifacts relating to ski history. However, that meant that the research was no small task, and there always seemed to be more to discover.

A large portion of my time was spent flipping through the archival newspaper collections, poring through books, and listening to Rossland Memories interviews from knowledgeable community members. Using such a variety of sources allowed me to develop both my research and analytical skills. I learned to recognize key ideas and connections across sources, as well as how to organize the information chronologically and cohesively. This project was a wonderful way to learn about research and history while gaining skills that will be useful for future careers. I am especially grateful to my managers for allowing me to learn more about something that so closely aligned with my interests.

Character Panel

Another project that I had the opportunity to work on was developing a Trygve Nora character panel. Similar panels are situated across the museum, giving visitors a glimpse into prominent individuals throughout our history and their lives in Rossland. This was incredibly exciting for me as it was my first time writing an exhibit panel rather than simply conducting research for them. 

Writing the exhibit text was a unique experience because it had to be both educational and easy for visitors to understand. This was a challenge; I had to transform large amounts of information into short, engaging, and educational text. This required identifying the most important information and presenting it clearly. The character panel taught me how important it is to consider your audience when writing. It was very rewarding to see the project that I had worked on be added to the museum to be shared with visitors for years to come. 

Smaller Projects and Everything Else

I have helped with the research for many projects and panels that have popped up around town! Before the Trail-Rossland 2026 BC Winter Games, the Museum was hard at work creating small history displays at the various venues hosting events. For that reason, I conducted the research on figure skating and curling. Both the Curling Club and Figure Skating Club have been in Rossland for decades (almost 75 years, I think!), and they have a lot of fun history to learn about. That was what made researching them so interesting.

I also did some research on football - or soccer, whichever name you prefer to call the sport! The varied language did pose quite the challenge, as I had to read each article carefully to determine whether it was referring to soccer, American football, or even rugby. Thankfully, I was able to find enough bits and pieces of Rossland's soccer history to contribute to the “GOOOOOOAL! Soccer in Rossland” exhibit placed at the Prestige in June, just in time for the FIFA World Cup!

Between leading guided tours, helping with community events, and working at the front desk, I have had the privilege of meeting so many wonderful people. My time at the museum has truly given me new insight into the importance of museums and heritage buildings for the community. 

Working at the museum has taught me so much. Not only have I learned about the research process and developed all of the other skills I mentioned above, but so much more. I will leave the museum knowing how to repair books, how to give a great tour, and last, but certainly not least, how to be the Easter Bunny!