Behind the Scenes - Collections Assistant Ronan Hinds

Working at the Rossland Museum as a Collections Assistant this summer has been a fantastic and very educational experience. Throughout the summer, I have had the pleasure of working on a wide variety of projects and becoming well acquainted with heritage work. My time has been spent on three main projects: historical research, collections inventory, and exhibit design. Through these projects, I have learned how to catalogue and organize collections and curate exhibits, while further developing my research skills.

-Ronan

The Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre would like to thank the Government of Canada and the Canada Summer Jobs program for contributing to this paid student opportunity.

Main Projects

Cataloguing and Inventory - Summer Inventory and Hunter Brothers

One of my first projects for the summer was conducting a summer “Spot Inventory.” This consisted of me visually verifying the location of 550+ objects from our collection and determining any that were not in their stated location. This project helped re-introduce me to the organization of our collections space and PastPerfect – our collections management software. 

After having re-familiarized myself with the collections space and PastPerfect, my next major project, one I have worked on throughout the entire summer, was cataloguing the objects in the Hunter Brothers exhibit. This was my first large-scale cataloguing project, having been introduced to it the prior summer, and involved creating paperwork for, photographing, and entering into PastPerfect all of that documentation for 75+ artifacts. The Hunter Brothers exhibit covers a wide variety of artifacts, and with most of them being donated in the mid-to-late 1900s, they have very little completed paperwork. Thus, catalogue forms often needed to be created from the ground up. For each object, I would check accession paperwork for any important information, take measurements, describe the object, note its condition, and photograph it. Cataloguing the collection is an ongoing process, and I am happy to have made a dent in what's left.

2306.0233 - Trail smelter taken by the Hughes Brothers, circa early-1900s

Research - Cominco Essay + Character Panels

Another aspect of my time with the museum this summer was conducting historical research. My largest research project was rewriting the museum's research webpage on Cominco (now Teck), one of the largest companies in the region and a huge part of Rossland's history. Researching Cominco led me to dive deep into our archival and research collections, scouring for historical sources. The historical research was formatted as an online research essay and covered Cominco’s formation (1896) until the present day (2026).

I also researched and wrote short informative panels on historical figures in Rossland to be added to the permanent exhibits. Throughout the summer, I completed three of these, writing about Father Mac, a priest at Sacred Heart Catholic Church; Harry Lefevre, a Rossland mayor; and Billy Esling, a local politician who was elected to parliament. 

Exhibit Design - ‘Behind Closed Doors’ - A History of Secret Societies in Rossland

My favourite project that I was able to work on this summer was designing an outreach exhibit for the Rossland Public Library. For this exhibit, I decided to focus on the Fraternal Orders, or Secret Societies, that Rossland had in its boomtown years. The exhibit design process was separated into three main sections: initial planning, research and writing, and fabrication and installation.

In the initial planning stage, I brainstormed ideas, going through a few iterations before deciding on a monthly rotation of fraternal orders, highlighting six organizations. Next, I began research, poring through any archival material we had relating to these orders and compiling information. I then created a design with one general panel alongside an individual panel for each order. Finally, I printed and glued the panels to foamcore and installed the first monthly rotation in the Rossland Public Library.

Small Projects + Learning Workshops

Alongside the major projects I was working on this year, I also helped out with our summer camps, standardized database records, hosted a booth at the Trail PRIDE Market, and provided guided tours of our upper level. These projects allowed me to meet many community members and visitors to Rossland, and it was lovely to actively see the role the museum plays in the community.

Throughout my time at the museum I was also lucky enough to participate in Sara’s workshops for the staff. These workshops included learning about and practicing basic book and object repair.

Working at the museum this summer has been a fantastic experience. I have learned so much – ranging from organizing collections to conducting historical research – worked with wonderful people, and developed essays and exhibits I can truly say I’m proud of!