This Friday marks the closing of our 100th anniversary commemorative exhibit “Faces of the Florizel”. We will be hosting a closing reception beginning at 5:00 p.m. which will include speeches, performances, light refreshments, and the chance to purchase our exhibit catalogue. The “Faces of the Florizel” exhibit has been on display since February 24th, 2018 in The Annex, a new exhibit and performance space beside Admiralty House Communications Museum. The “Faces of the Florizel” exhibit serves to commemorate those connected to the terrible tragedy including the passengers, crew members, and those involved with the rescue efforts both at sea and on land. The exhibit was funded in part by the Provincial Government’s Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation as well as the City of Mount Pearl.
Over the course of researching and developing the “Faces of the Florizel” exhibit I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with many relatives of those affected by the wreck of the SS Florizel. One such relative is Lynn Hamilton McShane whose grandfather, Tom Kane, was a local from Renews who helped to recover the bodies that washed ashore from the wreck. Lynn contacted us regarding her grandfather last summer and told me that she had interviewed him in the 1980’s when she was in university. She had the transcript for this interview and looked high and low for the audio recording. When her search came up empty she told me that she would re-record the interview with her Uncle Eugene subbing in for Tom Kane. This re-recorded interview became an integral part of our exhibit and was used as an interactive where visitors could listen to various clips of the interview. It will also be featured in our new podcast, Pigeon Post. We are very excited that this interview will be performed by Lynn and Eugene during our Closing Reception.
Our second performance is a short play written and performed by Randy Crane, a local who became fascinated with individuals connected to the wreck of the SS Florizel. “A Deadly Night” features Randy Crane stepping into the roles of various passengers and crew members on the SS Florizel including that of Fred Roberts and Captain William Martin. We are very excited to see some of these individuals come to life through Randy’s performance.
While I’m excited for this event, I know that this Friday will be a difficult one for me. I began working at Admiralty House Communications Museum back in May 2016 when I was completing an internship as part of my post-graduate program in Museum and Gallery Studies. Since then I have had various contracts working at the museum. Even when I wasn’t employed by the museum, I could be found volunteering or just hanging out with my favourite carrier pigeon, Archie. This museum has meant so much to me in the past two years.
In July 2017 I was extremely excited to start my new position as Assistant Manager and start work on the Faces of the Florizel exhibit. I have learned so much during the research and development of this exhibit. I was spoke with relatives and fellow museum professionals that have had a profound effect on me. While uncovering new stories and photographs on individuals connected to the SS Florizel I was able to connect with people all across the province and even throughout other parts of Canada and the United States. Everyone was excited to see their relatives commemorated in this exhibit and I was honoured to be able to share their stories with the public (that’s what museum work is all about, right?). A lot of the passengers and crew members involved with the wreck of the SS Florizel were Newfoundland natives. As a mainlander, it was an eye-opening experience for me while researching and uncovering these individuals’ stories. I jokingly tell visitors that the people displayed in this exhibit have become my family. Truth be told, they have become my family. I feel a personal connection to each and every person I researched in this exhibit and getting to know their living relatives has been an absolute pleasure.
This exhibit was no small undertaking. It had been in the works for a number of years. It’s hard to imagine what the end product will look like when you’re starting a project like this. You have ideas and expectations of what you want it to look like, but sometimes they don’t always translate into reality. So much work went in to every little detail in this exhibit from the design and colour scheme of the text panels to the interactives and artifacts placed throughout. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to create on such a small budget. And when visitors leave The Annex with a smile and compliment, I give myself a mental pat on the back. Or maybe, sometimes, a real one 😉
I often feel that this exhibit has been my (brain) child. From conception to birth to growing up, I have been there through the ups and downs, day in and day out. Friday will be my final farewell before this exhibit “leaves the nest”. It will be sad to see this exhibit come to an end, but I know that it has made an impact on those who have stopped by to see it.
For the rest of the week, The Annex is open from 10am until 4pm on Wednesday, 10am until 8pm on Thursday, and on Friday from 9am until 7pm. Be sure to drop by before the end of the week to see the exhibit before it’s gone and check out our closing reception this Friday, June 29, where you can pick up a copy of our exhibit catalogue to have a memory to hold onto long after the exhibit closes.
The closing of the exhibit, this Friday, June 29, is not the only goodbye I have to make. Next week my contract here at the museum comes to an end and I will say goodbye to a place that I have been lucky enough to call home for the past two years. New adventures will follow, but this museum, and particularly the Faces of the Florizel exhibit, will forever have a special place in my heart. As the famous philosopher Winnie the Pooh once said, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
Deanna Walter
Over the course of researching and developing the “Faces of the Florizel” exhibit I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with many relatives of those affected by the wreck of the SS Florizel. One such relative is Lynn Hamilton McShane whose grandfather, Tom Kane, was a local from Renews who helped to recover the bodies that washed ashore from the wreck. Lynn contacted us regarding her grandfather last summer and told me that she had interviewed him in the 1980’s when she was in university. She had the transcript for this interview and looked high and low for the audio recording. When her search came up empty she told me that she would re-record the interview with her Uncle Eugene subbing in for Tom Kane. This re-recorded interview became an integral part of our exhibit and was used as an interactive where visitors could listen to various clips of the interview. It will also be featured in our new podcast, Pigeon Post. We are very excited that this interview will be performed by Lynn and Eugene during our Closing Reception.
Our second performance is a short play written and performed by Randy Crane, a local who became fascinated with individuals connected to the wreck of the SS Florizel. “A Deadly Night” features Randy Crane stepping into the roles of various passengers and crew members on the SS Florizel including that of Fred Roberts and Captain William Martin. We are very excited to see some of these individuals come to life through Randy’s performance.
While I’m excited for this event, I know that this Friday will be a difficult one for me. I began working at Admiralty House Communications Museum back in May 2016 when I was completing an internship as part of my post-graduate program in Museum and Gallery Studies. Since then I have had various contracts working at the museum. Even when I wasn’t employed by the museum, I could be found volunteering or just hanging out with my favourite carrier pigeon, Archie. This museum has meant so much to me in the past two years.
In July 2017 I was extremely excited to start my new position as Assistant Manager and start work on the Faces of the Florizel exhibit. I have learned so much during the research and development of this exhibit. I was spoke with relatives and fellow museum professionals that have had a profound effect on me. While uncovering new stories and photographs on individuals connected to the SS Florizel I was able to connect with people all across the province and even throughout other parts of Canada and the United States. Everyone was excited to see their relatives commemorated in this exhibit and I was honoured to be able to share their stories with the public (that’s what museum work is all about, right?). A lot of the passengers and crew members involved with the wreck of the SS Florizel were Newfoundland natives. As a mainlander, it was an eye-opening experience for me while researching and uncovering these individuals’ stories. I jokingly tell visitors that the people displayed in this exhibit have become my family. Truth be told, they have become my family. I feel a personal connection to each and every person I researched in this exhibit and getting to know their living relatives has been an absolute pleasure.
This exhibit was no small undertaking. It had been in the works for a number of years. It’s hard to imagine what the end product will look like when you’re starting a project like this. You have ideas and expectations of what you want it to look like, but sometimes they don’t always translate into reality. So much work went in to every little detail in this exhibit from the design and colour scheme of the text panels to the interactives and artifacts placed throughout. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to create on such a small budget. And when visitors leave The Annex with a smile and compliment, I give myself a mental pat on the back. Or maybe, sometimes, a real one 😉
I often feel that this exhibit has been my (brain) child. From conception to birth to growing up, I have been there through the ups and downs, day in and day out. Friday will be my final farewell before this exhibit “leaves the nest”. It will be sad to see this exhibit come to an end, but I know that it has made an impact on those who have stopped by to see it.
For the rest of the week, The Annex is open from 10am until 4pm on Wednesday, 10am until 8pm on Thursday, and on Friday from 9am until 7pm. Be sure to drop by before the end of the week to see the exhibit before it’s gone and check out our closing reception this Friday, June 29, where you can pick up a copy of our exhibit catalogue to have a memory to hold onto long after the exhibit closes.
The closing of the exhibit, this Friday, June 29, is not the only goodbye I have to make. Next week my contract here at the museum comes to an end and I will say goodbye to a place that I have been lucky enough to call home for the past two years. New adventures will follow, but this museum, and particularly the Faces of the Florizel exhibit, will forever have a special place in my heart. As the famous philosopher Winnie the Pooh once said, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”
Deanna Walter
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