burnt embers

This post is another in my series about the Haida Heritage Centre.  I often find more interest in the back rooms and obscure corners of museums than in the main exhibits, which is probably a bit perverse on my part, but comes from years of hanging around the places. Many years ago I worked in a museum and one of the most interesting things I found to do, other than (or perhaps rather than) my own work, was to watch model maker extraordinaire John Smyly doing his exacting and extremely precise work on the model of the Haida village of Skedans now on display in the Royal BC Museum in Victoria. The research that John put into that model was published, in part, as a book about Skedans.

Thus it was with considerable interest that I found this model, which I think is left over from the original museum exhibits before this new building was constructed. This model is in a plexiglass case, parked in a hallway that leads to the carving shed. The cover is cracked open, and parts of the case are held together with duct tape. Even so, the model looks to be in good condition. It is of the village of Skidegate, as it would have been in probably the 1860’s to 1880’s and based on photographs of that period, like this one, this one, and this one (which looks as if it has a picture of a model in the middle frame – perhaps even this model?). Skidegate is now a vigorous modern Haida town located just around the corner from the Museum.

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