Village News

A series on the roles of museums…

Last week it was Winnipeg’s turn to host the National Heritage Trust Conference. I heard many amazing stories of how developers with a passion for heritage have helped maintain the beautiful early 1900’s core of Winnipeg. Winnipeg has the most intact core of buildings from that era in all of North America! From the many good workshops arose several great quotations:

“Heritage speaks against our disposable culture.”

“I love old buildings because they last.”

“Buildings don’t matter unless there are people in them.”

“Developers! We are here to help others, not our own bottom-line.”

The restoration and ongoing maintenance of heritage buildings shows that we believe in stewarding our world and culture well. Our use of buildings is meant to last a long time. It is unfortunate when a developer installs windows that he knows will only last ten years. We need the past to remind us that our current consumer culture is not the way to live.

At Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV), we have a house that early Manitoba Mennonites took apart and moved to a drier location. They didn’t have the horsepower to move the whole house. But, instead of just leaving it there to rot, they carefully marked the logs with Roman numerals, moved it piece by piece and set it up again down the road.

Recently, I have been completing our basement. It’s amazing how much material is used in construction. If I were to do it again, I would take the time to see how the material that was in the basement could have been reused. Soon there will be no time for living on this earth at the current level of consumption we enjoy. How unfortunate that MennoMart, which took unwanted material from developers and liquidators to make them available to the common public instead of our burgeoning landfill, could not get charitable status! It is such a needed business. Fortunately, MCC Thrift Shop is taking some of the load as well as second-hand use websites.

In our village of housebarns, you can see that not much went to waste. The scraps from the meal would go to the animals. There is a shoe cobbler in one corner of the barn. Clothes would be mended and mended again. A grand-mother told me that even after their wool suits were beyond reusing, they would still bring them to Winnipeg so that a company there could repurpose the wool. There was no annual fashion show on the village runway to push them to buy more, to buy new!

Going green is not a new idea, but an old idea for a new context. Museums like MHV can help us know how to be environmentally positive again in a culture where buying disposable goods is the norm. A wasteful consumer culture is not the way it has to be. Let’s believe again in the longevity of our buildings, our people and our planet!

Another great example is the quilt. When a loved one makes a quilt, you keep it and enjoy it for generations! On Friday November 1st and Saturday November 2nd the Threads of Time quilters and MHV Auxiliary will be hosting a quilt show at MHV. Admission is $5 and includes coffee. The Auxiliary will be serving a light lunch as well as muffins and snacks during the day for you to purchase. Come enjoy the beautiful works, enjoy food and good fellowship! Maybe it is time for you to learn how to make a quilt for your family? The show opens at 10 am both days.