Yale Historic Site is putting the finishing touches to their buildings and exhibitions as they gear up for the upcoming tourist season.
"I'm so excited for the upcoming season," said Anderson Guerrero Gomez, the operations and finance manager for Forager Foundation. Forager manages the Yale Historic Site.
"I think this is the first time that the Yale Historic Site is going to have (two) travelling exhibitions. We also have a settler history exhibit and it's going to be new for everybody. So, people have lots of things to look forward to when they visit the museum," he said.
The site is opening on May 1 and will be introducing the public to its new exhibition focuses on the settler history of Yale and how it affected the communities of Yale First Nation, Chawathil First Nation, and Spuzzum First Nation. The exhibit was done with consultation from the three First Nations, who each engaged with their communities on what they wanted to see at the historic site.
The exhibit is being displayed through panels, that will be placed throughout the museum, and people will be able to read them as they explore the different rooms.
Visitors can also look forward to 150 Years and Counting: Fighting for Justice on the Coast, a travelling exhibition that will be available for the public to view upon opening day. The exhibition examines the history of Indigenous people and Asian Canadians and their fight for justice over the past 150 years. It is from Vancouver Island University and shares stories of local Indigenous communities.
Additionally, Gomez said he is arranging for a travelling exhibit from the Chinese Canadian Museum to be hosted at the Yale historic site. Though a date has not been set yet, he anticipates that the exhibit will be featured later in the summer.
Forager has also been busy with renovating and repairing the Creighton House, the Ward House, and the St. John the Divine Church. Specifically, for the Creighton House its foundation was reinforced; its floors were levelled and its woodwork was restored. New emergency systems, which includes new smoke detectors and tested fire alarms, were also installed.
Both houses had storm windows put in as well. And work is currently being done to install similar windows at the church.
Aside from preparing for its seasonal activities, Gomez said that the museum has been working closely with Indigenous elders, council members, and historians to ensure that the onsite basket collection is being displayed and handled properly. The basket collection, which is owned by families of the First Nation communities, is on loan to the museum and requires special cultural care.
An upcoming project ,with a focus on Halq̓eméylem, is also being worked on that Gomez hopes will be implemented either in June or July.
"Yale is a very important site in B.C. history," Gomez said. "It was one of the biggest towns in the 1850s and 1860s, with 30,000 to 40,000 miners coming (to Yale). And it's important to the history of the Indigenous people, who've been here since time immemorial. But there's lots of changes between last year and this year. And people are going to see that."
