The Flame – Banting House Historical Site Newsletter
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The Flame Banting House National Historic Site of Canada: January—April 2014 Table of Contents Staff, Volunteers, Committee 2 Message from the Curator 3 Restoration Update 4-5 Volunteers Hard at Work 6-7 Volunteer Coordinator’s Report 8-9 Research Assistant Reflection 10-11 12-13 Registrar’s Report Hosting Novo Nordisk Canada. Pictured from left to right are: Pat Arnone, Iain Graham, Daniella Linton, Vince Services 14-15 Lamanna and Soren Mikkelson (Novo Nordisk Denmark). February 5, 2014. Volunteer of the Year Award 16 Volunteer Opportunities 17 Coming Soon! Banting & Friends VI 18-19 Looking Ahead 20-21 The Flame welcomes your comments. Please email us at [email protected]. Let us know what you think about what you have read, our programs, or subjects you are interested in learning more about. We will do our best to accommodate your requests. Volunteer Luncheon, April 26, 2014. Banting House National Historic Site of Canada is owned and operated by the Canadian Diabetes Association, an independently governed charitable organization. Our mission is defined as: Creating public awareness and understanding of the national historic significance of Sir Frederick Banting and preserving the commemorative integrity of Banting House National Historic Site of Canada, the birthplace of insulin, for the benefit of the people of Canada. Cover & Inside Cover Photos by Mark Spowart. Staff A Message from the Curator, Grant Maltman Anne Le-Quang Sue McCarville April is Volunteer Month, a time for us to Senior Manager, Programs, Services and Administrative Support recognise the efforts of all our volunteers. This Partnerships – Ontario issue was designed and written by a volunteer Stacey Devlin team and acknowledges their invaluable Grant Maltman Public History Intern donation of time and support. As you go Curator Western University (PT) through, you will see that they have been hard at work, taking on a range of different projects, Brittany Fazio and have accepted awards for their Community Engagement Coordinator contributions to Banting House. Unfortunately, as many of our volunteers are Committee since 2007 and we congratulate graduating from Western University this year, him on this well-deserved honour! Volunteers and will moving on to pursue vibrant career and graduate degrees, we will be saying May is Museum Month and we hope our Terry Lynn Clarkin, Volunteer Coordinator Jessica Cowie, Graphic Design, Research ‘goodbye’ to some of our greatest helpers and contribution to this year’s international Amber Mandich, Registrar Tasha Di Lereto, Social Media Assistant advocates. I would like to take this opportunity celebration will be the removal of the to say THANK YOU for showing up between scaffolding and tarp that has covered the classes, during exam periods and on weekends building since last July. Originally scheduled to research objects in the collection, work on for completion at the end of March, a healthy Museum Guides our social media programs, build our combination of bad weather (with the early databases, conduct tours and assist with “other onset of a long and extremely cold winter) and Helen Aawai Stephanie Lee Jessica Riggs duties as assigned” (including reminding me of unexpected porch anomalies left us Alison Butler Meaghen McCracken Bess Roy where I left my glasses). I wish you the best of significantly behind. Having had many Natasha Cvetkovic Cliff Oliver Nicole Sedgwick luck and look forward to hearing about the next glimpses behind the tarp, I can assure you that chapters of your lives. you will not be disappointed with the final Alison Deplonty Katrina Pasierbek Sophie Song product. I certainly look forward to no longer Sean Hague Stephanie Radu There is much to look forward to in the coming having to respond to the question “When is he Lindsay Kernohan Bailey Russell months at Banting House NHSC thanks to the scaffolding coming down?” continued support and guidance of the Museum Advisory Committee. Diligently I hope you enjoy our Second Issue of The working since last fall on Banting & Friends VI, Flame. We appreciated feedback received from Museum Advisory Committee they have ensured that the event planning has the inaugural issue and look forward to your stayed on track and helped secure artists and comments on the second. Jeff Bennett, Chair Grant Hopcroft sponsors. One of our members, Ron Dawson, Robert Adeland Murray Hunter was recognized by The Meal Committee, another volunteer group of the Canadian George Clark Joshua Workman Diabetes Association. He was awarded the Jane Cunningham Julie Zamprogna-Ballés Honorary Volunteer of the Year Award, in Ron Dawson Tom Weihmayr tribute to the late Judge John Seneshen. Mr. Grant M. Maltman Dawson has served on the Museum Advisory Curator 2 3 Highlights Restoration Update The end is near. There is light at the end of progressed, we’ve made some interesting the tunnel. We’re almost done! These are discoveries. Our curator had always known phrases that have become the mantra for the columns for the porch were a little “off” in staff, volunteers and the restoration crew. terms of the detailing (they were added during a renovation in the 1980s), but after It was a tough winter for outside work, but beginning work on the porch we discovered with the recent thaw, the crew from just how “off” they were. Robertson Restoration has been making every effort to complete the work while It turns out that the original roof of the porch diligently adhering to Parks Canada’s came down several inches lower, had large Standards and Guidelines for the elaborate brackets, and had short, stubby Conservation of Historic Places in Canada. columns rather than long, skinny ones. By The focus now is the restoration of the porch, doing a little more detective work (searching returning it to its appearance in 1920. in our archives for old photos of the house, inspecting the brick of the porch to spot The following is reproduced from Stacey shadows of where previous structures were) Devlin’s blog, “Behind the scenes: the we were able to discern what the porch restoration project”, March 3, 2014: should actually look like. Restoring the porch will be the final task for our construction “Our main concerns were replacing the crew before the restoration project’s funding deteriorating slate roof – sections of which comes to an end.” had weathered 113 years – restoring the siding and repointing the brickwork, and Work is now expected to be completed in repairing the front porch. As the work has early June. Visitor Comment Sherilynn Walker getting her photograph She writes; taken with the Flame of Hope. “I have been recognized as one of the top 100 Innovators in Research and Development at Eli Lilly & Company. Each recipient around the globe is being recognized internally "An excellent, informative, and important museum ." and we were required to have a casual, meaningful photograph taken. With Lilly being one of the initial collaborators and manufacturers of insulin with Drs. Banting and Matt Kruchak – Saskatchewan, SK Best, and since I am from London, I thought it would be meaningful to have my photo - February 11, 2014 shot by Banting House. Thank you for your interest, I wish you a great day!” Regards, Sherilyn Walker Regional Research Manager (Autoimmune and Neuroscience) 4 Eli Lilly Canada (DCOE Bio-Medicines) 5 Highlights Volunteers Hard at Work Volunteers. new challenges. On every shift, they made a What would we do without them? There is no difference, shaping our education programs, question that the museum could not achieve organizing special events and bringing life to all that it hopes to without their efforts. Banting’s story for nearly 3,000 visitors in the past year. In April, we joined the rest of the country and celebrated National Volunteer Week (April 6- It is through them that, we meet our mission 12) – a time “to recognize, celebrate and of creating public awareness and thank Canada’s 13.3 million volunteers.” understanding of the national historic Banting House is fortunate to have a significance of Sir Frederick Banting and dedicated corps of volunteers who help us on preserving the commemorative integrity of a monthly, bi-weekly or weekly basis with Banting House National Historic Site of many facets of the museum’s operations. Canada, the birthplace of insulin, for the benefit of the people of Canada. This year, at our Annual Spring Meeting, I had the pleasure of distributing the Ontario To all of our volunteers, a heartfelt thanks Services Awards to our eligible volunteers. from Banting House National Historic Site of The event was bittersweet as we also had to Canada and the Canadian Diabetes bid farewell to six volunteers who won’t be Association! returning next year due to other opportunities. As graduation sets them on their career paths, we hope that their experiences here will stay with them and continue to inspire them as they embark on Dear Dr. Banting: “Thank you so much for your wonderful discovery of insulin. If it wasn’t for you my older sister and I wouldn’t be alive today! We owe our lives to you & those dogs you did your research on! Thank you so sososo much.” - Georgie-Paris Johnson, 12 years old, Brisbane, AUS 6 7 Volunteer Coordinator’s Report Terry Clarkin museum. The volunteer experience literally additional student support came from Western In 2013, the total volunteer contribution was changed my daughter’s life and I found I University’s Masters in Public History Program 1,624 hours. While this past winter has been a could still teach and share experiences with and by 2010 we had a full complement, with tough one for everyone with the polar vortex, others living with diabetes. So I stuck around! volunteers on site Tuesday to Saturday, all year weekly blizzards and illness restricting our hours round.