Stepping Into the Past
Hello! My name is Daniel and I graduated from Brock University in April 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in History. This summer I had the opportunity to work at The Brown Homestead as their Archival Intern. These are some of my experiences while working here.
Taking a selfie for the National Trust’s Historic Places Days
My Time at The Brown Homestead
I was not always a history buff, but when I took history in Grade 12 I fell in love with the subject, to the credit of my teacher. My teacher did not simply ‘tell us what happened’ and test our memory with an exam. Instead, we got an interactive educational experience where we were tasked to be creative and collaborative by brainstorming and creating our own final project. We ultimately chose to have a mock trial where the Taino people of the Caribbean were the plaintiffs put up against the defendant Christopher Columbus and his sailors. It was in preparation for and during this mock trial that I realized I wanted to study history.
I first heard about The Brown Homestead through an email from a former history professor back in May, 2022. I had just completed a full-year course at Brock taught by Dr. Elizabeth Vlossak where my class conducted oral history interviews with St. Catharines residents regarding their memories of the Garden City Arena. The email she sent us stated that The Brown Homestead was looking for an Archival Intern from May to August and that any interested candidate should think to apply. Since the position was related to the work I had done in Dr. Vlossak’s course, I applied right away.
What stuck out the most about the opportunity was that the Archival Intern was tasked with implementing an oral history research project and archiving The Brown Homestead’s collection. Having just completed an oral history project, I knew I wanted to jump on the opportunity. When I began researching The Brown Homestead, I realized that it is possibly the most unique historic site I’ve ever looked into. The Brown Homestead is not merely frozen in time, rather, we can find examples of history’s continuum in practically every part of the property. From the first settlers in the Brown family to today, we are effectively living through another era of the Homestead's history.
Conducting an oral history interview
At The Brown Homestead, I had the opportunity to undertake much more than what was listed in the job description, which was a pleasant surprise! While working here, I’ve realized that history is a multidisciplinary field. On my first day, I was told that I should leave The Brown Homestead with more knowledge about ‘doing history’ than I did when I first got there. In my opinion, to ‘do history’ is to find innovative ways of generating public interest in history, to communicate and collaborate with your community to answer questions about the past, and to apply historical research skills to the hands-on work of the heritage industry. While working at The Brown Homestead, I've gained a better understanding of what it means to be a historian.
Oral History
My first month at The Brown Homestead consisted of research and preparation for their oral history project. In this project, I was tasked with formulating and asking questions to previous residents of The Brown Homestead and Brown family through oral history interviews. These interviews sought to answer what life was like, living at the Homestead in the past. Although I was tasked with leading the oral history project, this didn’t mean that collaboration with my colleagues was not possible. In fact, the oral history project was an opportunity for my colleagues to ask questions about The Brown Homestead that they otherwise would not have had the possibility of knowing.
Heritage Restoration
Rick teaching me how to apply linseed oil to the rear deck
I also got to scratch the surface of heritage restoration work at The Brown Homestead. For example, our site manager taught me about linseed oil painting. Linseed oil paint is often used in heritage restoration because of its preservative qualities. Rick taught me to first apply linseed oil to an area I want to paint, and then apply the paint itself. In doing this, we ensure that the linseed oil paint won't become dry, chalky, and flake off in the future. Learning about linseed oil painting was my first step into the world of heritage restoration, an area of work that I previously had no experience in!
Collections Management
At The Brown Homestead, I learned how to research, interpret, clean, and archive artifacts. I was tasked with entering the metadata of various objects that had been found on the homestead property by the previous owner. These objects included bones, ceramic sherds, glass shards, nails, and buttons. Since I had little understanding of how to interpret archaeological items, we had a local archaeologist visit the homestead to teach me how to identify some of the items. I was grateful to learn about archaeological interpretation and research.
To organize and archive all the archaeological objects, I got to learn how to use a museum collections application called PastPerfect. Although I learned about metadata entry at Brock, I had never used a digital application specifically designed for metadata entry. Having the opportunity to learn PastPerfect taught me important lessons in paying attention to detail. Most importantly I obtained a greater understanding of how museums organize their collections of objects, photographs, archival material, and books.
One of the first objects I archived into Past Perfect was a blacksmith’s token. This token was found beneath the floorboards of the summer kitchen, and only the partial word “OMMER” is visible. Upon closer examination of the token, I realized that the partial word says “COMMERCE” on the obverse side while the reverse side displays the skysail of a ship. While doing research on this, I learned that it was popular in Upper Canada from 1830-1860, and is called a “Ship’s, Colonies, and Commerce” token; popularized in the early to mid 19th century because of a coin shortage in Upper Canada. What made me happy about this discovery was that I realized I was now ‘doing history’.
Public History
While at The Brown Homestead, I got the chance to showcase my average day working in the heritage industry through a Snapchat takeover. I was given access to Brock University’s Snapchat account for a day and I was tasked with filming what I do as an Archival Intern. I enjoyed doing this because I got to show history students what it means to ‘do history’ while simultaneously helping The Brown Homestead in its exposure to the public. During my Snapchat takeover, I attempted to give history students a glimpse into all aspects of my work at the homestead. This work included utilizing skills that I learned at Brock such as organization, communication, and research but also included skills I learned at The Brown Homestead such as linseed oil painting, organizing a museum collection, and artifact interpretation.
The collections display I made for Doors Open
On August 20th, I had the opportunity to participate in Doors Open St. Catharines with The Brown Homestead. In preparation for Doors Open, I got to create a public exhibit of some of the artifacts and archival material I researched, organized, and catalogued over the summer. During my preparation, I decided what photos, newspapers, and artifacts would be best to display to the public. Since I had hundreds of items to decide from, I ultimately chose to display a small portion of all our artifacts. I displayed a few different kinds of ceramics, nails, glass bottles, tools, bones, coins, buttons, and even the blacksmith’s token I researched!
I’ve gained a multitude of transferable skills while working at The Brown Homestead this summer. The need for creativity and uniqueness in the heritage industry is increasingly becoming necessary in order to generate public interest. Social media at the homestead has played an important role in its development and public awareness which is why I was also involved in filming and social media promotion. I was tasked with assisting in filming for the Manifesto video project which aimed to introduce the public to The Brown Homestead through a promotional video. I learned about film lighting, using microphones, and some video editing. These skills are necessary for the promotion of history to the public; especially in an increasingly digitized world.
In the oral history tent during Doors Open
Along with filming the Manifesto project, I was sometimes tasked with writing social media posts and in doing so, I learned how to captivate and engage audiences in a succinct way. Having a social media presence is absolutely essential in promoting The Brown Homestead. Not only does social media remind the public about upcoming events and programs, but it also creates more accessibility for people to learn about heritage buildings like The Brown Homestead.
Since I first started my work term in May, I’ve been struck by the unique vision and plans for the future of The Brown Homestead. The Homestead has a vision heavily focused on creating a community connection through programming such as the Victory Garden, the Jazz Festival, and Doors Open. The Brown Homestead is Niagara’s Homestead and I’m optimistic to see what the future holds for the site and organization.