What's New at the DCMA?

            Afghanistan War Veteran to represent Dufferin County at Juno Beach

            Orangeville native and Afghanistan War veteran, Cpl. Wayne Strudwick, will be joining the CDDHS

            Canadian Battlefields Tour in November 2011.  Dufferin County Council has approved him as the

            'sponsored-veteran' of the Dufferin County Museum & Archives (DCMA).

            The DCMA has an ongoing partnership with Centre Dufferin District High School around the Battlefields

            tour.  Museum staff assists students in researching and compiling a biography about a veteran. The

            completed biographies are presented as part of a ceremony on the tour, and are also assessed as a

            project. The information is then included in the DCMA's Virtual War Memorial.  Each student also

            purchases a plaque in honour of their veteran which is added to the memorial at the Juno Beach Centre

            in Normandy.  Because of this relationship, the DCMA is invited to send a staff representative with the

            students to tour the battlefields in France, Belgium and Holland.   In November 2011, the DCMA,

            instead of sending a staff representative, has chosen to sponsor Cpl. Strudwick as their representative

            for the tour.  

            Corporal Strudwick is currently a reservist with the Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin & Halton Regiment). He

            served in Afghanistan from September 2008-April 2009 in Kandahar province as a member of a Tactical

            Psychological Operations Team (TPT) under the Joint Task Force Afghanistan (JTF-A). Previously, Cpl.

            Strudwick served in the Regular Forces with the Royal Canadian Regiment, 1994-1997.

            Teacher and CDDHS Battlefields Tour Coordinator, Neil Orford, said:  “It's a real pleasure to have Cpl.

            Strudwick join our 33 students next November to tour the battlefields of France, Belgium & Holland. His

            experiences will add a marvelous human dimension for the group. He is representing all Dufferin

            veterans on this tour, past and present.” The tour also includes nine adult guests and four teacher-

            chaperones. The tour will take place November 10-20, 2011, beginning in London and concluding in

            Amsterdam.

            As a representative of both Dufferin County and the DCMA, Cpl. Strudwick will be attending a special

            ceremony at the Canadian Juno Beach Centre in Normandy, France, where the students will be

            dedicating more than 40 “bricks” to honour Dufferin veterans of previous wars. These “bricks”, or

            plaques, will be permanently displayed on kiosks at Juno Beach in Normandy where the Canadian

            forces landed as part of the D-Day invasion on  June 6, 1944. The ceremony will focus on veterans from

            Dufferin who have not previously been honoured. Each student will make a presentation telling the

            veteran's personal story as the bricks are unveiled. These presentations will become part of the

            permanent record of Dufferin veterans housed at the DCMA within the Dufferin County Virtual War

            Memorial (DCVWM).

            Dufferin County Museum & Archives Director, Wayne Townsend, explains: “The museum staff wanted

            to utilize the first hand experience of a veteran. Corporal Strudwick will bring the students' research to

            life, living history, if you will. This is something a document, picture, website or a historian cannot

            bring to their experience. The students are the citizens who will either honour or forget our veterans in

            the future, but it is our generation who holds the resources and responsibility to train and teach them.”

            Throughout this year, the DCMA will be fundraising to help offset the cost of Cpl. Strudwick's

            participation on the Battlefields Tour. For further information, please contact Wayne Townsend,

            Curator, Dufferin County Museum & Archives at 877-941-7787.

            Canadian Museum of Animal Art Display Case at Museum

            The case was created by Jimmy Armstrong of Aurora Iron Works in 1997 for the Canadian Museum of

            Animal Art Exhibit at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. In 1998 the exhibit came to to the DCMA. The

            Schomberg museum closed in 2011 and several items, including this display case, were transferred to

            the DCMA. The lit display case (pictured above) will be a permanent addition to the Main Gallery and

            is currently filled with a recent donation of coloured "Corn Flower" glass.

Architecturally Significant Log House Donated to DCMA

At the October 2010 meeting of Dufferin County Council, an architecturally significant log house was officially donated to the Dufferin County Museum & Archives (DCMA) by The Highland Companies.

Recently, while searching for additional logs for the DCMA’s Glen Cross Cabin Project (involving the restoration of another historic cabin from Hockley Valley), museum staff became aware of the potential availability of another log structure in Melancthon Township on lands owned by The Highland Companies.  Upon further investigation, it became clear that the log house in Melancthon was a historically significant structure in its own right, for which all major structural components are present and in excellent condition.  To properly evaluate the structure’s significance, a local expert specializing in the restoration of historic log structures was contacted to assess the house once it was vacated, and provide an opinion.  Mr. Vic R. Snow of Mono is a longtime advisor to the DCMA and other museums in Ontario, and has worked on the relocation of many historical buildings, including a recent log cabin restoration project at Doon Pioneer Village in Kitchener.

Upon preliminary investigation, under many layers of change, Mr. Snow reported that “This house is a rare survival as follows: (i) the condition of the logs is excellent, (ii) the enormous original fireplace (only the basement stone pier survives) is rare in a house of this size, (iii) all or parts of all components survived which means virtually no conjecture is required during restoration, (iv) very few two storey log houses were built and fewer survive anywhere in Ontario.” He also noted that “This house is important architecturally and structurally.  It is likely the only original surviving two storey log house in Dufferin County.”  Mr. Snow went on to explain that “Of great interest to the museum are two features. There is an unusually large Rumford fireplace. Most cabins had only wood stoves for cooking and heating and the majority of those houses no longer exist. The fireplace suggests construction pre 1855, the approximate date when cooking stoves came into common use. The house could be as early as 1840. As well the logs are of elm and the 10" to 11" thickness of the logs is absolutely unique.  This is a remarkable building and certainly warrants careful dismantling, reconstruction and restoration.

It is a fine and unique example from the earliest settlement of Dufferin County and should be preserved within the County.”

Wayne Townsend, DCMA Director/Curator, stated that: “This is an important find for the County. The building is unique and should provide a sense of pride in the ingenuity and skills of our earliest settlers.  For local historians, this building is an undiscovered artifact that will reveal chapters of history that are virtually unknown in this region.  Area residents should be proud of this piece of history which is to be used in the future for educational programs as well as to showcase original, locally made period furnishings that are already in the museum collection or known to exist. This building and the furnishings are as great as any other area of Ontario and will now be seen by the public.”

Although full restoration plans for the Melancthon structure are yet to be finalized by the museum staff, the building materials are slated to be carefully noted and documented then dismantled, numbered and moved to the museum site this fall with financial assistance in the form of a $20,000 donation from The Highland Companies.  The careful documentation and photographing of the building as the layers of change are peeled off should provide significant insight into how our pioneers adapted to the new and hostile environment of the area, and as to their ability to use local pre-settlement materials and primitive tools.

The Dufferin County Museum & Archives wishes to extend its appreciation to The Highland Companies for these significant donations.

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