Provincial museum award gives recognition to Swift Current resident
Stephanie Kaduck has become a familiar face at the Swift Current Museum in her role as education and public programs officer over a period of more than 20 years.
The Museums Association of Saskatchewan (MAS) has recognized her long-time contribution with an award for individual excellence.
She is the recipient of the 2022 MAS Award of Merit – Individual, which gives recognition to lasting and significant contributions by an individual or group of individuals at the local level.
She received the award at the MAS banquet and awards night in Estevan, June 10. The award description mentioned that she provided outstanding education and public programming on human and natural history and curated numerous exhibitions. It also mentioned that she has become “one the most knowledgeable experts on the history of Swift Current and on the human and natural history of Southwest Saskatchewan.”
Kaduck is currently on vacation and will be officially retiring at the end of August. She recently spoke to the Prairie Post about her career at the Swift Current Museum and her future plans.
She appreciates the award and recognition from the MAS, which serves as the collective organization for over 250 member museums in the province with a total membership of over 400, including individuals and associates.
“It feels quite good, because not only did it sort of cap off my years of working in the museum, but it’s an award from my peers,” she said. “The people of the Museums Association know what the job entails and they know what I did, and so it’s special that’s who I got it from.”
She initially began working part-time as the education and programming coordinator at the Swift Current Museum in 2001, and her position became a full-time role in 2005.
She curated over 40 original history exhibitions and developed a variety of programming activities, including atlatl hunting, sod hut building, and walking tours. She presented talks on a diverse range of topics as part of the Lunch and Learn series, and hosted Coffee Row events to provide seniors with opportunities to share their stories about the community’s past over coffee. She also administered the Facebook pages for the Swift Current Museum and Vintage Swift Current, which was an enjoyable experience.
“There are people following from across the country, most who had lived here before or their family had,” she said. “I learned as much from them as they learned from me, because they would remember things and start telling stories.”
One of the best parts of her role was the opportunity to discover new information and learn more about different topics, varying from indigenous ways of life to settler history and natural history. “I love doing the research,” she said. “I was joking to my husband that I’m going to end up finding something to research, because it’s just how my brain is now set and I can’t leave an unanswered question. I go digging for information.”
She was able to pursue her interest in natural and human history during her museum career. She became known as the “museum lady” or the “bug lady” as a result of her public role and frequent interaction with people.
“I’ve been interested in natural history all my life, and I became known for a time as the bug lady, because people could bring bugs and I would identify them,” she said. “But the thing about human history is as soon as you start looking at it, you find things you didn’t expect and then that gets really exciting. So I love both.”
There are many highlights from her curated exhibitions, but a few are memorable due to its relevance and the responses received from attendees.
The exhibition Modesty and Respect: Religious Headdressing explored cultural and religious practices associated with headdresses, and it reflected in a subtle manner on issues of racism and prejudice.
It became a travelling exhibition to other museums in the province. She worked on it for a year and by coincidence the exhibition opened during the 2015 federal election controversy over the wearing of face coverings such as the niqab.
“Essentially what the exhibition does is demonstrate that all of those religions have the same basic goals to be a good person, to be kind to others and so on,” she recalled. “And one of the other things that I really liked about it is that the people from other religions were really pleased with that, because they felt seen.”
The exhibition about Health Region No. 1 was significant due to the details it provided about the historical events in the Swift Current area and how it influenced the development of medicare in Canada.
“Our region was the first in North America to have full medical and hospital care, and it was from this region that Tommy Douglas got the statistics that he needed to sell the concept to the province,” she said. “So that’s really important in the region.”
Another notable exhibition was created about newcomers then and now, which was developed in partnership with the Southwest Newcomer Welcome Centre.
She developed a popular children’s activity, Settler Survival. It has a game format that combines play with learning about the challenges experienced by early settlers on the prairies.
“The kids are moving around the whole time and they get information at all the different stations of what’s happening to them to get a picture of what it would be like to be one of the first settlers here,” she said. “And then we talk a bit about it. They have usually really good questions or comments and it’s just a really fun thing.”
She developed educational programs for a variety of age groups, from young children to seniors. It presented an enjoyable challenge and her interaction with program participants will be something she will miss after her retirement.
“Somebody was asking me for pictures of me doing programs and a lot of the pictures that I sent were kids doing programs, because it’s not really about me,” she said. “It’s about what they’re doing and how they’re enjoying it and responding. I just really love all those people. I’m going to miss them.”
Kaduck will have more time for another passion after her retirement. She is also an artist and she is looking forward to spend more time painting. She graduated with a fine arts degree from Queen’s University at Kingston and then completed a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Saskatchewan.
She worked as a walking-tour guide for historic sites on the University of Saskatchewan campus and during her career across western Canada she worked in the arts and heritage sector. She and her family eventually settled in Swift Current, where she worked as a studio art instructor for the Art Gallery of Swift Current and also held positions as an instructor in art history for the University of Regina at Great Plains College.
Her career at the Swift Current Museum just happened, and her previous teaching experience and fine arts training were real assets in her new role. In retrospect, her decision to work at the museum turned out to be a good move.
“I’m appreciative that I had the opportunity to work at that job,” she said. “It was a steep learning curve and an opportunity to explore and research. It just ended up being the perfect job for me.”