PRESERVING HISTORY
Shirley Timpson gives a tour of the Saskatoon Museum of Military Artifacts in The Royal Canadian Legion Nutana Branch 362. Established in 1990, it features exhibits of more than 2,000 items donated by local veterans and their families.
From the Boer War to peacekeeping in Afghanistan, Canada’s vast military history can be explored in depth at the relatively unknown Saskatoon Museum of Military Artifacts.
Housed in the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 362 building on Louise Street, the museum — a registered charity — currently houses more than 2,000 items donated by veterans and their families. They are looked after by a loyal group of volunteers, including history buff Shirley Timpson, who has been volunteering with the legion for around six years.
The extensive collection has been housed at the legion since 1990. Timpson said it’s surprising how few people know it exists.
“We are trying to change that,” she said. “We do a lot of school tours and other tours for clubs who know that we are here. But now that we’ve got that registered charity status, I’m hoping word will get out there a little bit more.”
Because the museum survives only on donations, it doesn’t have set hours for visitors. Timpson said anyone who calls the legion can usually find a volunteer to show them around, or at the least schedule a time that works for everybody.
Remembrance Day is an ideal time to take a tour. On Saturday the legion will host a Remembrance Day event open to all with food, music and dancing, and volunteers will also be there from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. giving guided tours. A special one-day exhibition will also be in place honouring life on the home front during the Second World War. Entitled “The Homefront: Keep the home fires burning,” it was built around a vintage wedding dress from 1945 and will showcase everyday items like ration cards and disks that played an important role in day-to-day life in wartime Canada.
The museum is always growing, thanks to the volunteers and outside donations. One recent addition to the collection — an authentic First World War nursing uniform — has become a new favourite of Timpson’s. She is always uncovering something new, she said. “I guess you have to be a history buff to be interested in this and come down here all the time, because we keep discovering more things that haven’t been catalogued and it’s just a very interesting place to be.”
Each volunteer brings his or her own expertise to the table when they uncover new finds, she said. With two combat veterans and other volunteers boasting indepth knowledge of planes, fabrics and more, it all helps the museum grow. When the volunteers uncover an aspect of Canadian military history not yet on their walls, they are quick to do the research and add the information to their collection.
“It’s our heritage,” Timpson said. “It’s about the veterans. It’s getting more and more important preserving what we have. These guys did what they did when they were 17, 18 years old, so it’s something people should be thinking about and remembering.”