“The museum is very quiet this year”
Already facing challenges for financial reasons, the COVID-19 pandemic made for a quiet year at the Compton County Historical Museum Society, also known as the Eaton Corner Museum.
Whereas in February Vice-president Sharon Moore told The Record that the volunteer-run society would need to redouble their fundraising efforts and try to attract new visitors, the arrival of the novel coronavirus meant that the museum never opened its doors to the public at all.
“We just felt we couldn’t even really put into place what would be needed,” Moore said, explaining that, finances aside, six out of nine board members are over seventy and two of the remaining three have compromised immune systems. As a result, the society’s board did not feel it was feasible to open to the public, given the workload that would be lumped upon a severely limited team. “Even if we could have had someone to work at the museum, say in our archives, we would have to have put in place health and safety measures and one of the directors would have to have gone two to three times per week to be in a supervisory position for the summer student. We just felt it we weren’t able.”
While she turned first to the internal challenges that would have faced the museum in opening, the Vice President also noted that the majority of those who come to visit Eaton Corner each year are seniors, meaning that very likely attendance would have been very limited even if they had managed to open their doors.
That core demographic of seniors, combined with restrictions on public gatherings, also meant that the usual fundraising events, as well as any of the new ideas that had been proposed for this year, were out.
“We just couldn’t see how we could manage to do anything, which meant needing to be very careful with the funds we do have,” Moore said, explaining that with plans to reopen again when it is possible, the museum cannot afford to cut fixed costs like its phone line, insurance, or hydro bills.
The vice president stressed, however, that not being open does not mean that the society has been inactive.
“The museum is very quiet this year, but I have made a point as vice president of checking on the buildings at least once every week,” she said, sharing that she is aware of other members of the board having made similar rounds on a regular basis.
More than just having a physical presence onsite, she said that the society has also been responsive to questions on its Facebook page, and was actively involved in the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network’s recent virtual fall fair and annual general meeting.
“We’re not closing ourselves off, we are still seen by the public,” Moore affirmed, sharing that an effort has been made to do what can be done, even if it doesn’t seem like very much.
Under these more complicated circumstances, the vice president expressed a feeling that the decision to stay closed was the right one.
“Not that we wanted to stay closed, but doing so took a burden off,” she said.
Looking to the future, Moore said that there is every intention to get things back up and running as soon as it is safe and possible to do so.
“We’re hoping we might be able to open in 2021, but we don’t now,” she said. “It all depends on what happens with this virus.”
As to the financial challenges the museum was facing earlier this year, Moore acknowledged that closing put matters on pause, rather than making them go away.
“It’s serious,” she said, pointing out that the museum has received no financial support from the federal or provincial governments. “It’s hard to ask for a grant for your operational costs. We’re just trying to see what we can find and hoping that things turn out better in the coming year.”
One area where matters have changed since February is that of the loan the society had taken out to acquire the neighbouring Foss House property. With the museum facing a consistent inability to pay down the capital, the town of Cookshire-eaton has taken over the loan and ownership of the lot. Asked what this means for the museum’s ability to continue using the space, Moore said that it’s not clear because the change is new, but she said she has faith that the arrangement will be a positive one.
“They have been supportive of us in the past,” she said.