Passion saves Dalnavert

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This article was published 08/09/2015 (3782 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

To say people are passionate about the Dalnavert Museum would be an understatement.

When the national historic site at 61 Carlton St. was shuttered in September 2013, volunteers still showed up regularly during the 20 months it was closed to maintain the lawn.

The garden never looked overgrown and the grass was always cut, says Susan Ainley, who lives near the museum and began volunteering there in May.

“It was always perfect,” she said.

It was passionate volunteers who worked to get the building reopened earlier this year.

And it’s passionate volunteers who are working to ensure the building has a bright future as a place where Winnipeggers can visit and learn something about the city’s past.

Dalnavert was the Winnipeg home of Sir Hugh John Macdonald, son of Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald.

Susan Moffatt has volunteered at the museum since 1974 when she was a university student and says she was aghast when it closed.

“For me to be a part of bringing it back… and moving forward is very, very important,” said Moffatt, a tour guide and member of the Friends of Dalnavert, the group of heritage advocates who worked to reopen the museum and now own and operate it.

When the museum reopened in May for Doors Open, more than 1,700 people came to visit.

Today, the public is invited to visit the museum for a small fee ranging from $4 to $6.

It is one of the finest surviving Victorian-era homes in Winnipeg, and is furnished to look the way it would have when Macdonald had it built in 1895. That includes a dining room set with china featuring the same pattern Queen Victoria used and a children’s room that features a rocking horse named Dobbin.

Dobbin was on the cover of a Christmas catalogue published in the late 1800s by Harrods, an upscale department store in England.

There is so much information to share that no tour is ever the same, Moffatt says. Guides take their cues from the visitors.

“It’s basically a long, involved conversation,” she said. “Certainly we give the background, but you see as you go on where their eyes light up and what they’re interested in.”

For Ainley, the best part of volunteering at the museum is being able to share it with first-time visitors.

‘I really feel like it’s my house when I’m the tour guide, so you’re welcoming them into what is your space and… creating a picture and a story that they can live with you’

— Dalnavert volunteer Susan Ainley

“I really feel like it’s my house when I’m the tour guide, so you’re welcoming them into what is your space and… creating a picture and a story that they can live with you,” she said. “It’s very rewarding.”

Macdonald, a police magistrate and politician, was a key figure in Winnipeg during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Dalnavert gives visitors a look at not only his life, but a more general look at what life was like at the turn of the century.

Ever since it became a museum, volunteers have been the Dalnavert’s backbone, says manager Thomas McLeod.

The museum is only in its fourth month of operation since the reopening, and more volunteers are needed for tours, research, fundraising and assisting with special events and projects.

“There’s no shortage of opportunities to get involved and help guide the organization,” McLeod said.

Anyone interested can contact Megan Redmond, the museum’s volunteer and membership services coordinator, via email at volunteerservices@dalnavertmuseum.ca or by phone at 204-943-2835.

 

If you know a special volunteer, please contact aaron.epp@gmail.com.