Grade 4 class photo from Lynn Valley School in 1935. Ten students have been identified, including Walter John Vine in back row, fourth from left. Photo: NVMA 12566

In a time when physically visiting museums and archives poses challenges, online engagement tools and exhibitions are more valuable than ever. Around the world, institutions are exploring creative solutions to engage and entertain when physically being present isn’t an option.

I began working with MONOVA in late September 2020 as the Archives and Community Engagement Intern. This role has given me the chance to work on outreach projects which is an area of archival practice that I am passionate about. Thanks to the support of the Young Canada Works Building Careers in Heritage program, over the last several months I have worked alongside the archives team to come up with ways to engage the public with MONOVA’s archival collections in the time of COVID-19.

Young Canada Works Archives and Community Engagement Intern, Nina Patterson.

The Project: Putting Lynn Valley School on Historypin

My main focus so far has been to complete our first, large-scale Historypin project: Recollections of Lynn Valley School. Historypin is a web platform that allows institutions and community members to “pin” photos, videos, audio, and more to a map anywhere in the world. These pins help to tell the stories of communities: how they have changed over time and how they continue to flourish today.

The great thing about Historypin is that archives and museums can share their collections with a wider audience in a fun, engaging way. Community members around the world can also pin their memories to the map which allows photos that may have been hidden away in an attic to be shared with a wider audience. Seeing how places have changed over time, is a fascinating experience that sheds new light on landmarks that we see everyday. It also can contextualize old material by creating a definitive link to the present.

To mark the 100 year anniversary of the heritage building that was originally constructed as the fourth Lynn Valley School and which now houses the Archives of North Vancouver, an exhibition, entitled A Landmark Transformed: 100 Years of Serving the Community is planned for release in December 2020.

Lynn Valley School, ca. 1920 or 1921. The building at left was built in 1912, and the building at right opened in 1920. Photo: NVMA 9644

While conducting research for the exhibition, the archives team identified a gap in primary source material, specifically the experiences of former students and staff of the fourth Lynn Valley School.

Engaging Community Through Oral History Interviews

To address this knowledge gap, oral history interviews were planned and conducted over the summer and fall. The interviews and transcriptions were performed by archives’ volunteers, amounting to over 80 hours of work. Video conferencing tools and phone calls were used to record the conversations – enabling interviewees who no longer lived in the area to participate and physical distancing to be observed.

These stories and recollections form the backbone of the forthcoming online exhibition as well as the Historypin project: Recollections of Lynn Valley School. We are indebted to the time and energy of our dedicated volunteers and the willing participants!

When you arrive at the Recollections of Lynn Valley School project on Historypin, you will see that it consists of small audio snippets from these interviews that mainly deal with key locations within Lynn Valley; places that local residents would recognize today, but that have changed over the years. The stories also paint a picture of a community that has had to deal with hardships in the past but continues to thrive to this day.

Place Your Own Pins On Historypin

The online project engages audiences young and old, and certainly appeals to longtime community members who are familiar with the places mentioned in the interviews. We hope that you will be inspired to create your own pins and place them on the Historypin map.

After completing the Recollection of Lynn Valley School project, it is clear that no matter where you are in the world, you can feel connected to a community through online platforms like this!

Nina Patterson, 25 November 2020