NIPIGON — Officials in Nipigon and Thunder Bay say a partnership between the communities' two museums is helping the facility in the North Shore township modernize its operations.
The Nipigon Historical Museum has entered into an agreement with the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society for assistance with a number of ongoing projects, including digitizing its collection database and updating how records and archives are being processed and catalogued.
The two organizations also worked together in 2024, when the Thunder Bay Museum assisted with the Nipigon organization’s new strategic plan and an overall assessment of their facility and operations, say representatives from both museums.
“We're taking a lot of those into consideration now (and) putting them into place and getting them done and we still need their assistance with that,” Nipigon chief administration officer Lars Moffatt said.
“We're looking at all of their governance and updating it to the latest community museum operating standards set by the province of Ontario as well as best practices throughout the museum industry,” said Scott Bradley, the executive director of the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society.
Bradley said their curatorial staff are also helping with staff training.
A report to Nipigon municipal council says the township has received funding from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation and Parks Canada to hire an intern to help with the records work, as well as operations and to create new exhibits.
In Nipigon, Moffatt said this work is part of overall planned improvements to the local facility.
“We want to start looking at our museum a bit further and seeing how we can continue to develop it,” he said, adding that they’re also considering expanded operating times.
For now, the museum is typically only open in July and August, Monday to Friday, he said, but that could change.
“As staff will already be working in the museum throughout the winter, potential fall and winter hours of operation for the museum are being considered and will be further discussed by the Nipigon Museum Committee,” Moffatt’s operations update to council said.
“We've got a lot of artifacts in there just that really tell the story about the history of Nipigon,” Moffatt said.
“We just want to continue to push all of the exhibits that we have in there and then build so we can provide more informative exhibits about the history of Nipigon and the geography and the environment.”