KAMSACK — The program designed for the Museum Appreciation Day at the National Doukhobor Heritage Village at Veregin was cancelled on June 1 because of smoke from wildfires destroying Prairie forests.
The event was to highlight members of the Saskatoon Doukhobor Choir who, suffering from the effects of smoke pollution, decided they could not make the road trip from the city, while the bakers, who were to make the much-sought-after bread for sale at the museum, found the smoke too intense to do their work, said Caitlin Woloschuk of Saskatoon and formerly of Yorkton, who has been working as the Heritage Village’s executive director since May 4.
The daughter of Kelly Woloschuk and Joanne Zbeetnoff Woloschuk of Yorkton, Woloschuk said she is excited to be working at Veregin, having succeeded Philip Perepelkin at the job.
“It has long been a dream of mine to be in such a place,” she said, explaining that the Village reflects “my history and my ancestry.
“I know how important this job is and I hope to do my ancestors proud and live up to the expectations of the board and the community.”
Hired to work six months a season, Woloschuk holds a Master of Arts degree in history, which she obtained from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. She has double honours in history and women and gender studies from the university and has been a member of the board of the Museums Association of Saskatchewan (MAS) for two years. She has worked at the Diefenbaker Canada Centre and the Museum of Antiquities at the U of S and at Heritage Saskatchewan in Regina.
Woloschuk has done advocacy work with the MAS at Parliament Hill in Ottawa and says she is passionate about inclusive spaces and collaborative work.
Unable to hide the enthusiasm she has for her job, Woloschuk said she is excited to develop educational content and new exhibits at the Heritage Village and wants to “freshen up” the place with which she has been familiar her whole life.
“My family tradition has been to come here each year to Heritage Day on the third Sunday of July,” she said, explaining that she is keen to do a “deep dive” into the archives to set up a cohesive system so that archival materials will be better available to the public.
“We’d love to be a resource for genealogical work, scholars and researchers across Canada,” she said, adding that Diwen Xu, a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker, is expected at this year’s Heritage Day on July 20 for learning and research work.
Woloschuk wants to continue conservation work and preventative care of artifacts, especially those contained in buildings without temperature control and looks forward to refreshing some exhibits and creating new ones.
Working with Woloschuk this season is Erika Warkentin, the museum associate, who is a graduate of public history at the University of North Dakota, and two students, Roselie F. Smith, who is funded by YCW (Young Canada Works), and Emily Kalmakoff of Canora, who will join the staff after the school term ends.
The employees work with a board of directors that includes an executive committee comprised of Walter Ostaforoff as chair, Fred V. Konkin, vice-chair; Linda Osachoff, secretary; Andrew Kazakoff, and Philip Perepelkin, the retired executive director, who has taken on the job of board treasurer as well as continuing work such as groundskeeper.
Regarding work she’d like to undertake, Woloschuk said the Museum has “many fantastic photos” that have not yet been displayed and it has obtained lots of material from the Chernoff family that should be exhibited.
“I’d like to give more credit to the Doukhobors of the early 1900s and swap out some art with new pieces,” she said, adding that the Museum has lots of archival stuff in storage that could be exhibited, including full sets of Doukhobor publications that she’d like to make more accessible.
Woloschuk said she understands that creativity and ingenuity, as well as input from friends and family, are required when working with a limited budget.
“I have worked at places with small budgets.”
She said she’d like to do more regarding the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1987 and develop a TransCanada Trail exhibit.
There’s lots of things one can do to conserve and honour those people who got the Heritage Village going.
“We have a great team for the summer,” she said, mentioning that the two most important dates on the calendar are June 29, which is Peter’s Day, a religious observance, and Heritage Day, which is on July 20, the third Sunday of July, when a focus will be placed on food.
“We’ll be serving a blini brunch and will have bread and pyroshki available,” she said. Plans are to have outdoor games to keep children occupied, like a scavenger hunt, and expect to feature games that children had played in the early 1900s, shortly after the arrival of the Doukhobors.
A raffle will have hand-carved spoons as prizes, as well as hoodies donated by 22Fresh Apparel of Regina.
“We love giving tours and welcome people interested in that,” she said, adding that they are working on getting all the staff trained to provide tours, thanks to assistance being provided by Fred and Eileen Konkin of Pelly.
The Heritage Village grounds are an ideal location for family picnics and is great as a site for photographs, she said.
Visitors of the Museum may purchase copies of Ethnic and Favourite Recipes, a “classic” cookbook featuring recipes used by Doukhobor cooks; may obtain T-shirts containing an embroidered logo; artwork; prints of the “Burning of Arms” event in Russia, which led to the migration of Doukhobors to Canada; commemorative pins, and books of Doukhobor history.
“We’re happy to receive feedback,” she said. “We’d like to know what the community would like to see.
“We always look for volunteers for baking bread and making pyroshki and we’re happy to bring people on board who want to learn those skills.”
The National Doukhobor Heritage Village at Veregin is open from May 15 to September 15 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week.
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