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The Project
The Women of Aspenland Virtual Exhibit was developed by the Heritage
Community Foundation as a means of making these resources accessible to all
Canadians. Additional profiles of women were added from a range of sources. As
well, these lives were placed in a context of social history in Alberta, from
fur trade to women’s rights, and from kitchen to social activism. The lives of
women and the region are also illumined by a range of perspectives and points of
view that draw on research into women’s history and the different facets of
community life. The website is a part of the Alberta Online Encyclopedia—the
Heritage Community Foundation initiative that is giving a World Wide Web
presence to the historical, natural, cultural, scientific and technological
heritage of Alberta. It is also a vehicle for ensuring that our heritage is
valued by everyone.
The virtual exhibit draws on two projects undertaken by the Central Alberta
Regional Museums Network (CARMN) with funding support from the Museums Alberta
Regional Museums Grants Program. The Grants Program was designed to promote
research into community life to deepen understanding of the way in which
communities develop and the stories of people and their role in shaping
community. Two projects were undertaken by CARMN:
• Who We Are: The Women of Aspenland Project began in 1995 and
initially involved 11 community museums in documenting the lives of local women,
and creating museum exhibits.
• Aspenland 1998: Local Knowledge and a Sense of Place, a
publication in which a range of writers explore different aspects of place in
central Alberta.
Both projects were led by David J. Goa, Curator of Folklife at the Provincial
Museum of Alberta and Morris Flewwelling, Executive Director of the Red Deer and
District Museum. Each of the participating network museums
decided that each year they would document the lives and work of a few women in
their respective communities. The elements of the research documentation used in
the virtual production include:
- family photographs
- archival photographs
- personal and public documents
- letters of appreciation written by friends and community members
- taped conversations with the subjects or others familiar with the subject
- exhibit text developed for the physical exhibition
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