School is a passion of mine. Out of the last 21 years, I have been enrolled in post-secondary institutes for 20 of them. I am currently working on a Diploma in Cultural Resource Management from the University of Victoria, Continuing Studies since 2017. I was delighted to find out that along the way I can receive two Professional Specialization Certificates. One in Collection Management and one in Visitor and Community Engagement. I am on my 9th course and need to complete 11 courses in total to receive the Diploma and 2 certificates. The courses are demanding and I can only take one per semester. They take 7 - 14 hours of work each week for 4 months, sometimes more. And yes, lol, I have been juggling this while raising by child (who is 6 now) and working full time at the Whyte Museum. Another reason for my yearly small production ceramics.
I’ve written many papers in the past 5 years, most about the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. The one I refer back to the most is from 2018. In celebration of my certificate, I’ve decided to post it here. Grab a tea and sit in. I’d love to know what you think, comment below!
Grab a tea and enjoy below! I’ve been adding semi-precious rocks to my work and love the “extra” it gives them. Blue mug, 2020.
ASSIGNMENT 2 | Collections and Community
WHYTE MUSEUM OF THE CANADIAN ROCKIES
When Peaks and People Meet
Ciara Linteau
AHVS 488B: Collections Management
October 2, 2018
“In the spirit of Peter and Catharine Whyte, the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies acquires, preserves, interprets, and makes accessible the history and culture of the Rocky Mountains of Canada by inspiring and cultivating the exchange of knowledge and ideas through our collections, programs and exhibitions.”
Peter Whyte was born in Banff, N.W.T. (now Alberta) on January 22, 1905. Peter’s father, Dave White (1864 – 1940, Canadian) and his mother, Annie Curren (1879 – 1955), built a prospering, well-known general goods business. Catharine Robb was born on June 13, 1906 in Concord, Massachusetts and raised in an affluent household. Growing up, Catharine acquired a profound interest in collecting from her maternal grandfather Dr. Edward Sylvester Morse (1838 – 1925, American), who was a student of Louis Agassiz the developer of teaching museum. Morse was the first curator of the Peabody Academy of Science in Salem, Massachusetts and was director 1880 – 1871. Peter and Catharine met while both attending the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. On June 30, 1930, Peter and Catharine married and shortly after moved to Banff and built a log home and art studio on Peter’s parents’ property on which Whyte Museum now stands.
Peter and Catharine Whyte began to envision their legacy of combined land, wealth and collections in the early 1950s. Forming the Wa-Che-Yo-Cha-Pa foundation, a name, recommended by close friend Stoney elder George McLean (Chief Walking Buffalo), interpreted by Catharine to mean, “Where the good, the wise and the beautiful come together in harmony”, the Whyte’s founded their legacy: a living public trust. The collection includes art works painted by Peter and Catharine Whyte, works of their contemporaries; the home they built including the contents that focus on post-war life in Banff. A significant Japanese collection given to Catharine from Dr. Morse, who in 1877 travelled to Japan during the Meiji period and amassed a collection of ceramics, woodblock prints and other artistic and cultural objects. In 1934, Peter and Catharine also travelled to Japan, while there Catharine acquired Japanese arts and crafts including Hiroshi Yoshida prints. The Whyte’s’ collection also includes meaningful First Nations cultural artifacts including Stoney art and archival material from the McLean family who invested Catharine as a blood sister and David Bearspaw whom referred to Peter and his brothers as his sons.
The Foundation started an Archives in 1961, hiring archivist Maryalice Stewart. Born from several founding families Stewarts connections, passion and knowledge amassed the collection, including the homes of Crosby, McGinn and Boyce, original Parks warden cabins, and the Alpine Club of Canada's collection. In 1963, fellow collectors Phillip and Pearl Moore bequeathed their collection to Catharine. Initially interested in starting their own museum of Indigenous culture, Pearl Moore (1889 – 1973, Canadian) became interested in the Wa-Che-Yo-Cha-Pa Foundation and arranged to donate her home, the furnishings and collections to the foundation. Their house was moved to the Whyte property in 1971, although still private use, it is treated as a museum and interpreted for public through tours along with Peter and Catharine’s house. Telling the story of Pearl Brewster, the sister of the world-renowned Brewster brothers who started Brewster guiding company and her husband Lieutenant-Colonel Philip August Moore (American, 1879 – 1951). A cabinet des of curiosities, the house contains a cultural history collection whose interpretive focus is pre-1930’s pioneer heritage in Banff and the Canadian Rockies; the Moore’s and their friends; the Brewster family; Indigenous culture; mountain artists; and the influence of the CPR on the development in the Canadian Rockies. True to the Whyte Foundation mission and values, the story of Pearl and Phillip Moore add to the cultural story of Banff.
In 1968, the Foundation opened a public access building featuring a Library, The Peter Whyte Gallery and Archives of the Canadian Rockies. During her lifetime, Catharine became an important patron of the arts and providing significant financial support to cultural and educational organizations. She received many honours, including an honourary doctorate from the University of Calgary in 1969, and the Order of Canada in 1978. Upon Catharine’s death in 1979, the foundation was renamed to Peter and Catharine Whyte Foundation. In 1985, a now publicly funded library was removed from the building and the Foundation changed their public name to the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies focusing on the remaining departments: Archives, Gallery and Heritage Collection. With this change the museum became more mindful of itself and the new space was developed into object based museological exhibitions. The mandate was updated in 1985 to reflect less charitable money, and be more visitor/ educational based with more focus internally: “… exhibit, collect, foster, preserve and make available for research the art of the Canadian Rockies ...”
In a drastic change from its original roots in 2015, board member Tristan White wrote “we are now entering a challenging phase, where our aging infrastructure, growing collections … we are stretching and outpacing our resources.” The Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies mandate and strategic plan was adjusted to reflect these modifications while also keeping the spirit on history and culture in the Rocky Mountains and making it available to the community through programming, collections and exhibitions. The mission was updated to “To establish the Whyte Museum as an engaged, relevant and valued community resource and source of pride in Banff and the Bow Corridor”. The museum revitalized its mission to be a comprehensive, flexible and sustained institution that has reciprocal relationships within the Bow Valley Community, and placed value on the museums’ choice of specific communities in which it works with.
The strategic plan and mission/vision was also updated in 2016 to focus the guiding principles of the museum to be fiscally sustainable and manage the collection for future generations while being a dynamic gathering place that is predominant to cultural life in Banff. The collection now contains more than eight thousand works of art, eleven thousand diverse heritage items, thirteen hundred motion pictures, ten hundred sound recordings, six thousand books and over a half a million photographs. Of which ninety percent is accessioned, and seventy-five percent is catalogued.
“We want it always to be a friendly and pleasant place where everyone is welcome – Banff residents and visitors from all over the world. We especially hope that young people will learn from the history of their past and appreciate the beauty around them.”
– Catharine Robb Whyte, Whyte Museum, opening day speech
Bibliography
Anne Ewen et al., Artistry Revealed: Peter Whyte, Catharine Robb Whyte and Their Contemporaries, (Alberta: Friesens, 2018).
Ewen, Anne, interviewed by Ciara Linteau, 28 September 2018.
Ewen, Anne. From Morse to Whyte, exhibition didactic (Banff: Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies), 2018.
Hart, E.J. (Ted), ‘From the Director’, The Cairn, XVI, no. 1 (1991) 2.
Hart, E.J. (Ted), ‘Message from the Executive Director’ The Cairn, (2006/ 2007), 2.
Nicholson, Emily G. and Williams, Stephen L., Museline, Texas Association of Museums (Fall 2002) pp. 1–4.
Niwa, Kathleen Joanne, “Rocky Mountain Palettes: The Art of Peter and Catharine Whyte” (unpublished Ph.D dissertation, University of Victoria, 1996).
Roddy II, Gilbert M, “Catharine Whyte”, n.d < https://www.geni.com/people/Catharine-Whyte/6000000004080182014 > , 29, September 2018.
Simmons, John E., Things Great and Small: Collection Management Policies. American Association of Museums: Washington (2006) Chapter 2, pp. 9–14
Unknown, ‘About Colonel Philip Moore’ Royal Canadian Legion #26 Colonel Moore Branch (Banff), n/d <https://banfflegion.ca/about/about-colonel-philip-moore/>, 28 September 2017.
Varga, Vince. Museum Director. The Peter and Catharine Whyte Foundation Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies COLLECTION POLICY (Operating), 2017.
White Jones, Tristan, ‘From Tristan White Jones’, The Cairn (2015/ 2016), 14.
Whyte Museum, “Mission”, 2016, < http://www.whyte.org/about-us >, 28 September 2018.
Whyte, Jon and Cavell, Edward, Mountain Glory: The Art of Peter and Catharine Whyte (Calgary, Alberta: Paperworks Press Limited, 1988).
A collection of recent works. 2020.