Work Underway To Amalgamate Museums
By Terry Thompson
Informal discussions with respect to the amalgamation of the Naval Museum of Alberta and the Museum of the Regiments have been underway since the spring of 2001. This dialogue was precipitated by the "Sharing Our Military Heritage" combined fund raising campaign that has been undertaken in partnership with the National War Museum in Ottawa and the two military museums located here in Calgary.
A Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) was formed at about the same time under the direction of the Boards of Directors of the Museum of the Regiments and the Naval Museum of Alberta.
The mandate for the LRPC, now approved in principle by both museum boards, is to proceed with plans to integrate the two. This is to be accomplished under one roof, governed by a single governing body. It will allow each of the participating museums to retain ownership of its artifacts and a degree of autonomy in the operation of its exhibition and displays.
Numerous strategy and position papers have been developed by the LRPC and reviewed by the MOR and the NMAS executive bodies. These papers provide the road map leading from the situation whereby two geographically separate museums exist, functioning in isolation from one another, to a planned integration of the two facilities under combined governance and management structures.
The University of Calgary has agreed to bring on board their vast archival and library expertise and have joined the endeavour. The collective aim will be to establish a centre of learning excellence and a foundation for the study of the military sciences in Calgary.
Recently, the air force community in Calgary has formed the Air Force Museum of Alberta Society. The board of directors will include retired airmen in the area and representatives of the Aero Space Museum of Alberta. This body will become part of the planning process once approvals have been finalised granting legal status as a charitable society and qualification as a Canadian Forces Museum.
The feasibility has been established, preliminary plans are under development and fund-raising is in progress. There remains, the co-operation of the corporate community, government agencies and the collective will to proceed into the next phase in the establishment of one western regional military museum that will preserve the past for the future.
The thinking that currently influences the collective approach to museum management, archival presentation, audience and all of the structures involved in preserving the past for the future must be open to change. "We can either stay as we are, or we can change". The decision to confront these changes has been taken by the LRPC.
Recent activities involving the use of mass terrorism by small specially trained radical groups have had an enormous impact on the traditional definition of war. Events such as these will, in the coming years, significantly change the configuration of Canada's military structure. Military museums in the future may need to branch more extensively into the realm of the clandestine and covert operations that seem likely to dominate the twenty-first century.
Since the end of the Cold War, the face and force of conflict has entered a period of rapid change. That mankind confronted nuclear annihilation and backed away was a lesson that will not likely need to be relearned. In its place the probability of multiple conflicts occurring simultaneously around the world will become commonplace in the century ahead.
Military museums must preserve and honour the past and they must portray in their account, the journey of man, his achievements and his misfortunes. The history of mankind is replete with stories of this journey. These stories must be fiercely guarded in their true and basic forms.
Canadian military museums are alive and prospering in today's society. They will change, because as history shows us, time will not stand still. Military museums in the future may find it necessary to change their structures, their management, and their sources of support. But the stories they tell will change only to the extent that each succeeding generation contributes to the account.
The ultimate contribution will never change. The willingness to serve one's country, honourably fighting against the evils of tyranny is the task; the giving of one's life is the final sacrifice. It is those who have done so in the past that we will continue to honour and it is the triumphs, tragedies and the proud traditions of the Canadian military experience that will be preserved for a host of generations to come.
The Royal Canadian Legion continues to carry the national burden of remembering those who have given their lives in past wars. Indeed the Legion has carried the torch thrust into our hands and held it high. It is the Royal Canadian Legion to whom we as Canadians turn for support in our quest to preserve the symbols of the past for future generations. The Alberta N.W.T. Command has stepped forward with a contribution of $150,000 toward the new centre. They have shown the way for corporate sector participation in this worthwhile cause.
Terry Thompson is a retired air force lieutenant colonel living in Calgary. He is on the Board of Directors of the Naval Museum of Alberta Society and is a member of the Long Range Planning Committee.
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