2 November 2010

1910 Rogers Pass Avalanche Commemoration Committee Wins Museum Award

Cathy English accepted the award on behalf of the 1910 Rogers Pass Snowslide Commemoration Committee. Here she is in front of the 1910 avalanche exhibit at the Revelstoke Museum & Archives.

Revelstoke British Columbia - The 1910 Rogers Pass Snowslide Commemoration Committee won a "Museums in Motion Award of Merit" from the British Columbia Museums Association in Nanaimo last weekend.
 
The award was given to the committee for their work organizing events and exhibits relating to the 100th anniversary of the 1910 Rogers Pass avalanche that killed 58 people, the deadliest avalanche in Canadian history.
 
"It's the most amazing project I've been involved with in all my years here," said Cathy English, curator of the Revelstoke Museum & Archives.
 
The committee was made up of representatives from Parks Canada, Friends of Mount Revelstoke & Glacier, the Canadian Avalanche Centre, Canadian Pacific, the Revelstoke Railway Museum, the Revelstoke Museum & Archives, local Parks Canada historian John Woods, and Roy Inouye of Kamloops representing the Japanese-Canadian community and the Jodo Shinsu Buddhist Temples of Canada.
 
The plaque on the award, a bronze trophy designed by Kelowna sculptor Geert Maas, specifically recognizes the work of committee members Tomoaki and Yuko Fujimura for their efforts researching the lives of the 32 Japanese workers that died that day and organizing the Japanese aspect of the commemoration.
 
"It really was the collaboration that made it special," said English, who accepted the award on the committee's behalf at the conference in Nanaimo.
 
The committee organized two memorial services to commemorate the event, the first on the anniversary itself in Revelstoke on 4 Mar 2010 and the second on 15 Aug 2010 in Rogers Pass when a special Memory Garden was unveiled at the site of the avalanche.
 
Museum exhibits were also curated and put on display at the Revelstoke Museum & Archives and the Revelstoke Railway Museum.
 
The award is on display at the Revelstoke Museum & Archives for those who want to see it.