Lyne Bard (left) presenting the Quarter Century Volunteer Award to Elizabeth Earl at the Association Museums New Brunswick awards banquet in Moncton on October 14th.
A Notice from the York Sunbury Historical Society President Fred White:
Two Historical Society and Museum representatives, Ruth Murgatroyd and Elizabeth Earl have recently been honoured by the Association Museums New Brunswick with a Provincial Museums ‘Award of Merit’ and a Provincial Museums ‘Quarter Century Award’. These awards were presented at the Association’s Awards Banquet in Moncton October 14th.
As President of the Historical Society & Museum, I was given the opportunity to read the citations to the audience, and the Museums Association President, Lyne Bard, presented the awards.
We are pleased to provide the citations for you to read.
AMNB Citation for Quarter Century Award
Mrs. Elizabeth Earl has been an active member of the York-Sunbury Historical Society Ltd for over 25 years and has served the organization with distinction.
She has served almost every committee of the Historical Society and Museum during her volunteer period and has served one term as President. She is currently active as a member on the Program Committee and the Collections Management Committee, while serving as the Chair of both the Exhibits Committee and the Honours and Awards Committee.
Mrs. Earl always willingly participates in organizing and operating special fundraising projects and heritage events both at the Museum and in the community. Her support of these events encourages others to take on the projects because they know they will have knowledgeable and strong support for both the planning and at the actual event.
Mrs. Earl, who has a Degree in Nursing from Cambridge, England and a Masters degree in Material History from UNB, also has a thorough knowledg of our 40,000+ item collection, plus a broad personal artefact knowledge base. She continually serves as an ongoing volunteer resource for the Executive Director and assists with all artefact related projects and queries of the Museum.
Mrs. Earl has participated thoroughly in the 10 year revamping of the Museum’s 4,500 square feet of exhibit space, to have the Museum’s 11 exhibit themes present the best that we can do within the money and technology available to our Society.
Mrs. Earl has also provided considerable assistance in our five-year project to identify and transfer 5,000 items of Archival, Art and Plans to the Provincial Archives. This is in its final stages and has cleared space for what now is another exhibit gallery, plus we now have better control and knowledge of another 5,000 artefacts in our collection. Most of the paper and art artefacts are being stored in much better environmental conditions at the Provincial Archives than they were at the Fredericton Museum.
The Seconder to Mrs. Earl’s Nomination, Ruth Murgatroyd, Executive Director of the Fredericton Museum has stated that, “Mrs. Earl has supported the York Sunbury Historical Society and Fredericton Regional Museum for over the past 25 years with invaluable knowledge and practical support.
She has served over 10 years on the Board of the Society and also has served as a volunteer through out her period of involvement with the Historical Society.
She presently serves as an active member on the Collections Management Committee, and on the Monthly Program Committee. Both Committees have monthly commitments and are amongst the most active in our organization. In addition, she assists me with the collections on a weekly basis and I am grateful for her intimate knowledge of our collections and her artefact knowledge base, which she uses to respond to queries and in her committee work.
She is invaluable to the ongoing operation of the museum and historical society and I would recommend that she receive the Quarter Century Award.”
In summary, The York-Sunbury Historical Society and Fredericton Museum operations have flourished while Mrs. Earl has been involved. Volunteers such as Elizabeth are the backbone of their museum operations becoming the success they are. It is both fitting and timely that she be recognized for her considerable contributions.
In addition, Mrs. Earl has been a faithful attendee at our Annual General Meetings and Training Days for more than 15 years, plus she has assisted the AMNB at all annual meetings that have been held in Fredericton over the past
15 years.
Citation of Ruth Murgatroyd for Award of Merit
The Fredericton Region Museum and it’s owner, the York-Sunbury Historical Society Ltd. believe Ruth Murgatroyd is a leader amongst the Not-For-Profit New Brunswick museum industry institutions in her implementation of these tools and should be recognized by her fellow members for her initiatives.
Mrs. Murgatroyd was recommended for the Award of Merit because of her implementation of industry leading “Social Networking” tools in the promotion of the museums. In addition to her implementing these tools for the Fredericton Museum, she has assisted all other museum staff that has requested assistance. She has also taken her valuable work time to attended sessions where she has shared her expertise and done it in a practical manner that a museum beginner could use immediately.
The Seconder of the award nomination, Bruce Thomson, has stated that “She has swept through the institution with a healthy respect for the traditions of the past but with an eye to the limitless potential of the future. Her outreach in the community leaves many of us breathless and when partnering with the Fredericton Region Museum for exhibitions, she is a joy to work with.
Of particular note have been Ruth’s pioneering efforts in the realm of the world wide web and social media. As someone who works in this field and as the president of a community museum, I have watched her example closely and have been very impressed with her attention to detail and innovation. Frankly, and probably most importantly, I admire her courage in using a Blog, Facebook and Twitter to reach new museum audiences. Her success at this venture is very clear in the engagement of her pages and her recruitment of new and young volunteers for the Museum. Her work is an example to the rest of the community museums in New Brunswick and she represents the best of a new generation of museum professionals.”
In Summary, The Board of the Museum recommended Mrs. Murgatroyd for this Award of Merit as we believe she plays a leadership role in the museum industry by applying her computer and computer marketing knowledge on behalf of our organization. We believe that she epitomizes what a museum industry should do on behalf of an organization and recommend that she be recognized by the Museum Industry Association.
