John Caldwell, a long-time volunteer at Lang Pioneer Village Museum in Keene, has received the Volunteer Service Award of Excellence from the Ontario Museum Association.
The 2022 Awards of Excellence were presented at the Ontario Museum Association’s 50th anniversary annual conference last Monday (November 7) at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.
The Volunteer Service Award of Excellence recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to a museum or museums through volunteer work.
Caldwell began volunteering at Lang Pioneer Village Museum in the early 2000s, after being a regular visitor with his family since the mid-1990s.
“John is a remarkable example of a volunteer who is not only passionate about his work but is able to effortlessly share and inspire his work and interests in others,” reads a description on the Ontario Museum Association’s website. “He is able to connect with a diversity of visitors and audiences, fostering their curiosity by having them ask questions and trying things out for themselves. He is always having visitors engage with the history of the Peterborough County and directly participate in the museum’s demonstrations.”
Between 2015 and 2020 alone, Caldwell contributed more than 6,000 hours of volunteer work at the museum. He is an interpreter involved in various aspects of the museum’s operation, including grounds maintenance, education, recruitment, training, sales, and even modelling for event advertisements.
His most substantive contribution has been leading the power and equipment club, which has completed many restoration projects. Caldwell and other club members have restored various objects and structures, allowing for a more immersive and interactive visitor experience at the museum.
“Because of the work that John has done, we don’t just get to see an authentic piece of farm equipment, we get to see an authentic piece of farm equipment work in the way that it would have when it was built,” says Jennifer Crilly-Glover, volunteer coordinator at Christian Horizons. “Not only are we seeing genuine pieces of our history, we’re seeing them restored to their original glory, allowing the visitor a fully immersive experience. This is why Lang is amazing and a volunteer like John is so needed.”
Other recipients of the Ontario Museum Association’s excellence awards include Sarah Quinton of the Textile Museum of Canada (Distinguished Career), Nahed Mansour of the Royal Ontario Museum (Promising Leadership, with an honourable mention to Madeline Smolarz of Oakville Galleries), Oil Museum of Canada for Exhibition & Building Renewal (Exhibitions, with an honourable mention to Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery for Disruption), and Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum for “Making Her Mark: The Women of Niagara-on-the-Lake” (Publications).
