While men’s stories are told in detail, women are often stereotypically represented in objects related to their traditional social roles, limited to the home, domestic duties, and childrearing. Through this narrow depiction, museums have done a disservice to the real history of women’s contributions to society. Join us as we search the Canmore Museum’s collection for information of the lives of women in early Canmore.
This special behind-the-scenes collection tour is being hosted as part of our monthly Membership Monday series and is open to both Museum members and the public to participate; advance tickets are required. This event is part of our Women’s History Month programming.
The Canmore Museum participates in the Restrictions Exemption Program. As a result, program registrants attending this onsite program will be required to show proof of vaccination, a negative test result (from within the last 48 hours) or a certificate of medical exemption along with one piece of photo ID. Wearng masks is also be required by all participants throughout the duration of the tour.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
Mercedes Cormier brings 8 years of progressive experience at the Royal AlbertaMuseum to her role at the Canmore Museum. She started at the RAM, as a volunteer, then progressed toCollections Technician, to her final role at the RAM asCollections Management Assistant. In this role, she was responsible for helping lead the recent move of the Royal Alberta Museum’s collection from the museum’s old Glenora location to their new museum building and current offsite storage facility. In that intense three-year project, she has handled and helped re-house nearly every object in the RAM’s vast collection. Mercedes is currently working with various collections at theRAM to finish up post move tasks. She has experience in working with human history objects, natural history specimens, and collections representing Alberta’s Indigenous communities. Outside of her experience at the Royal Alberta Museum, Mercedes has also worked with specialty collections at the Bata Shoe Museum inToronto, Ontario (practicum) and at Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Ecology from the Univeristy of Alberta and is currently undertaking a graduate diploma in HeritageResource Management with Athabasca University.
Sarah Knowles serves as the Canmore Museum’s Visitor + Membership Services Officer. With a background in community-based anthropology and a passion for social history, Sarah is a trained anthropologist, cross cultural communicator, and youth program creator and facilitator. From a young age, Sarah has cared deeply about people and knows the importance and power of community. Through her Master’s degree in Anthropology from Western University, and her BA Honours in Anthropology and International Development from Trent University, she has learned how to listen and learn from diverse sets of people and how to help facilitate strong community- centered programing. Sarah is fully trained in qualitative research, skills she has honed through her Master’s thesis which included field research in Pune, India and extensive textual analysis of 100s of online blogs. She further grew her research expertise during an internship with the strategy department at the Girl Guides of Canada head offices where she helped plan, conduct, and analyse various research projects. She is also equipped with participatory research and evaluation skills that have allowed her to successfully engage and learn from communities in Canada and Ghana, West Africa. Sarah has worked with people of all ages but especially enjoys working with youth. Sarah is excited to be working in a museum environment and to engage with the Canmore community, where she will particularly enjoy the many hiking and other outdoor opportunities.