What’s new?

The Mahone Bay Museum is a small community museum created by the registered non-profit charity, the Mahone Bay Founders Society, that strives to protect and provide (on-site and on-line) access to the history of Mahone Bay area to prevent it from becoming forgotten or lost.

Covid-19 Update August 13, 2020

We’re pleased to announce that our Board of Directors has approved our plan to open by appointment by donation for one group at a time with procedures in place to reduce Covid risk to our staff and visitors! Please note that we will do our best to accommodate appointment requests but that we will need at least 24 hours notice in order to request for two available staff members to be on-site.
Arranging an appointment is best done by Facebook messaging us https://www.facebook.com/MahoneBayMuseum/
or emailing us at info@mahonebaymuseum.com with “Appointment to Visit” in the subject line.
If you are outside of the Atlantic Bubble or would prefer to request a virtual tour of the Museum by donation, please contact us!

Usually around this time of the year, we’re selling tickets to our annual fundraiser Home & Garden Tour. However, we don’t feel comfortable asking for people to open their homes to the public at this time.

Rather than cancel our event, we’re very pleased to announce that we’re developing a Virtual Home & Garden Tour!

The video, featuring Betty Meredith’s photographs (from Photos by Betty) of the exteriors of local homes and gardens with an introduction over the town by Picnic Studios, will be shared here on our website, as well as online via Facebook and Youtube, for you to enjoy from your own home.

To donate towards our Virtual Home & Garden Tour fundraiser, visit: https://mahonebaymuseum.com/hgtour/

Our annual Home & Garden Tour is a key fundraiser that helps us cover our operational costs for the Museum. This year, instead of selling tickets, we will be sharing the video of the virtual tour for free and simply encouraging a donation.

Dear Members, Friends, and Supporters,

We know that many individuals, organizations, and businesses are struggling at this time but we are hoping to raise some funds to help us get through the next few months. To help, you can make a general donation, make a project specific donation (see project list below), purchase an item from our gift shop (email us for more info), or purchase your annual membership to our Mahone Bay Founders Society. We are reviewing other online fundraising ideas and plan to continue our Membership Campaign as well.

POTENTIAL PROJECTS WE ARE WORKING ON

  • editing and sharing our previously recorded oral history interviews and record new oral history videos over the phone or via computer
  • working with our collections and sharing more photographs of and information on our artifacts
  • developing our Mi’kmaq History Exhibit with the help of our Mi’kmaq Exhibit Committee, which includes local Mi’kmaw
  • providing virtual tours of the Museum
  • hosting virtual meetings with a chance for you to ask us questions and chat about Mahone Bay area’s history

HOW TO DONATE
If you would like to donate towards one of these projects listed above or make a general donation to help us with our 2020 season, donations can be made

  • By mail to the Mahone Bay Founders Society, PO Box 583, Mahone Bay, NS B0J 2E0
  • By e-transfer to info@mahonebaymuseum.com

Please note, for mailed in cheques and donations via our website, all DONATIONS OVER $20 are eligible for a tax receipt, as we are a registered charity.

MAKING YOUR DONATION GO FURTHER
While we are closed, we will be cutting our expenses down as much as possible to allow us to use our limited funds efficiently. Our budgeted expenses for this season have no flashy bells or whistles. We are simply trying to stay afloat and continue to do the much needed work we need to on our policies and create some online content for our community to enjoy from their homes.

MEMBERSHIPS
If you would like to support us by instead purchasing a membership, you can renew or complete an annual membership to the Mahone Bay Founders Society online here: https://mahonebaymuseum.com/product-category/memberships/

Or print a membership form and mail your membership fee to us here: http://mahonebaymuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Membership-Form-1.pdf

New Facebook Group to Reunite Mahone Bay Area Keddy Descendants!

We’ve created a Facebook group to create a Virtual Reunion for the Keddy family descendants! If you’re related to the Keddy’s who came to Mahone Bay area in 1753, you’re welcome to join via Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4271135892904214/

Are you related to a different family who settled in Mahone Bay in the 1750s? Don’t worry, you can vote for us to host a reunion for your family too! Vote on our original post here: https://www.facebook.com/MahoneBayMuseum/posts/10158221809794030

New Items Added to our Archival Collection!

Thanks to a grant from the Government of Canada and Library Archives Canada, we have been hard at work processing photographs from November 2019 to March 2020. The project allowed us to preserve and increase access to 100cm of selected documents and over 900 photographs (including 70 glass negatives and 40 tintypes dated around the 1890s), from our backlog of unprocessed archival items relating to the town of Mahone Bay’s general history, shipbuilding history, and local families. 

During this project, the archival items were arranged, described, and stored properly with archival supplies purchased with this funding. We also created detailed finding aids, improved long-term preservation via proper storage and digitization, increased off-site access via digitization, and increased access to these items by sharing scans on Facebook.  

These items comprised of 4 new archival collections and 2 accruals to existing collections.
– Gordon D. Ernst Collection (MBMS-63)
– Joan Foran Collection (MBMS-64)
– Clarence R. Heisler & Son (MBMS-65)
– Minnie Beatrice Oickle Collection (MBMS-66)
– Inglis & Quinlan Family Collection (MBMS-1)
– John McLean & Sons Collection (MBMS-5)

Follow us on Facebook to see archival photos shared there or review our full list of archival collections and a selection of scans here: http://mahonebaymuseum.com/archival-collection/

Heritage Recognition Award Dinner Event POSTPONED

Please note: This event has been postponed due to the Covid-19 crisis. We will reschedule this event when it is safe to do so.

New Facebook Group for sharing old recipes.
You can request to join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1485558868288265/

Our Autumn 2019 Newsletter

View our Newsletter here:
http://mahonebaymuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Mahone-Bay-Museum-Newsletter-Fall-2019.pdf

Our 2019 Exhibits Include:

Visit www.mahonebaymuseum.com/collections/
for more information about our current exhibits