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50 Years of Blacksmithing at BVM

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/museumdescription18879

Repository: Burnaby Village Museum

Date: 29 Sep. 2022

Collection/Fonds: Burnaby Village Museum fonds

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 video recording (mp4) (94 min., 55 sec.) : digital, col., sd., stereo ; 29 fps

Scope and Content: Item consists of a video recording of a live Zoom webinar hosted by Burnaby Village Museum Program Education Coordinator Ashley Jones and presented by Museum Interpreter and blacksmiths, Eric Damer ad Lorne Gray. The webinar is titled "50 Years of Blacksmithing at BVM". The webinar is the sixth in …

1 image 1 video

Repository: Burnaby Village Museum

Collection/Fonds: Burnaby Village Museum fonds

Series: Burnaby Neighbourhood Speaker Series series

Subseries: Neighbourhood Speaker Series - Fall 2022 subseries

Description Level: Item

Physical Description: 1 video recording (mp4) (94 min., 55 sec.) : digital, col., sd., stereo ; 29 fps

Material Details: Host: Ashely Jones; Presenters: Eric Damer; Lorne Gray; Videographer: Peter Rogier; Editor of video content footage: Peter Rogier; Date of Presentation: Tuesday, September 29, 2022. 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm; Total Number of tracks: 1; Total Length of all tracks: 94 min., 55 sec.; Recording Device: Zoom video communication platform; Original recording of 94 min., 55 sec.was edited to 89 min., 21 sec. for viewing on Heritage Burnaby

Scope and Content: Item consists of a video recording of a live Zoom webinar hosted by Burnaby Village Museum Program Education Coordinator Ashley Jones and presented by Museum Interpreter and blacksmiths, Eric Damer ad Lorne Gray. The webinar is titled "50 Years of Blacksmithing at BVM". The webinar is the sixth in a series of six webinars presented in partnership by Burnaby Village Museum and Burnaby Public Library. The live webinar was also made available on the Burnaby Village Museum's facebook page. Community members were invited to participate by bringing questions during the interactive online sessions. The session opens with the host Ashley Jones, providing introductions. Following the introduction, the presentation begins with Eric Damer and Lorne Gray’s slide presentation titled “50 years of Blacksmithing at Burnaby Village Museum”. The presentation is an historical exploration of the blacksmith shop through images and commentary from these two long-standing museum blacksmiths. Eric and Lorne's presentation is organized into themes beginning with “The Age of Nostalgia” where they discuss the implementation of the original Burnaby Village Museum blacksmithing shop and live exhibit with a working blacksmith when the museum opened in November 1971. They comment on the original design of the forge and other components implemented into the design of the blacksmith shop, stereotypes of blacksmiths and various items that were forged on site in the blacksmith shop. “The Age of Accuracy” looks at changes to the Burnaby Village Museum’s programming and exhibits in the 1980s which included focusing more on the history of Burnaby and upgrading some of the components in the blacksmith shop including blowers, tools, forge design and costuming. Eric and Lorne comment on the history of Burnaby blacksmith, Frank Wagner who operated as a blacksmith in Burnaby “Wagner & Son” on Kingsway. Frank was a trained machinist, farrier and an automotive blacksmith who patented and manufactured the “Wagner Triple Spring Bumper”. With this information, the Burnaby Village Museum changed the name of the blacksmith shop to reflect the history of Burnaby blacksmith Frank Wagner. In “The Age of Diversity” Eric and Lorne talk about a shift in the 1990s when the staffing of the blacksmith shop was diversified to include women and people from diverse cultural backgrounds. These changes as well as an increased interest in artistic blacksmithing also lead to updates in Burnaby Village Museum’s blacksmith training procedures and interpretation, increased course offerings in blacksmithing and a renovated blacksmith shop which included new forges and equipment as well as an improved viewing area. Eric and Lorne talk about specifics regarding blacksmithing techniques and equipment and improvements to make this exhibit more accessible. Their presentation is followed by a short video highlighing Burnaby Village Museum interpreters who have worked as blacksmiths at Burnaby Village Museum. Each person shares their own perspectives on their experiences working as a blacksmith and interacting with the public. In the last part of the webinar, Eric and Lorne answer questions from attendees and further reflect and comment on their own experiences working as blacksmiths, various tools and techniques used and blacksmithing course offerings at Burnaby Village Museum.

History: Host biography: Ashley Jones is the Burnaby Village Museum Education Programmer, responsible for the development and administration of school and public programs at BVM. She has a Master of Arts degree in History and is passionate about creating hands-on programming that promotes historical and environmental literacy. Presenters biography: Eric Damer is a Burnaby Village Museum Interpreter, Museum Registrar, Researcher and Blacksmith. Eric pounded hot steel for the first time in 1977 in junior high. Fifteen years later, he joined Burnaby Village Museum where he has smithed for three decades. He also provides historical research for museum exhibits and special projects. Outside the museum, Eric is a social historian with a special interest in educational history. Lorne Gray has a BA with a major in the History of Science and Technology. He took up blacksmithing as a hobby when he was promoted to middle management and had to start hitting things. He was hired by Burnaby Village Museum as a blacksmith to fill in during the Christmas season of 2001. He has attended several blacksmithing conferences and taken classes with both an artist blacksmith and a journeyman blacksmith. On the weekends, you’ll find him teaching many of the museum’s public blacksmithing courses. He also has a steam ticket that permits him to run the museum’s steam boiler and stationery steam engines.