Photograph of Ray and Frances Fleming at the celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary. They each have floral corsages, Frances is holding a bouquet of flowers and there is a bunch of balloons behind them.
Photograph of Ray and Frances Fleming at the celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary. They each have floral corsages, Frances is holding a bouquet of flowers and there is a bunch of balloons behind them.
Photograph of Ray and Frances Fleming at the celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary. The smiling couple is standing next to a table with a cake on it.
Photograph of Ray and Frances Fleming at the celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary. The smiling couple is standing next to a table with a cake on it.
Photograph of Ray and Frances Fleming at the celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary. Both are seated while Frances' brother John Waplington, dressed in a captain's hat is standing in behind them.
Photograph of Ray and Frances Fleming at the celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary. Both are seated while Frances' brother John Waplington, dressed in a captain's hat is standing in behind them.
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 …
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.
Item is the "1980 Recast / 1981 Provisional / Accountability Budget" for the District of Burnaby as laid out by the Municipal Manager for Council's inspection and approval.
Item is the "1980 Recast / 1981 Provisional / Accountability Budget" for the District of Burnaby as laid out by the Municipal Manager for Council's inspection and approval.
Photograph of the land being cleared at 5496 Dominion Street in order to create a path to move the Roberts' house onto the property. Included in the clearing are the stumps of two apples trees, a poplar tree, and a maple tree. The debris from the site was burned and smoke can seen rising from a s…
Photograph of the land being cleared at 5496 Dominion Street in order to create a path to move the Roberts' house onto the property. Included in the clearing are the stumps of two apples trees, a poplar tree, and a maple tree. The debris from the site was burned and smoke can seen rising from a small pile of brush on the right.
Photograph of the land being cleared at 5496 Dominion Street in order to create a path to move the Roberts' house onto the property. The old garage was demolished, the area dug out and made level for the foundation. The house at 5493 Dominion Street is visible in the background.
Photograph of the land being cleared at 5496 Dominion Street in order to create a path to move the Roberts' house onto the property. The old garage was demolished, the area dug out and made level for the foundation. The house at 5493 Dominion Street is visible in the background.
Photograph of an excavator making a pathway to move the Roberts' house from 5538 Dominion Street to 5496 Dominion Street. A second excavator works in the background.
Photograph of an excavator making a pathway to move the Roberts' house from 5538 Dominion Street to 5496 Dominion Street. A second excavator works in the background.
Photograph of the Roberts' house jacked up and supported by iron beams underneath. Three labourers work beneath the lifted house. In order to raise the house, some of the foundation was knocked down. A rear end of a flat bed truck is parked on the grass to the right.
Photograph of the Roberts' house jacked up and supported by iron beams underneath. Three labourers work beneath the lifted house. In order to raise the house, some of the foundation was knocked down. A rear end of a flat bed truck is parked on the grass to the right.
Photograph of the Roberts' house being moved from 5538 Dominion Street to 5496 Dominion Street. Wheels were attached to both ends of the iron beams supporting the raised house and one set of wheels was attached to a swivel on a flatbed truck to facilitate the move. The furnishings and appliances …
Photograph of the Roberts' house being moved from 5538 Dominion Street to 5496 Dominion Street. Wheels were attached to both ends of the iron beams supporting the raised house and one set of wheels was attached to a swivel on a flatbed truck to facilitate the move. The furnishings and appliances were left inside the house during the move.
Photograph of the Roberts' house being moved from 5538 Dominion Street to 5496 Dominion Street. Wheels were attached to both ends of the iron beams supporting the raised house and one set wheels was attached to a swivel on a flatbed truck to facilitate the move. The house was turned 90 degrees so…
Photograph of the Roberts' house being moved from 5538 Dominion Street to 5496 Dominion Street. Wheels were attached to both ends of the iron beams supporting the raised house and one set wheels was attached to a swivel on a flatbed truck to facilitate the move. The house was turned 90 degrees so that it faced Dominion Street.
Photograph of the Roberts' house nearly in its new position after being moved from 5538 Dominion Street to 5496 Dominion Street. The move took nearly two full days to complete.
Photograph of the Roberts' house nearly in its new position after being moved from 5538 Dominion Street to 5496 Dominion Street. The move took nearly two full days to complete.
Photograph of the Roberts' house in its new position at 5496 Dominion Street. The house is jacked up and sitting on block to enable workers to build forms and pour concrete for the foundation walls.
Photograph of the Roberts' house in its new position at 5496 Dominion Street. The house is jacked up and sitting on block to enable workers to build forms and pour concrete for the foundation walls.
Photograph of the Roberts' house in its new position at 5496 Dominion Street. Perimeter "pony" walls and other interior supporting walls were built to support the house. All of the plumbing and electrical wiring were replaced.
Photograph of the Roberts' house in its new position at 5496 Dominion Street. Perimeter "pony" walls and other interior supporting walls were built to support the house. All of the plumbing and electrical wiring were replaced.
Photograph of the Roberts' house in its new position at 5496 Dominion Street with an additional "cold storage" room added beneath the front porch and windows installed.
Photograph of the Roberts' house in its new position at 5496 Dominion Street with an additional "cold storage" room added beneath the front porch and windows installed.
Photograph of the Roberts' house in its new position at 5496 Dominion Street. Cedar siding was added to finish the exterior, the original white pillars were re-installed on the front porch, the house was stained, and basic landscaping was completed.
Photograph of the Roberts' house in its new position at 5496 Dominion Street. Cedar siding was added to finish the exterior, the original white pillars were re-installed on the front porch, the house was stained, and basic landscaping was completed.
Photograph of an excavator clearing the land between 5496 Dominion Street and Douglas Road. The three lots in this area were subdivided into six 33 foot lots and cleared for the construction of six new houses.
Photograph of an excavator clearing the land between 5496 Dominion Street and Douglas Road. The three lots in this area were subdivided into six 33 foot lots and cleared for the construction of six new houses.
Photograph of a labourer removing the old foundation and boulders from the 5496 Dominion Street property with a jackhammer. The house located at 5511 Norfolk Street is visible in the background.
Photograph of a labourer removing the old foundation and boulders from the 5496 Dominion Street property with a jackhammer. The house located at 5511 Norfolk Street is visible in the background.
Photograph of new houses being constructed on the 33 foot lots between 5496 Dominion Street and Douglas Road. Framing is complete and the houses' roofs and windows are installed.
Photograph of new houses being constructed on the 33 foot lots between 5496 Dominion Street and Douglas Road. Framing is complete and the houses' roofs and windows are installed.