COFFEE WITH: New Westminster museum curator takes over at exciting time

Oana Capota, the curator and programmer at the New Westminster Museum and Archives, is already making preparations for the move to the Civic Centre in two years.

MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER

Oana Capota works in the past with an eye to the future.

The new curator and programmer at the New Westminster Museum and Archives is already making plans to move the thousands of artifacts stored in the bunker-like cinderblock building tucked behind Irving House to the gleaming new civic centre being constructed on Columbia Street. The move is still two years away.

Yet it’s a daunting task. And a massive responsibility.

Because each artifact represents a slice of New Westminster’s rich history, an heirloom from the community’s past, a cherished memory from the people who built it.

Some of them are ungainly, like the Model T squirreled away in the basement or the carriage in the bunker’s front display window. A window and part of a wall will likely have to be removed to extract that one.

Some of them are incredibly heavy, like the old bell from one of the city’s early fire halls.

Most are fragile, like the five-metre-long model of the Pattullo Bridge crafted by a student years ago for a school project, then donated to the museum; its builder went on to a long and distinguished career as an engineer.

Capota isn’t letting the prospect of packing and transporting all that stuff freak her out though. Four months into her new job, she’s still absorbing the history and character of the city with which she’s been entrusted.

Her previous positions at the Surrey Museum, the Station Museum in Port Moody and Burnaby Village Museum forged some early connections with elements of New Westminster’s history, like the story of cattle farmers in Surrey who figured out in 1904 that they could save toll charges on the bridge over the Fraser River if they transported their herd to market in New Westminster in the back of a truck rather than walk each cow over one by one.

“New Westminster was always at the centre of things,” says Capota.

Now that she’s smack dab in the middle of it herself, she’s devouring the reams of documents and old photos that tell the city’s story, she’s reading the historical plaques that adorn so many of the city’s houses, she drinks in the brick facades of the old buildings that line Columbia and Front streets. And she plans ways to bring that history to life for New Westminster’s residents and visitors.

“We have to help people realize the museum is a friendly place. It’s no longer a hallowed hall.”

She hopes to achieve that by reaching out to groups in the community that may never have thought they had a stake in the city’s history, like immigrants and refugees. After all, the stories of their journey to New Westminster will become part of the city’s history to future generations.

“We have to give all communities in the city a sense of ownership, that this is their museum,” says Capota. “We have to look at history that’s being made today.”

That’s especially important as the city transforms itself from the somewhat derelict suburb it had become since the 1970s to a vibrant urban centre. And the new civic centre will be a key component of that transformation as well as a huge opportunity for the museum.

No longer hidden behind Irving House, the museum and archives will be front and centre, an easy SkyTrain ride away to millions.

“I think I’ve come in at a good time. It’s exciting to meet people and hear their stories. It’s easy to discount people’s interest in history, but it’s still there.”