Image: A film still showing Amy Garlinski as she introduces the Pioneer Experience Program (SPRA 0001.10.01.19, Fonds 001: Pioneer Museum Society of Grande Prairie & District fonds)
Movie Monday highlights videos from the Archives’ film collection. Every week, an archival film will be featured on our YouTube channel and here on our blog. The Movie Monday project is made possible with the generous funding support of Swan City Rotary Club of Grande Prairie.
Not only is today Movie Monday, but it’s also Heritage Day! To celebrate the heritage of our province and our region, we thought it would be fun to share this 1995 tour of the museum, presented by young Amy Garlinski.
In 1995, the Pioneer Museum (now the Grande Prairie Museum and Heritage Village) hosted a program called the “Pioneer Experience Program,” geared largely towards elementary students. Participants would learn how to make butter, wash clothes, spin wool, and grind grain as the pioneers once did. This film served as an introduction to the program.
Amy does a wonderful job guiding her viewers through the museum and sharing facts that would be of particular interest to children her own age. The tour is brief, yet informative, as she speaks of the ingenuity the pioneers had to possess in order to survive. Handmade tools and dresses are shown, and listeners hear about the butter, soap, and ice cream that pioneers would have made at home (because what child won’t perk up at the mention of ice cream!).
This video would be an excellent resource for teachers and homeschoolers in the coming school year!