After pulling up its century-old floorboards in a recent renovation, the Canadian Museum of Nature is finding a new life for the wooden planks – as keychains.
“I thought it was important to save some of these materials that we couldn’t repurpose,” says Elizabeth McCrea, the museum’s director of communications. “So this 100 year old, virgin forest wood – which is pretty incredible – was saved for me to develop something.”
McCrea teamed up with Ottawa’s ARC Industries to make the keychains out of the salvaged wood.
ARC Industries, a non-profit business, also brought something unique to the table. As a division of the Ottawa-Carleton Association for Persons with Developmental Disabilities, the company is wholly staffed by developmentally challenged adults.
“They were so, so helpful,” says McCrea. “If we do something like this again I’d absolutely partner with them.”
At first the keychains were envisioned simply as a keepsake for museum staff, along with a podium for the auditorium made from wood and marble recycled from the renovation. Inspired by a “why not?” attitude, says McCrea, production for the keychains soon swelled so that ordinary citizens could purchase them as well.
They’re available in the museum’s gift shop, next to the mugs and t-shirts that make up the traditional souvenir fare, as well as on the museum’s website for $12.95.
McCrea says they offer something “rare” – a piece of real history.
The floorboards have seen a lot of that during their tenure. The Victoria Memorial Museum Building, in which the Museum of Nature is housed, served as the Canadian Parliament during the First World War, after the original Parliament Building burned down in 1916.
While its parliamentary days are long gone, the building still bears a stately moniker – it’s known as “the castle.”
To honour the building’s current tenants, the keychains are imprinted with the image of one of the museum’s signature dinosaur models.
Ottawa is a good city for collecting pieces of history. Last fall, a local charity called the Christmas Exchange sold ornaments made from the old copper roofing of the Parliament Buildings as a fundraiser. After its initial production of 500 ornaments sold out before they were even manufactured, the Christmas Exchange more than doubled its stock – and still sold out.
“It’s pure Canadiana,” says Marilyn Matheson, the charity’s executive director. “You’re not going to find it at the White House. You’re not going to find it at the British Parliament. It’s unique.”
Aside from the patriotic or historic connection to the material, Matheson says many of the buyers have a personal link too.
“Some people had fathers or grandfathers who worked on restoring the [Parliament] buildings. Another woman bought one for a former mayor of Ottawa,” she says.
The personal connection to these landmarks seems to play a factor in their popularity, says Bob Graziano, a supervisor for ARC Industries, which also manufactured the ornaments.
“It does seem to be a localized thing. People see these buildings every day and they have a connection to them,” he says.
That being said, Graziano fills orders from all around the world.
“Business is pretty steady,” he says. ARC Industries will manufacture this year’s run of copper ornaments for The Christmas Exchange – an order that Matheson says will be “much bigger” than last year.
McCrea believes history sells wherever you go.