By Bryony Vander Wilp
Historical figures from Canada’s past will soon be visiting the homes of today’s Canadians.
The Portrait Gallery of Canada, a new museum in Ottawa planned to open in 2004 or 2005, will have online capabilities to make its collection available from Victoria to Corner Brook and around the world.
The collection, consisting of approximately 20,000 works of art, four million photographs and 10,000 medallic and philatelic works, will be housed on Wellington Street in the former American embassy.
But Lilly Koltun, the gallery’s curator and National Archives employee, hopes the online collection will bring a national interest.
“We want to give Canadians a sense of their history by seeing the people who built this country,” says Koltun.
The government plans to spend $22 million refurbishing the former embassy, changing offices into galleries and adding some more space to hold the collection.
The National Archives will provide most of the material for the gallery. The rest will come from public and private collections from across Canada.
The collection will not only have traditional portraits but books, diaries, films and other historical documents to give a more rounded picture of the people featured.
For example, film footage of Trudeau’s “Just watch me” exchange with CBC reporter Tim Ralfe would be used as an interactive portrait of the former prime minister.
Koltun hopes the various forms of information will bring their personalities to life for anyone viewing the site.
The collection will hold not only famous people such as Pierre Trudeau or Sir John A. Macdonald but average people as well.
“We’re not as hero orientated as Americans but we’re very appreciative of what communities can accomplish together,” explains Koltun.
As a result immigrant groups, First Nations people and other less prominent people will find a place in the collection.
But the site will go beyond being an on-line history class.
Koltun says there are hopes of creating a link to genealogy services online, where people can get help creating their own family tree.
The National Archives already provides this as a service to Canadians but now it will be more accessible, says Koltun.
Akids’ section will be developed with games and special themes.
Travelling exhibitions and links to other collections worldwide will also be used to make the site more interactive.
Koltun says the on-line capabilities are part of the museum’s vision to create an open and accessible collection.
“We’re surrounded by visuals. We as a society have become very visually orientated. So, we felt it a very eloquent way to display the collection.”
The gallery has been a pet project for the National Archives. The extensive collection of portraits has been around since the mid-1960s prompting the National Archives to look for a way to display the works to a wider audience.
However, not everyone is as excited about the Portrait Gallery of Canada.
Richard Darroch, head of operations and governmental relations at the Canadian Museum Association, an organization dedicated to the advancement, growth and stability of the museum community in Canada, says though the gallery and its on-line capabilities are good ideas, other museums outside of Ottawa need funding as well.
“It’s all a question of balance,” he says.
Darroch says the Canadian Museum Association would like to see the governmental investment matched in institutions outside of Ottawa.
However, he called the new gallery a “positive thing” for Canadian heritage.
Though the actual museum will not be open for a few years, the site, www.portraits.gc.ca is already up but is still under development.