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Seven lucky years for Clarence-Rockland history
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
The symbol for the seventh anniversary of anything is copper. But for the Rockland Museum, the past seven years since the building opened have been golden. Gilles Chartrand, the museum’s archi- vist and founder, keeps busy every day with cataloguing documents and items in themu- seum’s artifacts collection.That is, when he’s not welcoming a new addition that someone brings in for the growing collection. “Every week I have people giving things to the museum,” Chartrand said, adding that donors are assured every heritage item is valued. “They know that what comes into the museum will stay in the museum.” The RocklandMuseummarks its official opening, seven years ago, on April 29. Much of what comprises the core of themuseum’s archives and artifacts collection began as part of Chartrand’s own personal collection of heritage items dealing with the Clarence- Rockland area. “It’s a passion,” he said, about his interest in local history. “I love it.” Chartrand’s own collection occupied two rooms and the garage of his daughter’s home where he lived. He began looking around for
Museum archivist Gilles Chartrand holds up a Merchant Marines cap, a vintage piece of wartime memorabiliia. —photo Gregg Chamberlain
a proper site for a museum and got an offer and suggestion from then-Mayor Richard Lalonde about using some of the space in the Centre Culturel building on Laurier Street. The two-storey building soon became Rockland’s first official museum and Char- trand noted that it has become both a com- munity attraction for tourists and also an
important local history resource for ele- mentary, high school, and even university students, doing research for their school projects. That, he noted, is one of the most valuable assets that a community museum provides. “We are in danger of losing our heritage,” he said, “if we do not have a place to store it.”
Vintage sports banners, pennants, trophies and similarmemorabilia formed one of the cornerstones of the Rockland Museum artifacts collection. —photo Gregg Chamberlain
Medals from the First and Second World Wars. —photo Gregg Chamberlain
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