Got Brockville memorabilia from the 1970s? The local museum may want it

As more residents express an interest in preserving pieces of Brockville’s history by looking to donate artifacts to the city’s museum, local councillors are aiming to ensure the policies governing those donations remain up to date.

During Brockville’s General Committee meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, councillors reviewed the Brockville Museum’s updated Museum Collection Policy, prepared by Museum Director/Curator Natalie Wood.

The policy is a foundational document that outlines how the museum acquires, manages, documents and, when necessary, removes artifacts from its collection. The committee ultimately endorsed the policy after adding an amendment that sought to extend the mandatory review period from every three years to every four years to align with council’s term.

Wood said adopting the policy is also necessary for the museum to remain compliant with provincial standards required under the Community Museum Operating Grant program, through which the museum receives about $27,000 annually.

During the discussion of the motion, Mayor Wren mentioned that he has noticed a keen interest from community members who want to donate items with local historical significance to the museum.

“Based on some of the inquiries that my office has occasionally received, sometimes people have an artifact of some nature that is significant and in their eyes, a very important piece of the past of of the city,” explained Wren. “But when they’ve gone through the process, the museum has not been able to take it on, and I think sometimes reasons for that might be space, or other things.”

Wren said that while the topic was on the agenda that evening, he hoped Wood could provide further comment on certain items or artifacts, even though they may seem significant to the history of Brockville, cannot be taken on.

Wood noted the museum regularly receives offers of artifacts from community members but stressed the importance of having clear criteria to ensure donations support the museum’s mandate and create a collection that reflects Brockville’s history.

“While someone might have something that is very significant to Brockville, we might already have 10 examples of that same story in our collection, so that is usually the number one reason why we might decline something,” Wood explained. “We can only hold so many things so it goes back to the space issue. So we have to monitor representation in the collection and having multiple things that tell the same story is not prudent or responsible for our resources.”

While on the topic, Chair Fullarton said she was excited to learn the museum is actively seeking artifacts from the 1970s, noting many residents who lived through that era likely still have memorabilia tucked away in basements and attics.

Wood agreed, saying those are exactly the kinds of objects the museum hopes residents will consider donating. While the museum already has a winning soapbox derby car in its collection and a handful of photographs, they have relatively few physical artifacts from the latter half of the 20th century.

“People still have these things, so they don’t realize that this is actually the best time to give those things to a museum,” said Wood. “So that’s why we’ve really emphasized that more recent history. The Brockville Museum opened in 1981, so a lot of the collection was from 50 or 100 years before that. But now here we are, 40 some years later, and we’re now missing that history from the last 50, 60, or 70 years.”

Committee members also reviewed the museum’s Exhibition Policy and approved a similar amendment extending its review cycle from three years to four years.

Both amended policies were approved by committee and will be forwarded to city council for final approval.