Boredom is definitely not an occupational hazard for Mark MacKenzie.
On any given day, he could start the morning by working the dust out of
a buffalo head, break for lunch after researching the best way to clean
a 50-year-old painting, and end his day putting the finishing touches
on a restored 80-year-old steam engine.
MacKenzie is the conservator at the Saskatchewan Western Development
Museum, the four-branch provincial museum responsible for preserving
Saskatchewan’s cultural history. As head of the conservation
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department, his job is to preserve and restore the museum’s collection,
which at last count totalled more than 70,000 artifacts.
The collection ranges from fine textiles to 200 tonne trains, and new
artifacts arrive weekly. MacKenzie’s days are not routine.
“Twenty-five years ago, when I first got into this field, one of my
professors said … he still couldn’t predict what was going to come in
the door that day, and that was part of the romance and the excitement
of the field,” MacKenzie said.
“And I agree with him. I don’t know what’s coming through the door
today.”
A recent tour of the museum’s cleaning lab turned up a range of items.
There was a buffalo head that took a week and a half to clean using a
special vacuum, combs and tweezers.
A silk escape map issued to air force crews during the Second World War
sat in a humidifier chamber to prevent crease damage caused by years of
folding.
An iron lung from the bygone days of polio epidemics stood in one
corner, while a 12-metre-long water colour mural lay rolled up in
another.
Two pairs of pants were spread out on a table in the middle of the room.
MacKenzie said this kind of variety means the learning never ends.
“I may not know everything about an artifact when we start work, but by
the time we’re finished, I’ll know a lot.”
While the museum’s collection runs the gamut of prairie history, many
people associate it with agricultural history. This part of the
collection, which MacKenzie refers to as “ridiculously large” farm
machinery, has its challenges.
The collection of about 70 steam engines – 12 or so still work – has
also put the museum into the middle of the province’s boiler and
pressure vessel community. MacKenzie and his staff work with provincial
inspectors, and also teach would-be steam engine operators.
As well, the museum began a project almost 10 years ago to build a
steam engine that would stand up to modern standards.
This led to one of MacKenzie’s biggest tasks – rebuilding a 1905 1224
Case medium-sized steam engine with a brand-new boiler. The physical
work took three years.
MacKenzie’s staff includes a retired agricultural engineer, a
welder-fabricator, a master machinist/heavy duty mechanic, and one
person who works in the cleaning lab with smaller artifacts.
Their tools range from the high tech -” it’s absolutely amazing,
actually, if you know what you’re doing, what you can do with a good
microscope” – to the more traditional machine shop and paint room.
Most of the conservation department’s time would normally be spent
preserving artifacts, which MacKenzie described as “halting time,”
rather than restoration, which is “turning back the clock.”
But this ratio has been turned upside down by an ambitious project
called Winning the Prairie Gamble that will commemorate Saskatchewan’s
centennial.
Many of the exhibits are supposed to look new, which means more
restoration work than usual.
MacKenzie clearly puts the artifacts first. If the object cannot stand
to be cleaned, he will not clean it.
“An artifact has a life, and it carries with it the science of that
life,” he said.
“And I feel very strongly that it’s a very large part of my job to
listen to that artifact tell its story, and then to make sure that it’s
documented and available as part of a record.”
