News Release Archive
EDUCATION/CULTURE--1997 MUSEUM RESEARCH GRANTS ANNOUNCED
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Eleven innovative community-based research projects have been
made possible thanks to almost $37,000 provided through the Nova
Scotia Museum Endowment Fund.
The Nova Scotia Museum board of governors have approved more
projects this year than ever before in six categories:
archeology, black history, Mi'kmaq history, music, paleontology
and rare species.
Candace Stevenson, executive director of the museum, said the
research is being made possible through the generosity of the
people who donate money to the museum's endowment fund.
"As a result, the museum can carry out special activities -- in
this case, important research on a wide variety of Nova Scotia
topics that enable us to learn more about our past, present and
future. We are then able to build on what is already known and,
through the Nova Scotia Museum's 25 sites, share this valuable
and interesting information with all Nova Scotians."
Education and Culture Minister Robbie Harrison commended the
museum's board for making research projects a priority.
"For a relatively small investment, Nova Scotians are learning
more and more about important aspects of our natural and cultural
history and our way of life in communities across the province,"
Mr. Harrison said. "As one example, archeological research at a
Black Loyalist settlement in Birchtown, Shelburne Co., uncovered
information that will assist protection efforts of this important
heritage site."
Individual grants range from $2,000 to $4,000. This year's
recipients are:
Archeology
- Dr. Ronald Nash will complete his fieldwork on the Tracadie
Harbour Archeological Project in Antigonish Co. An aim of the
project is to assess the region's cultural history and the
economic adaptations of the Mi'kmaq who once lived there.
- Through a partnership including the Nova Scotia Highland
Village and the University College of Cape Breton, Scott
Buchanan will continue research into the lives of Scottish
immigrants who settled in Nova Scotia. His fieldwork in 1997
will be in western Cape Breton and northeastern mainland Nova
Scotia.
Black History
- Helen Sheldon of Enfield will research a possible site of an
African Nova Scotian home in the Preston area. The research
involves archeological testing in an attempt to gather data on
black sites of the 19th century in Nova Scotia.
- Working with the Black Cultural Centre in Halifax Regional
Municipality, Sharain Jones will research the genealogies of
the black settlers of Nova Scotia in the 18th and 19th
centuries. The links between these settlers and the Mi'kmaq
will also be explored.
Mi'kmaq History
- Francis Sylliboy of Eskasoni will research and document
information on Mi'kmaq poet Rita Joe, who recently received the
National Aboriginal Achievement Award in Calgary.
Music
- Marcus Merrin of Truro will research amateur music-making in
rural and urban Nova Scotia. The research will concentrate on
the written and oral records of the singing-school tradition
and artifacts of that tradition such as tunebooks and other
teaching tools.
- Paul Martell of Waverley will receive funding to catalogue the
Ross-Thomson Music Collection. The collection, now owned by
Dalhousie University, provides a cross-section of middle- and
upper-class musical taste in Nova Scotia between 1800 and 1900.
Paleontology:
- Tim Fedak will work with the Fundy Geological Museum in
Parrsboro in preparing a prosauropod dinosaur specimen. He will
also conduct further examination of the area in which it was
found for remaining materials that could tell more about the
existence of dinosaurs in the Parrsboro area.
Rare Species:
- Mark Butler and Karen McAllister, based at Halifax's Ecology
Action Centre, will study deepsea corals off the shores of Nova
Scotia. This study is intended to enhance the knowledge of Nova
Scotia marine biodiversity and contribute to the sustainable
management of Nova Scotia's marine ecosystem.
- Ruth Newell and Gini Proulx from the Annapolis Valley will
research the distribution, abundance and habitat of a rare
coastal plain plant, Golden Crest (Lophiola aurea), on Digby
Neck. Southwestern Nova Scotia is the only place in Canada
where this species is found.
- Max Moseley of Halifax will research rare caverniculous
invertebrates -- animals without backbones living in Nova
Scotia caves.
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Contact: Donna MacDonald
Education and Culture
902-424-2615
trp May 28, 1997 - 1:30 p.m.