Why Should Museums Be Supported

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educational value of museum, Kingston Water Works, Pump House Steam Museum, support a museum

The Queen’s University Retiree Association sponsored a lecture by Dr. Pantalony on why museums should be supported. Dr. Pantalony is the Curator Physical Sciences and Medicine at the Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa, Ontario.

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“Healthy Museums are supported by a good mixture of government, industry, individuals and, of course, visitors.” 

“Visitors need a good experience when exploring the museum exhibits and programming. If not, the support will dissipate.”

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I sent these notes with Dr. Pantalony’s comments to the Mayor and the Commissioner  of Community Services. Click here to read my lecture notes and Dr. Pantalony’s comments.The letter explains that details of Dr. Pantalony’s presentation are relevant to the governance of our two city funded museums, particularly, in my opinion, the Pump House Steam Museum, (PHSM). 

The new addition to the PHSM opened in September 2017 to an audience that included the architect and invited guests according to museum staff. 

Here are a few highlights in the lecture. Comments and edits, in italics by Dr. Pantalony. The photos, taken recently in the Pump House Steam Museum, illustrate some of the issues that are presented here.

Museums are guardians of artefacts that represent co-operative, multi-disciplinary, knowledge and skills. We don’t know what is in these depositories, and we don’t know what knowledge is inherent in each of the artefacts. 

In fact, it is surprising how much we do not know about each artefact, and the complex cultures that produced and used them. We find this untapped knowledge source multiplied in vast depositories (collections, archives, museums) around the world.

Currently the special exhibit room at the PHSM presents an art-show. In the nook at the back is a steam artefact with no signage to explain what its function is and what technology it represents; the museum visitor is not informed about its science and technological educational content.

What do we know about this industrial artefact? It is a single cylinder steam engine, it is directly coupled to an generator, or dynamo, that might have powered several small electrical machines. It has a flywheel to store kinetic energy to smooth-out the pulsating mechanical energy that the steam engine provides. What we don’t know: why is there not a regulator, who made it, what date was it made, is this an important example of the transition from steam to electric energy, how was it used in making products and much more… The visitor would like to know!

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Support for Museums and Economic Value: Stored artefacts offer research opportunities, research increases knowledge, museums diffuse knowledge. This cost money, if support is not there, museums do not exists and this cycle cannot work.

Support should ideally come from governments, industries, visitors and volunteers in the community. In other words: broad support is best.

Visitors need a good experience when exploring the museum exhibits and programming. If not, the support will dissipate.

            The large Osborne-Killey steam engine and water-intake-pump was animated. It turned at fifteen rounds per minute to show the mechanism in action. A great opportunity for the public to be educated about the history of steam power in the Victorian era. This photo with text acknowledging the Queen’s University donation and participation in the animation has been removed. The drive mechanism has not been maintained, and in the spring of 2017, has been allowed to drown during the flooding of the museum’s basement. The steam engine is now a static display.

This historic model of the operation of a steam engine could be activated by visitors. See video by clicking here. The hands-on model requires some maintenance which  staff was unable to provide. This animated educational tool has now been removed from the museum. Note: the video is a mixture of static explanatory panels with the animation shown in the middle of the presentation. Viewing time 1.5 minutes.

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The rear-view of the boilers with the Davis Company triple expansion marine steam-engine to the right. the red easy chairs are for viewing the art exhibit, (not shown in this photograph). Missing are educational explanations of the science and technology of boilers, land based and safety tube marine boilers. With the Davis engine as a teaching vehicle, explain: the reasons for triple, double or single expansion of steam, modern uses of sstam and much more…

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This is a display of the underground Venturi flow-meter to measure the instantaneous quantity of water delivered to the city’s supply system: the water-tower and distribution pipes to fire-hydrants and water taps. The item on the left is a slide-valve. There is no attempt to explain and link to STEM topics in the science and technology curriculum grades 1-8. 

Slide valve. Teaching moment: explain different types of valve design, why is this a slide-valve? Who made it, why are its components cast iron? Are other materials used in its design, what is the role of brass in valve designs, are these valve designs still in use, why is there a screw-spindle included, and what is the effect of different sizes of hand-wheels and much more… This is a multi-dimensional teaching object for grades 1-8.

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VISITORS NEED A GOOD EXPERIENCE WHEN EXPLORING THE MUSEUM EXHIBITS AND PROGRAMMING. IF NOT, THE SUPPORT WILL DISSIPATE…

It might be concluded that the science and technology educational role of the PHSM is diminished by an overreliance on easy to install art displays.

The museum does not show in its annual reports to Council crucial data on grade 1-8 school visits, income from admissions, volunteer support, interaction with local educational institutions like St. Lawrence College, RMC, Queen’s University, school boards and professional organisations. Any and all of these would be able to assist the museum to fulfil its educational mandate and would encourage the public to support the PHSM. Programming in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, Grades 1-8 involving the core artefacts is lacking in detail or nonexistent. Yet the collection is a excellent vehicle for this educational mandate. 

In the twelve years that the Pump House Steam Museum has been managed by city staff since 2005 signage, maintenance of animated exhibits of the core artefacts and the introduction of stand-alone hands-on science exhibits has been neglected with the results that the main engine room and other science and technology infrastructure has become a backdrop for art exhibits. The “popular” model train exhibit is not a replacement for this, nor is the ‘moms and tots” playroom.

We are looking forward to a public showing of the new building-extension and how that affects the museum’s role in the community.

The “Art-box” on the lawn of the PUmp House Steam Museum, 2017. Photo Henk Wevers. Click this icon to go to the INDEX for more on the PHSM.

Almost There; New Museum Extension Finished Soon

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Kingston Water Works, pump house, Pump House Steam Museum

The new modern extension to the historic Romanesque pumping station of the former Kingston Water Works, now the Pump House Steam Museum, nears completion.

Yesterday, August 16, 2017, the construction site buzzed with activity. A huge mobile crane served the installers of the glass facade to put the windows in. The site crawled with supervisors, foremen, and workers who installed each pre-cut and framed window.

The south facade is now one gigantic solar collector and it might be a wonderful project for university or college students to analyse the energy balance of the design. A great subject for a science museum like the Pump House Steam Museum. But that is for a later date to study. Let’s enjoy the soon-to-occur opening of the new museum building.

Two photos of the new extension. The detail photo above shows the administrative office and meeting rooms.

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Some changes have taken shape over this summer’s museum season on the front lawn of the Pump House Steam Museum . The “art box”, a shipping container embellished with graffiti-art has a new motive: “Hands-on History” The artwork now shows industrial objects to better reflect the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, mandate of the publicly supported museum.

Below is the “Art is on the Rise” shipping container in front of the museum at the opening of the season in May of this year.

That same container has metamorphosed into this advertisement for “Hands on HISTORY”, to entice the public to come in and visit Kingston’s publicly owned, one and only, science and technology museum.

HANDS-ON HISTORY

Let’s go inside and see what the “Hands-on History” has to offer…

First we notice the removal of a permanent exhibit that featured a historic model of how steam engines work. The model was a prime example of how science and technology students were educated in the field of kinematics, and its applied science, at Queen’s University, in the early 1900-s.

A poster with reference to the animation of the large Osborne-Killey steam engine and water-pump, was also removed; most likely to not remind visitors that a year ago the engine would show its gracious movement to awe the visitors. That magnificent moving mechanical showpiece sits now dormant behind its glass enclosure.

The main engine room, the heart and soul of the museum is now a dead zone that visitors walk through seemingly puzzled about the neglect.

BUT WHAT’S NEW?

The photo series below tries to picture that.

Lego displays are superimposed on the industrial history of the Victorian and Edwardian era of the first industrial revolution. This ad-hock display blocks a setup  exquisite models of steam engines, donated by a member of the Frontenac Society of Model Engineers, who founded the museum in 1972.

An exhibit of Lego models called “History and Innovation”. 

Detail of the “History and Innovation” display.

In the special display room, the 2017 seasonal exhibit is about objects from the Kingston community, and visitors are encouraged to guess what each object means, or was used for.

“Have Funeral, Will Travel” is about a portable embalming kit. And “Kingstonasaurus” is an exhibit designed by the “Pump House.”

The introductory panel for the special exhibit “Pump House History in Motion.” Note that the formal name, Pump House Steam Museum, is now referred to as “Pump House”. At other locations in the exhibit the name Pump House Steam Museum is also shortened to “Pump House.” 

Maybe we are somewhat paranoid, but is this name change a precursor to leaving out the word “Steam”? And by leaving “steam ” out of the name a large part of the science and technology mandate is removed as well. Is that really the aim of Cultural Services?

Over the last ten years the museum has been steered away from the science and technology subjects and the mechanical engineering core artefacts, such as the large steam driven water pumps and the water intake and distribution of clean water to the city  . This neglect of historical science and technology core objects includes many hands-on science and engineering exhibits and the removal of interesting historic steam related testing equipment. All of that is now in storage or has been disposed off.

Next post will be entitled: “Now You See It and Now You Don’t.”

For the report on planning, design and other details on the new extension click HERE. 

For the City of Kingston’s Pump House Steam Museum website click HERE.

For earlier reporting on the museum building extension click HERE.

To go to the INDEX listing all posts and scholarly articles, CLICK HERE.

 

 

 

Pump House Steam Museum 2016 Report Card

Tags

annual report 2016, Heritage Kingston committee

“Searching for information…

Local divers film the Kingston Water Works intake-pipe and filter-screen, dating from 1897, in 60 feet of water, off-shore at the foot of West Street, at 23 Ontario Street. The location of the water-intake is 2400 feet from shore. Click here to see the whole series of historic intake pipe photos.

BUT THE REAL SUBJECT OF THIS POST is to find information in the…

Annual  Pump House Steam Museum report, Exhibit A: Civic Museums 2016 Year End Report. Click here to see the whole report.

This report was presented at the Heritage Kingston Committee meeting in June 2017. The committee represents the citizens of Kingston, and advises staff and Council.

The report is an improvement compared to annual report cards submitted in the past. However did it inform the Committee and Council?

Is the Pump House Steam Museum, the only industrial history museum left in Kingston, measuring up? Not necessarily aiming to be world class, but to excel at the local and regional level?

Here are some examples, in quotation marks, of the information in the annual report and some of the comments expressed during the discussion in committee. What can we learn?

“ …moving forward additional metrics are being tracked as our operations and delivery
continue to grow and adapt.”

This means that currently, after more than a decade of museum management by the City of Kingston, we don’t have any good statistics for the year 2016 and neither from the years before.

“Actuals”, shown in a table, present  museum income and expenses in percentages of an undisclosed amount only, not actual dollar amounts. I looked up the definition of “Actuals”. Here it is:

“Actuals” is an accounting term and means Dollars and Cents.

The taxpayer, and their representatives on the committee might expect to learn from an annual report, by finding information about:

Income from: general admission fees; tax base;  rental income; summer camp fees; school and other group visits; grants, endowments and miscellaneous income.

Demographics: number of school groups and grades, secondary and tertiary students, families, tourists and Kingston citizens?

Special events, open houses, free admission days, receptions and other social events.

Instead we learn that: “The Cultural Heritage Team continues to focus its work as it relates to Kingston’s Cultural Plan approved by Council in 2010.”

This Cultural Plan is now seven years old and it never showcased the PHSM as a great resource  for teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or “STEM”. These four areas are seen by politicians, public policy experts, and leaders in society in general, as crucial for our adaptation to the current revolution in automation, and in mitigating the effect of economic in-equality in our society.

An aim worthy of taxpayer’s support!

The museum could be a rich example for out of the classroom education in science and technology, grades 1-8. Cultural staff should interact with the professionals and academics in our well endowed intelligent city to achieve this.  See the presentation to the Professional Engineers Ontario Association, Kingston Chapter. Click here for more.

What can we reconstruct from the “Actuals”?

The 2016 report notes that 84 percent of the operating budget comes from taxes. Admission makes up only 6 percent of the operating budget. When combined with the attendance graphic, on page 15, which shows 10,076 visitors, that should translate into about $31,000 in admissions. To arrive at this number we took as a reference the family admission fee for two adults and two children under 18 years of age.

Did the Pump House Steam Museum take-in this much in admission? If it did, the 84 percent from taxes would represent and operating budget of $434,000. That number does not match with the City’s operating budget where it states: “Pump House Steam Museum: recommended 2016 budget $265,344; approved 2016 budget $264,889.” Click for the City’s Financial statements archive t see the city budget for 2016 and 2017.

However, the budget does not, as far as I know, include the cost of services by other departments such as Publicity and Advertisements, Website maintenance, and part of an Outreach and Education Officer, City Curator, Manager of Cultural Heritage and Director of Culture. Also add in, energy costs of heating, and ventilation, and humidity control?

So, how did the Committee respond on receiving the report? One member of the committee “requested that staff give consideration to the issues raised in the correspondence (from the public ed)… in the future.”

The Director of Culture responded that “staff are well aware of the concerns raised… as the issues have been raised in the past.”

Which begs the question: Why not address the issues in a timely fashion? 

“Going forward”

What does it mean?

It can mean anything, but we would like to see city staff work with local professionals and members of the skilled trades to make the Pump House Steam Museum a popular centre for education in in the sciences and technology, the all important and potentially popular STEM! For that to occur, the museum needs to connect with the community in a learning adventure from the Victorian era that the museum represents to the current.

Stay posted. When the annual report of the Pump House Steam Museum is presented in 2018 we will analyse it and see if any improvements have been made.

 

Presentation to Professional Engineers Ontario, Kingston Chapter

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Professional Engineers and the Pump House Steam Museum

The Professional Engineers Ontario, (PEO) Kingston Chapter met on July 12, 2017. Henk Wevers was the guest speaker.

The thrust of the presentation promoted the idea that members of the PEO engage with the Pump House Steam Museum and offer their expertise. This would enrich the Chapter’s great outreach program, and that would be a win-win for the professional organisation and our community.

The PEO has a long and distinguished involvement with the Pump House Steam Museum, in fact, its members were the founders of the museum. They restored the machinery in the former Kingston Water Works that closed its operation on Ontario Street at the foot of West Street, in 1944. From 1944-69 the building, the steam engines and water pumps laid dormant. The professional engineers and members of the skilled trades presented the restored industrial history collection as a turn-key museum to the City of Kingston in 1973, at the occasion of its Tercentenary Commemoration of the City’s founding.

The museum had live steam during the summer season until 1984. This became too expensive and the firing of the boilers was incompatible with the residential area that developed along Ontario Street.

The museum declined until 1998 when another group of professional engineers and members of the skilled trades joint hands, and acted as catalysts in refurbishing the museum and raising awareness in the community with many special events.

In 2005 the City of Kingston took on the management of the museum once again and currently is building a modern extension with accessible washrooms, a reception area and offices.

Members of the Professional Engineers Ontario-Kingston Chapter could sponsor high level programming in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, for the enlightenment of children and adults, using the museum’s core engineering and industrial artifacts as vehicles of education. That would greatly enrich the museum experience.

The large engines date from the Victorian era’s industrial revolution and the stories relating to the machinery and the magnificent historic building underpin in many different ways our current societal changes brought on by the digital revolution and widespread automation.

These stories might be expected to encourage our youngest citizens to aim for an interesting and sustainable career, and lifestyle, that benefit them, and in turn, all of us.

CHILDREN ARE CURIOUS

CURIOSITY ENCOURAGES LEARNING

LEARNING LEADS TO UNDERSTANDING

UNDERSTANDING LEADS TO HAPPINESS

HAPPY CITIZENS OF ALL AGES MAKE

 A GREAT CIVIL SOCIETY

A happy fellow who completed his project in the Boys and Girls Science and Tech Club which is part of programming at the Boys and Girls Club Kingston and Area. For more click HERE or click the photo.
A treasure trove of curious items at the Pump House Steam Museum that link to subjects of the Ontario Curriculum  Grade 1-8 . Many more artifacts are in storage eagerly awaiting a role in encouraging children to satisfy their curiosity and engage with science, technology and engineering.

To see the full presentation including videos from inside the museum click HERE or the photo ABOVE.

 

Osborne-Killey Steam Engine a Museum Show Piece

Tags

Pump House Steam Museum Kingston, steam engine animation

The Osborne-Killey steam engine built in Hamilton and installed in 1890, seen through the flywheel of the John Inglis engine built in Toronto and installed later in 1896.

The massive Victorian steam engines and water pumps at the museum are true pieces of industrial art. They came to live when steam propelled them from 1890 until 1944. Towards the end of their active lives the steam pumps were only on stand-by, the pump house used electrically driven centrifugal pumps from 1917 onward.

What if the Osborne-Killey engine could run again? Running the engines with live-steam is now out of the question, there are too many real and perceived safety hazards, and the fuel bill for making steam would be too expensive. But there are other means to demonstrate the impressive and beautiful dynamics of a slow moving steam engine. Queen’s University came to the rescue in 2006…

“Bring the Osborne-Killey back to live, animate her flywheel and piston mechanism,” was the design project in 2006 for a group of final-year students in engineering at Queen’s University. The basic idea was already explored and it would be a wonderful cooperative project for the students to come up with a “turn-key” drive unit.

And they did, see the video! Click HERE or the icon below.

 

The team of final-year engineering students April 2007. From the left: Curator Gordon Robinson, engineering students Paul Murray, Salmaan Moledina, Cox Wensink, Geoffrey NG and technical adviser Henk Wevers.

The drive unit the students designed on a shoestring budget worked well. The animation delighted visitors for eight years. The unit was maintained by museum volunteers. Then in 2016 some “issues” stopped the animation. Museum staff consulted and contracted a local company to solve the issue. We don’t know what they modified or repaired but it worked for a short while then stopped again. Towards the end of the 2016 season the steam engine was no longer animated. The company apparently went out of business and we have been informed by Cultural Services staff that the animation will not be working during the coming 2017 season.

What a pity.

By reaching out to retired professionals who have extensive contacts in our engineering community and are ready to volunteer their services, the Osborne-Kelley steam engine could once again become an animated Victorian industrial artifact. 

For the technical details and testing for the drive unit click HERE.

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To go to the site INDEX click photo of the drive unit below:

 

 

New Construction Update May 2017

 

The new extension to the Pump House Steam Museum as shown in the architect’s sketch, above, is coming along. Here are a few photos that show the progress made since we started posting the start of the construction in early March of this year.

This is the cement-block corner piece of the extension, it will be clad with an architectural tile. The remainder will be glass. The photo was taken on May 2, 2017. 

A view from the public walkway along Lake Ontario at the foot of West Street.

Roofers are working on laying down membranes and tarring the flat roof of the extension. Note the steel frame construction that will hold the architectural glass walls of the new building.

Will this be finished in eight more weeks?

According to Cultural Services staff, March 21, 2017:“At this time, the Pump House Steam Museum is set to open for the season slightly later than usual on the Victoria Day weekend with the addition itself expected to be complete by July and an official opening slated for the start of the fall-season in September.” 

Friends of the Pump House Steam Museum and its supporters are eagerly looking forward to the official opening of the new section. In the meantime the historic part of the Pump House Steam Museum will be open starting on Victoria weekend as per above.

A few days later, there will be a special event called “Sherlocked” as part of public events that include the Museum of Health Care and the Turner Branch Library in the west-end of the city. This poster at one of the Kingston Library branches depicted a Victorian room full of mysterious objects. After some analysis it shows the two large steam engines and water pumps in the Pump House Steam Museum, 23 Ontario Street:

“Bring your gang and escape the historic pump-room by solving puzzles (in the Sherlock Holmes fashion, editor) and gain your freedom…” Thursday, May 25 and Friday May 26 at the Pump House Steam Museum, 5-8.30 pm and Saturday May 27, 1-5 pm. All ages. Register at the Kingston Public Library. More info go to: https://www.kfpl.ca/programs-and-events/2017-05-25/sherlocked-escape-the-pump-house

(Ps. A fee or charge might be applied to take part in this event. The information is not clear, the public library website refers to a booking site. Editor)

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For earlier posts and all subject click the icon for the INDEX.

Pump House Steam Museum New Addition; Construction Update

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Pump House Steam Museum extension

If you have taken a look at the upgrade of the Pump House Steam Museum building at 23 Ontario Street, just west of the downtown, you will see that the rear of the building has been exposed, and a new addition is being constructed.

The foundation as it is on March 18, just a few days from the start of spring 2017, the projected completion date of the project. The projectt was started in September 2016. See the quotation from the Pump House Steam Museum website. Photo credit: Henk Wevers.

From the City’s Pump House Steam Museum website: “the project is scheduled to be completed spring of 2017. Please note that all work will be in compliance with the City of Kingston noise bylaws. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us anytime by email.” Click here for more. “This work is necessary to address client accessibility and expand the site’s ability to host inclusive school groups, community programs and complete curatorial tasks.”

“The proposed renovation will impact both interior space use as well as the exterior rear façade of the structure. Post-renovation, the ground floor at the rear of the structure will include a workshop, an accessible family and standard washroom and a lobby. The second floor of the renovated space will house staff offices and a multi-purpose meeting room. The project has received site plan and council approvals.”

This is a picture of the finished building. For the complete architectural plan by VG Architects Toronto, click here: PUMP HOUSE STEAM MUSEUM ADDITION PROJECT
23.12.2015. The plan is loaded with historical photos and other visual information.

In 2015, the estimated cost for the project was $800,000 plus soft costs and cost escalation,click here for details. This information is in the City of Kingston Report Number 15-388 Exhibit A Page 3 of 3. 

In the 2016 capital budget the entry for the  Pump House Steam Museum, under Facilities and Construction Services was listed at $1,315,032.

Cultural Services Director Colin Wiginton answered a request for clarification. Here is the content of his email:

“The documents you have been reviewing deal with separate aspects of the project and do not tell the whole story.

“Report 15-388 specifically relates to contracting an architectural firm for architectural services to design the Pump House Steam Museum addition that, at the time, was estimated to cost $800,000.  That dollar amount for construction does not include all the additional costs that are captured as part of the 2016 capital budget you have referenced in By-Law Number 2016-26.

“As I’m sure you are aware, capital projects involve much more than just the construction costs when you factor in the preparatory work that is required in terms of pre-planning, on-site investigations and architectural designs.  Then there are project management costs related to our own Facilities Management & Construction Services department here at the City before we even break ground that carry on through to the conclusion of the project.

“If you search the City’s website for Report Number 16-341 you will also see that Cupido Construction was awarded the construction contract through an RFP process for a cost totalling $1,180,000.  In the intervening year between 2015 and 2016 the project costs increased for a variety of reasons that include inflation, the availability and cost of certain materials and the complexity of construction required when working on a waterfront lot.  The budget also includes contingency costs but still falls well within the parameters approved by Council in 2016.

“In Report Number 16-341 you will see as well that the RFP for construction did not close until late September 2016, which meant the project did not officially start until the late fall.  It had always been our hope to have the addition completed at the start of the 2017 season but that was not possible given the various stages of work required. 

“At this time, the Pump House Steam Museum is set to open for the season slightly later than usual on the Victoria Day weekend with the addition itself expected to be complete by July and an official opening slated for the start of the fall season in September.”

(text in bold is emphasis by the editor of this post)

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To go to the index please click the icon below that shows the water intake pipes dating from 1895 and 1917. Photo credit: Henk Wevers

Pump House Steam Museum; Annual Reporting

Tags

Kingston Pump House Steeam Museum Budget, Kingston Water Works, pump house, Pump House Steam Museum

Museums registered with the Canadian Revenue Agency have to submit annual returns. These reports are in the public domain. To access the CRA-site, click HERE.

But to whom do city funded museums report?

Cultural Services staff in the City of Kingston, manage the city museums and are required to provide: “Work Plans and an Annual Report to a Museum advisory Committee which approves the document, and forward it to the Arts, Recreation and Community Policies Committee.” That committee in turn reports to Council. A convoluted path described in By-law 2010-205; 2013-90.

Good quality annual reports, full of facts and informative details, help to improve operations and assure efficient use of the funds museums receive from donations, government grants or the City’s taxpayer.

In this post we draw a  comparison between a registered not-for-profit museum and a publicly funded city museum.

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Museum of Health Care

From the Canadian Revenue Agency website:

“The Museum was established to promote the understanding and awareness of the public concerning patient care and medical education, from circa 1800 to the present.”

• Total revenue: $441,133 consisting of:
• Government funding $113,228 (26%)
• Non-receipted donations $11,944 (3%)
• Receipted donations $294,948 (67%)
• All other revenue $21,013 (5%)
• Total compensation for all positions: $177,705.
  Professional and consulting fees: $9,303

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  From the museum’s 2015 Annual Report

  6 full-time equivalent staff of which 4 in curatorial and collections; 12 contract staff and students; 60 volunteers; 11 members on the Board of Directors; 6 Board Committees; 11 members of the National Advisory Board.

  Quick Facts 2015

  Attendance: 3245; attendance at educational events: 3131; 20 public events; readers of print and digital: 2390

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  What is so remarkable? 

      How specific the mandate of the museum is.

      How the museum operates on a relative modest budget but has a tremendous leverage through the large number of volunteers.

      The board members are professionals with experience related to the mandate and the management needs of the museum.

      There are several supporting committees.

      The National Advisory Board gives the museum a broad reach and recognition.

     The museum’s educational impact at the primary and secondary level is outstanding.

     The outreach to the community through special events and digital and written media are extensive and effective.
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   The Pump House Steam Museum

  

The Pump House Steam Museum currently undergoes the construction of a modern addition to accommodate an accessible washroom, offices and other spaces. The investments in capital works and operating funds for the museum, as well as the assistance from other levels of the City are impressive.

This museum, founded by volunteers in 1969, showcases a unique application of late Victorian technology providing the City of Kingston with life-saving infrastructure in 1890. For detailed information click HERE.

Funding for the Pump House Steam Museum can be studied in the City’s Financial Statement Archive.

Operating Budget: In 2009: $93,360. This increased to $ $269,980 in 2017. The yearly museum budgets are presented as a line item, and don’t give details how the money is allocated, except for 2013.

In 2013 a breakdown of the museum operating budget showed three components: $122,260 for administration; $64,099 for facility and  $27,500 for museum exhibitions. The budget for that year totaled $223,169.

In addition to the museum operating budget the city does not charge rent and provides professional support under the umbrella of Cultural Services. These are:

Civic Collection: provides the museum with assistance from an Artifact Technician.

Education and Community Engagement: assists the museum with an educational and community outreach officer.

Development: possibly provides assistance to the museum for capital works and major development issues? Such as planning of capital works: air conditioning design; accessibility needs; internal renovations, landscaping, legal advice and planning, archaeological services and construction supervision for the new addition.

Marketing: produces, museum brochures, banners, and advertising with input from cultural staff. Digital communications and newspaper advertisements also come under this service.

It is unclear what the cost-breakdown is for these services,but it is assumed that the costs are considerable, and in addition to the operating budget.

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The people who manage the museum

Curator and Administrative Assistant have their offices in the museum and have responsibility for the daily operation of the museum.

City Curator oversees the two city owned museums, the collection in City Hall and at other locations.

Manager of Cultural Heritage oversees curatorial operations within Cultural Services Department. For the job description click HERE.

Director of Cultural Services.

The Commissioner of Community Services and deputy CEO Lanie Hurdle has the overall responsibility for Cultural Services which is part of Community Services, a very large suite of portfolios in the City’s organisation. For an organisational chart of departments click HERE.

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Annual Reporting to Council and citizens 

The Pump House Steam Museum does not have a board of directors. Instead there are currently two different working groups Cultural Heritage Working Group, (CH), and a Heritage Asset Working Group, (HA), which advice the museum staff. The working groups have replaced the museum advisory committees which have been reorganized several times in the short span from 2010 to 2015. An example of the latest report of the museum advisory committee is called: 2015-2016 Museums and Collections Advisory Committee. Report Card. For more click HERE. There are no quantifiable data in this report, and no reference to outcomes. 

The archive of the Arts and Recreation and Community Policies Committee did not seem to list any other annual museum reports. Click HERE for the archival site.

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Examples of important data that one would expect to be in the Pump House Steam Museum Annual Report to Council:

Number of public events; paid attendance; free attendance numbers; number school children and teachers that seek “out-of-the-classroom” learning; summer-camp attendance; age distribution of attendees; out of town and in-town visitors; special exhibits, cost and attendance for each exhibit; condition, maintenance and repair of core exhibits; number and kind of hands-on exhibits pertaining to the mandate of the museum; paid and voluntary consulting ; interaction with the main educational institutions in the City and exchanges with the professions, insofar these are relate to the activities and mandate of the museum; and so forth…

In conclusion

One might expect that an annual report covering the two city museums would show at a minimum the data that the Canadian Revenue Agency demands from a not-for-profit charitable museum organisation. Citizens deserve to be informed in a meaningful manner on how their taxes are used. The City’s Chief Executive Officer seems to agree…

A message from the City’s CEO

“We need to continue to appreciate taxpayers are not a never-ending source of money. We need to find efficiencies while being competitive and fair with the tax level.” CEO of the City of Kingston in addressing citizens. “Hunt … noted that management is always trying to find ways to save tax dollars.”Click HERE for more.

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Future posts

• Leveraging Volunteering at the Pump House Steam Museum
• How important is STEM (science, technology, engineering, Mathematics)
• To what extend is the museum engaged in education and outreach?
• What role plays the core collection in STEM
• Is the core collection well presented and maintained?
• Is the Discovery Centre a discovery centre?
• How can the museum excel in Special Events.
• Are the working groups effective and does the museum benefit from external professional input?
• Is the Pump House Steam Museum reaching its potential?

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 To see all the entries on this website please go to INDEX 

Pump House Steam Museum Loses Historic Artefact

Tags

Intake pipe pump house steam museum, Kingston Water Works, Pump House Steam Museum

Part of the historic water intake pipe anno 1891-94, that was recently dug up during the excavation for a new extension of the museum, has been lost. The City’s fifty-four page Archaeological Master Plan should have prevented this.

From the Archaeological Mater Plan: Conservation of Heritage Resources: 7.4.2. The City will permit development and site alteration on lands containing archaeological  resources or areas of archaeological potential if the significant archaeological resources have been conserved by removal and documentation, or by conservation on site.

The historic water intake pipe was at the centre of a court case between the City of Kingston and the manufacturer of the pipe, a company based in Montreal. It was at the time that the bacteria that caused cholera and typhus were discovered and when citizens demanded clean potable water that required a most expensive infrastructure: pump house, intake pipe, water tower, and a network of underground pipes to deliver the water to “takers”, households that had the means to pay for it.

So what was lost that should have been conserved, and documented?

Not this… Nature conserves this part of the historic infrastructure on site.

Underwater photo of the historic wooden crib for the water intake pipe at the Kingston Water Works , now the Pump House Steam Museum. Crib and intake pipe date from 1894

And not this: Diver, Adam Rushton and his colleagues, have photographed the entire historic water intake pipe. This photo shows the intake filter thirty feet above the lake bottom, in sixty feet of water. The intake and its pipe is attached to the wooden crib. Lake Ontario is a perfect conservation environment.

But part of this was recently dug up and lost. This photo shows an underwater section of the twenty four inch diameter intake pipe. It is 2510 feet or almost 1.6 kilometre long. A major Victorian technological feat. It enters the pump house underground. The pipe is made of iron, riveted in sections, each fifty feet long, that are connected by flanges . The pipe was at the root of a controversial business deal between the city and the Montreal company that manufactured the pipe. This is discussed in a research paper by H.Wevers, retired long time volunteer at the museum. For more details click here.

The photo shows the recent digging of a foundation for the new extension to the Pump House Steam Museum.The entrance of the pipe into the building can be clearly seen on the right.

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Sections of the historic pipe were dug up and stored on site. A friend of the museum alerted cultural services staff that these sections should be conserved and documented. We offered to arrange for detailed forensic examination at Queen’s University, through a faculty/student project at a later date, at no costs.

THE RESULT? THE HISTORIC SAMPLES WERE TAKEN to a scrap-metal yard in Napanee, AND LOST.

One of the damaged pieces of the historic 1894 pipe. Rivet holes in the radial joint, and a riveted longitudinal lap joint are visible. This sample holds a wealth of information that would confirm historically important details: manufacturing flaws; quality of iron plate; tightness of the joints and more. All these aspects were part of an important late 1800s dispute between City engineers, Council and the company that made the pipe. Modern research using microscopic techniques and material analysis, would have revealed information that was not available in the late 1800s. 

Why was the City’s Archaeological Master Plan and its guidelines for preservation and documentation not followed? We don’t know, but this industrial artefact is as important or more so than crooked metal utensil, buttons, crockery, blacksmith tools and materials that are found in expensive archeological digs such as the most recent one at the corner of Queen and Wellington. For more click HERE.

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Click the icon below and it will take you to the INTAKE PIPE PHOTO GALLERY.

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To go back to the INDEX CLICK HERE.

Important Archeological Artefacts Dug Up

Tags

Historic water intake pipe, Kingston Water Works, Pump House Steam Museum, Water intake pipe

During the recent digging to make a foundation for the new extension at the Pump House Steam Museum, 23 Ontario Street sections of the 1891 riveted water intake pipe were brought to the surface.

The intake pipe on the right is the 24 inch 1891 suction pipe. The pipe is made of 3/8 inch thick iron plate ordered from Scotland and made by hot-rolling billets into plate. The intake pipe on the left is from 1917 when the water works installed electrically driven centrifugal pumps to augment and later replace the steam driven pumps. The 1891 and 1917 piping system is shown in a below floor exhibit in the Gordon C. Leitch Discovery Centre at the museum.

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The 1891 intake pipe is of particular interest as its installation, a 1200 feet extension to the old water works, was a hotly contested political and technical issue. The case ended up in the courts a contest between the City of Kingston and The Canadian Bridge and Iron Company. The case continued in court until 1895.

The Canadian Bridge and Iron Company owned by Mr. Rousseau of Montreal was granted the first contract as the lowest bidder. From day one the contract was in difficulty as Mr. Rousseau discovered he had underestimated the work and asked for an increase in contract price. This was refused by Council. Subsequently cutting of corners in the manufacturing failed to produce a pipe that conformed to the City’s engineering specifications.

The contractor after many quarrels with Council and inspectors sunk the pipe anyway in the hopes that once under water on the bottom of the lake, the 1200 feet long pipe would work fine. But Council, city engineers and consultants did not accept the “fait accompli” and forced the company to lift the very expensive pipe out of the water. Then Council granted a new contract to the local Canadian Locomotive and Engineering Company located a little east of the Kingston Water Works, now the Pump House Steam Museum.

On the left is a more or less intact section of the 24 inch diameter riveted intake pipe. This piece should be conserved and exhibit in the museum. Badly mangled pieces of iron plate and crushed intake pipe are seen in the center of the photo, and to the right is a good example of the riveted lap joint. This is also an example that should be preserved and studied for its metallurgical composition, quality of rolling and quality of the the lap-joint that  at played such an important role in the history of the Kingston Water Works. 

This is a detail of the riveted pipe showing both the longitudinal lap-joint and the radial riveting of the lap-joint between pipe sections. This section would be ideal to provide samples for microscopic inspection and chemical analysis of the metallurgical composition.

 These sections, or “courses”, were 58 inches long with 11 courses between bolted flanges forming a 50 feet section of pipe. Twenty four of those sections would be sunk and connected up to form the initial 1200 feet of intake pipe. Ultimately this was extended to 2400 feet in 1894. while the court case of the Rousseau pipe was still ongoing. High drama with lots of engineering and political intrigue.

As Friends of Kingston’s industrial history we recommend that staff keep sections and samples of the historic intake pipe and allows us to enter into a research project with students of Mechanical  and Material Engineering at Queen’s University at no cost to the City.

This is an underwater example of a bolted flange connecting two courses of two 50 feet pipe sections on each side of the flange. One of the many illustrations of the historic water intake pipe from the article below.

See the research article:  Kingston Water Works’ Intake Pipe: Victorian Politics and Business Practices in the late 1800s.

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To go to the INDEX click the photo below. A depiction of the intake filter and crib at 30 feet below the water surface and an equal distance above the lake bed.

 

 

 

Welcome to a New Design

Tags

Dry dock steam pump house

We re-designed this website.

You can explore the Research Papers or go to the Index where one can find all the material on this site. The Heading at the top of the page offers also a range of interesting choices. We hope you will enjoy the information as entertaining and deepening the subject of municipal cultural politics.

We added the name “Pump House” to this website because there are two historic pump houses in the City of Kingston. Here is one…

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The first “pump house” dates from 1849 when the private water pumping station opened as  business with local elites as shareholders. It failed miserably over an almost forty year period of bad management.This private company became a municipal waterworks in 1896 when the City of Kingston invested much money in a modern Victorian water pumping station for firefighting and to provide clean potable water for its citizens, those that could afford it at that time. This magnificent example of science and technology in the service of the community, is now the Pump House Steam Museum at 23 Ontario Street.

The other “pump house” is also located on Ontario Street, just a little towards the downtown, and is a National Historic site. It pumps water also but with the aim to empty a large dry dock over a short period of time. There are two huge centrifugal pumps driven by simple but high powered steam engines. It was until recently managed by the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes. The site is now owned by a private developer.

The Sir John A. Macdonald connection. The dry dock and the pump house are one of many milestones in his political life. When construction of the dry dock began in 1890, thousands of people turned out to see Macdonald lay the first stone. The event was to be his last public appearance before his death in 1891.

We will showcase this pump house in the next blog. It is important to think about it’s future now the historic building and the drydock are in private hands. The importance of both the Kingston Water Works and the drydock pump house are both immense and should be linked and open to the public. The Kingston Water Works welcomes the public as the Pump House Steam Museum, there is much reason to welcome the same interested visitors to the Nationally recognised Kingston Dry Dock and Pump House.

This photo shows the engine and pump room of the historic drydock on Ontario Street at the former Marine Museum of the Great Lakes site. If you click the photo it will take you to the INDEX.