This week marks the start of an all-out search for a replacement treasurer of the little museum in Dunvegan. After more than five years of being responsible for the financial operations of the Glengarry Pioneer Museum, Marlie Tilker is stepping down in the New Year. When I asked her what prompted the decision to move on, she said, “I’m looking for different challenges.” She elaborated by saying she took great satisfaction seeing the museum on a sound financial footing, but that, “The museum needs some new blood, with new ideas.”That’s the reason you may see Help Wanted ads for a Volunteer Treasurer in the local press and on social media.
Are you retired with a few hours to spare? Well, if you have accounting or bookkeeping experience and numbers are still run through your veins, this might be the perfect opportunity for you to become more involved in the local community. Put your experience to work helping the museum keep a firm hand on its finances. There’s no salary, but they do offer the pride of working with other keen volunteers to preserve Glengarry’s unique history.
The museum is a seasonal operation and is open daily only in the months of July and August. In June and September, it scales back to just weekends. In addition to maintaining the books and providing financial reports to the Board of Directors, the role includes handling a small payroll and accounts payable & receivable and providing the auditors with year-end information. A basic understanding of double-entry accounting and familiarity with database and spreadsheet software is essential.
If you’re interested, you no doubt have a whole lot of questions. I know the volunteers on the museum’s Board would be delighted to meet with you and answer them. Please contact the museum at 613-527-5230 or email info@glengarrypioneermuseum.ca.
Thank you, Chicago
When designing a print ad, the challenge is to come up with a visual hook that catches the reader’s attention. That’s why I was delighted to stumble across the illustration I used for the Glengarry Pioneer Museum’s new ad blitz to find a treasurer. Appropriately titled “Old Accountant,” the pen and ink sketch depicts a hunch-backed number cruncher, complete with an eyeshade and an armband, cranking out ribbons of figures on an old fashioned adding machine.
I didn’t want to use the image without the artist’s permission, so I dug a bit deeper and discovered the illustration was done by Adam Robinson, an artist from Chicago, Illinois. Adam specializes in poster art, film and television storyboards and property illustrations. The third one puzzled me, so I clicked on the heading and found that Adam has found a neat niche market interpreting photos of house exteriors as black & white sketches. Real estate agents commission them as unique closing gifts for their clients.
Because the sketch of the accountant was so different from the other pieces I saw in his portfolio, I asked him for the backstory, and if the inspiration for the old accountant was his grandfather, or perhaps an old neighbour. It turns out Adam is also a singer-songwriter, and he did the illustration a long time ago for a poster promoting one of his shows. “As for the Accountant,” Adam emailed me, “he just came from imagination – just how I pictured some old-timey accountant in my mind.”
It never ceases to amaze me how kind people can be, the world around. This talented American artist didn’t know me from… well, Adam. And yet, when I explained I was doing a pro bono ad for our local community museum, he didn’t hesitate to send me a high-resolution version of the file and permission to use it free of charge. I find that heart-warming. If you get a chance, you might want to check out his web site: arichart.com.
“Crossroads” rug comes home
The year 2012 was the 50th anniversary of the Glengarry Pioneer Museum and to commemorate it the Committee published an 86-page booklet on its first demi-century. I had the fun of designing and printing the booklet, the cover of which featured John Sim’s interpretation in oils of a classic late 19th or early 20th century photograph of the Dunvegan crossroads. Looking south, it showed the Star Inn, the brick hotel, the stone kirk and the road north to Skye.
Four years later, Ruby MacGregor asked me if I thought John would mind if she based a hooked rug on his “Crossroads at Dunvegan” painting. I told her I would check, but doubted if John would have an objection. Naturally, he said yes and Ruby and I went back and forth on how to crop the image for her rug pattern. Once she was satisfied, I printed it out at 100% size and she was off to the races. I knew it was in good hands, as Ruby was one of the most gifted rug hookers I had ever met.
That was the last I heard of project until Ruby’s death in November of 2017, when I learned that, while she had started the “Crossroads” rug, it remained unfinished at the time of her passing. Fortunately, Loretta Moore, an old friend of Ruby’s and owner of Hooked On The Lake rug hooking patterns and supplies, offered to take up the torch and finish Ruby’s last project.
I’m delighted to report that this story has a happy ending. After painstakingly filling in the missing parts of the design and whipping the edges of the 2′ x 3.33′ rug, Loretta returned it to Ruby’s family and they, in turn, have recently passed it along to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum where it will take pride of place to be enjoyed by all. I like to think the Dunvegan community will support me in thanking Loretta Moore and the family of Ruby McGregor for this wonderful memory of such a special woman… a lady who’s smile could brighten the darkest day.
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