A Clovis spear point from the Collections at the Esplanade.--PHOTO COURTESY Esplanade ArTS AND HERITAGE CENTRE
We live in a changing world. It seems almost every day I see people staring at their phones, thumbs madly tapping away, looking, reading, searching. To be honest, I’m often guilty of this myself. It seems hard to remember a time when we didn’t have a phone in our hands.
While many people would instantly see this as a problem, I see a silver lining to that cloud: We have the world’s knowledge at our fingertips! But I’ll get back to that in a minute…
As I walk through the collections here at the Esplanade and look at the artefacts, I often wonder who used them. If an object was made by hand, then I wonder about the craftsperson.
Whose hands made that object and why? Who taught them? Why did they choose that pattern or those particular materials? These artefacts hold stories.
Human history in the Medicine Hat area goes back many thousands of years. The oldest human-made artefact in the Collections is a Clovis spear point, found locally, that is possibly as much as 13,000 years old. It is a beautiful object and its maker was highly skilled.
Someone, all those years ago, learned the all-important skills to make the tools they needed for survival. The indigenous people of what would eventually be called Alberta made what they needed from local materials.
Later, the homesteaders and settlers from other lands did the same, though the objects were often different. Here at the Esplanade we are fortunate to have a wonderful collection of handmade artefacts.
We study them to find out how they were made and used, and this helps us build a story of the people of this region and their crafts.
Now, back to that silver lining! Among all the various stuff on the internet lies a treasure trove of information on how to make almost anything. From stone tools to 3D printers, it’s all there.
People are putting their phones down and picking up their tools and making things by hand. There are more skilled craftspeople working in pre-modern or ancient techniques than there have been in generations, or maybe even centuries. Lost skills are being rediscovered all because of the internet!
In the past few months I have been working on the first of a series of exhibits that will look at traditional handmade crafts and artefacts in the Medicine Hat region. The first will be Hidebound, on tanning and leatherworking. Stay tuned! We hope to see you at the Esplanade soon.
Access the Collections at any time online at collections.esplanade.ca, or visit the Archives Reference Services in person at the Esplanade Tuesday to Friday, noon to 5 p.m.
Tom Hulit is curatorial assistant at the Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre
