ST. ALBERT - After a 17-year tenure at Musée Heritage Museum, curator Joanne White’s last day on the job was Friday, July 14. She brought skills learned on two different continents and with that toolkit built a legacy promoting the culture and history of St. Albert.
In her position of leadership, she helped make history more relatable and inclusive by featuring exhibitions about the lives of early European settlers. But White also shone a spotlight on the need for diversity.
It was her determination to honour the struggles of under-recognized Indigenous peoples that opened the doors to a shift in perspective and fresh interpretations of 18th century to early 20th century history.
“After I came, we did more pre-Mission stories. Before that stories started with Father Lacombe. We worked hard to explore Sturgeon River and Big Lake histories,” said White.
In blending the two races' contributions, she painted a narrative of hardship and struggle, resourcefulness and survival. Many of her thematic exhibitions carried an underlying message about the importance of working together rather than at cross purposes.
In working sometimes crazy hours, White defined our community’s culture. But she also defined her profession as a researcher, designer, technician, writer, advocate, interpreter, goal-setter, colleague and cheerleader.
Diverse exhibitions popped up at the museum’s St. Albert Place address exploring many facets of history. Building a Livestock Empire (2016), Keeping the Peace (2020) and a Woman’s Place (2022) were just smattering of exhibitions she pulled off.
Noticeably, the 2019 Pandemic! A Cautionary Tale was eerily prescient. But it was the 2017 Michel Band exhibition that attracted the largest crowds. It dealt with an enfranchised band and an injustice that needed to be rectified. Many local families contributed objects to the exhibition bolstering the narrative while White, museum staff and members of Michel Band worked in tandem.
“It was important for a large part of the local community. So many people came to see it. This story had never been told except in snippets. In giving this story space, we brought in a lot of Métis and non-Métis people.”
White took pride as museum curator not because the title sounded fashionable or opened doors to reflect personal ideologies. It was more about unleashing a deeply embedded creativity in her DNA meshed together with an acquired passion for history.
Early years
White was born in Edmonton the youngest of three girls. Her family lived in a traditional bungalow near Southgate.
“It was the early Sixties and the kitchen was turquoise with a harvest gold fridge and stove. We lived on a crescent with about 20 houses. It was fully enclosed and there were lots of kids.”
Even as a child, certain attributes stood out.
“I was always creative and artistic. I sang in musicals and youth choirs. And I was always building things. I could make anything out of a cardboard box. I liked collecting and exhibiting things. I would build a dollhouse from a box and fill it with furniture. The project was displaying, not playing with dolls.”
At one point she considered a career in architecture, but there was too much math. Once in high school she was torn between drama and art.
“I didn’t think I was cut out to be committed to theatre. It’s difficult and you have to really want it to make a go of it.”
At the University of Alberta she was working towards a Fine Art Degree in art when fate stepped in. White was in an accident and hurt her shoulder. Unable to complete a studio course, she dipped her toe into the classics.
“I liked it so much I took more classics courses and that veered into archeology.”
For the next three summers, White worked at previously discovered tombs in southern Italy volunteering her time and expertise for course credits.
“It was a great way to see Italy. I had a friend who spent the summer in a tent on Baffin Island. I spent my summers in southern Italy drinking wine.”
The next step in White’s storied career was a one-year Master’s Degree in Museum Studies at University College London.The public research institution is one of the top 10 universities in the world. Armed with a distinguished degree, she moved to Vancouver performing contract work for various museums in the region.
By 1995, White learned the Royal Alberta Museum received sponsorship for the new Syncrude Gallery of Aboriginal Culture.
“I was put in touch with the conservator and pestered her until she gave me some work,” said White who was hired on contract as a technician to fill in gaps.
To supplement the contract work, she also spread her skills across the region curating diverse exhibitions on smoking and the tobacco industry, clothing and fashion, Second World War battles and war brides.
White’s most notable or important credits at RAM included travelling three exhibits titled Anno Domini: Jesus Through the Centuries, (2000) Syria – Land of Civilization (2001) and Ancient Rome (2002). They were also the most challenging.
“For the Rome exhibition, I had to make 500 mounts and supports for the different pieces. But I was only given one-inch by one-inch photos to see what a piece looked like. From a small picture, I had to figure out the approximate size and hope it fit.”
Occasionally, old antiquities revealed surprises.
“During the Jesus exhibit, I was in the gallery with Rodin’s head of John the Baptist. It was 10 p.m. at night and I was alone. I had latex gloves on and was holding the head when I realized Rodin had used his pinkie finger to make a hole in his (John) ear.”
A watershed moment came when the grapevine spread the word Jean Leebody, curator at Musée Heritage Museum in St. Albert was retiring.
“One of the reasons I wanted to come here is because I’m a generalist. In a big museum, you work in one field. I was interested in doing everything from start to finish – research, writing, design, preparing artifacts and installation. And I was able to use my diverse expertise.”
During her tenure White mounted four exhibitions per year and collaborated on a renovation shortly after St. Albert’s 150th anniversary in 2011. In addition, she grew the collection to 8,000 objects and is proud of her moniker “Keeper of the Collection.”
The ambitious collection carries everything from a beaded saddle, dried-out buffalo bladder and Inuit dolls to mission vestments, a laundry scrub board and early farm tools. Even the Bruin Inn bear is housed in museum storage.
“My proudest moments are when people open their eyes to who is different and who they are. If somebody learns something new, that’s when I’ve done my job.”
