The Order of Sport Collection at the Canadian Museum of History

What is your current position and how did you transition from academia to being a public historian in a national museum context?In 2023, I left a tenure-track academic appointment and moved across the country to embark on a new career as curator for sport and leisure at the Canadian Museum of History. Both personally and professionally, it was a leap. My academic training had taken place in the interdisciplinary School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. My dissertation examined the history of sleep, rest, and exhaustion in sport and had grown out of my experience of working in international sport. I also completed two postdoctoral fellowships: one in the Sports, Society, and Technology program in the School of History and Sociology at Georgia Tech, and the other in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at York University.When I arrived in the national capital region, I did not know what to expect. But I did know quite a bit about the museum. The Canadian Museum of History is located on the unceded and unsurrendered territory of the Algonquin Nation and its origins date to the 1850s. It is among the most visited museums in Canada and reaches millions more online. It is a center of expertise in history, archaeology, ethnology, and cultural studies. The museum's mission is to boost Canadians’ understanding and appreciation of events, experiences, people, and objects that shape the country's history and identity, as well as to enhance their awareness of world history and cultures.After being on the job for about one month, I figured out that there were few “average” days at the museum. In addition to our permanent galleries, we host special exhibitions and public events. We have a podcast, a blog, online databases, a research center, specialized resources for teachers, and a strong social media presence. It is not unusual to provide tours, to consult on external projects, or to collaborate on bigger projects with other museums or academics.How does the Canadian Museum of History showcase sport as part of Canada's history? Has this approach changed over time?For many years, sport was not the focus of the museum. No permanent, full-time curator existed until my predecessor, Dr. Jenny Ellison, was hired in 2015. Collection priorities have tended to follow broader trends in historical thinking across the decades. Since the 1990s, there has been a growing focus on popular culture. Exhibitions on hockey and skating in the early 2000s were tremendously successful, and this led to the creation of the role.Before the 1980s, sporting equipment was transferred within larger acquisitions of collections. For example, we have snowshoes connected to Lord and Lady Elgin and the Toque Blue Club in Montreal. There are skis that were used on the Canadian Arctic expedition. There were also lots of toys and games from the 1970s up to the 2000s, and we also see sport as a theme in many of our packaged goods and other popular culture collections (e.g., a Laura Secord chocolate hockey puck, cigar boxes featuring golf and hockey, and a pinball game featuring baseball).By the 1990s, the museum made some key acquisitions related to Indigenous rodeo and other Indigenous sporting clubs. We also developed an extensive collection of golf materials, with a generalist's focus on the game, which then translated into an exhibition, a book, and big collections.In the 2000s, exhibits such as Running into the Heart of Canada (about Terry Fox) and Rocket Richard (about Maurice Richard) explored sports through a folklore lens, highlighting how athletes became folk heroes and icons within Canadian society. Similarly, Lace Up examined the integration of skating into Canadian society and its broader impact beyond mere competition.From 2010 onward, the focus has shifted toward individual athletes and the opportunities that develop from using their personal stories to narrate the history of the sport and Canada. In 2017, the opening of Hockey was a key moment. This exhibition delved into the social and cultural significance of the sport and avoided a traditional chronological narrative. Instead, the exhibit explored the global, postcolonial history of hockey and emphasized its importance beyond the rink. The museum has also pursed significant acquisitions, including the collection of Paralympian and disability rights advocate Rick Hansen, Mike Wilson's “the Ultimate Leaf Fans” collection, as well as high-profile objects from Quebecois MMA fighter Georges St. Pierre, Olympian Perdita Felicien, and the two-time Canadian women's long-ball driving champion Irene Crowchild, who is a Dene and Cree athlete from the Tsuut'ina Nation.The amount of space that sport takes up in the collection has expanded—both in square footage and importance. But it is also evident that the context around research and knowledge production has also changed due to a constellation of factors.The Canadian Museum of History has been working with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities for decades, starting with its first repatriation in the 1970s and up to the present. Exhibitions such as the Grand Hall (1989), Threads of the Land (1994), The First Peoples Hall (2003), and the Canadian History Hall (2017) were developed through collaboration and co-curation with Indigenous advisory committees, internal and external consultations, and commissioned Indigenous artists to create works for these displays.The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which ran from 2008 to 2015, drew attention to the legacy of residential schools and colonialism in every dimension of public life in Canada. The final report and Calls to Action that emerged out of this work focused specifically on museums and their contributions to the colonial project (most notably Call-to-Action #67). The museum has continued to rewrite and expand its policies and practices when working with communities. In preparation for the passage of UNDRIP (Bill C-15), it initiated a “Framework for Indigenous Relations” to continue to advance and lead in this regard.1Against this backdrop, museums like the Canadian Museum of History in are engaged in an ongoing evaluation and re-evaluation of how they build collections, exhibit and share stories, and collaborate with communities. All of this impacts our approach to showcasing sport as a part of Canada's history. As a curator, I reflect a lot on how to “do” public history and how to better serve and engage with the public. I ask questions: whose voices and whose stories are being centered? How are athletes and communities being represented? What objects and stories are missing? What objects and stories from today need to be preserved for the future?How has the museum created space for collaborative, multidisciplinary and community-based projects?The Museum has created more space for collaborative, multidisciplinary, and community-based projects. This work has become more possible with what some have called the new museology of the 1990s and 2000s. We have seen a broader focus on visitor experience and interpretation, as well as more self-reflexive work in exhibition development.But it would be inaccurate to suggest that working with communities is something brand new at the Canadian Museum of History. There is a long history of community engagement. Examples of this are found in the collecting work in the 1970s and 1980s across different diasporic communities, including Black Nova Scotians, work with Ukrainian communities and Doukhobors, among others, across the prairies.A great example of a recent collaborative, community-based research project is found in the work of my colleagues Jenny Ellison, Rhonda James, and Bob Dawson. Together, they developed an investigation of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes (CHLM). The goal of this project was to get beyond the “famous first” model of commemoration and to see what could be discovered about the players in the CHLM and the social dynamics of sport in the region. In total, nine interviews were completed. They spoke primarily to the grandchildren of CHLM participants who had learned traces of the history from their parents. Participants situated sport as part of a web of Black community networks. There was joy and playfulness—shared uniforms and equipment, local heroes and rituals, and travel between communities. Interview stories document the racism—segregation enacted largely without laws—that was, and continues to be, characteristic of Canada. Interviewees consistently reported the unofficial ways Black communities were separated and kept in their place. My colleagues found that these dynamics were intergenerational, lasting decades so that even as more “barriers” were broken, players still knew that a try-out for the National Hockey League was unlikely to lead to anything.The interviews provided so much insight into these intergenerational dynamics that the research and acquisitions are ongoing. Researchers have also given presence to the stories that were shared by creating a podcast episode called “Breaking Ice: The Story of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes.”2How and why was the Order of Sport Collection acquired by the Canadian Museum of History?In 2021, the Canadian Museum of History acquired the Order of Sport Collection. Canadian Heritage purchased the collection from the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame for $5 million.3 This purchase and transfer to the Canadian Museum of History ensures the collection is preserved, intact and in its entirety, within Canada and guarantees its long-term care while ensuring national access to its content. We have the expertise, capacity, storage, and resources that are necessary to support a major collection such as this one.The Order of Sport Collection represents more than one hundred years of Canadian sport history and is made up of more than one hundred thousand objects and thousands of archives. There are 50 Olympic torches, 600 trophies and plaques, 3,100 clothing pieces, and accessories, 780 flags and banners, 760 framed items, and 3,700 pins. This collection had been carefully assembled and stewarded by the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and captures an extraordinary number of memorable athletes and moments. Like many sports halls, there is a lot of material focusing on achievement and traditional sport, with a focus on white men and women. Since the 1990s the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame has worked to expand its lens to a wider range of communities and also to have that diversity reflected in its selection committee.The reason the Canadian Museum of History made this acquisition is straightforward. The museum sees tremendous value in the opportunity to work with this material, frame it in a social history context, and show how sport connects to broader cultural dynamics and spheres of life. Sport collections offer a lot to museums that are looking to build broader audiences that are intent upon connecting past events with current issues. It's about so much more than famous firsts or the record books. You can take a piece of equipment, a uniform, a photo and dive into a much bigger conversation about the world.What are the plans for sharing the collection with the public and researchers?We have big plans! With the acquisition of the Order of Sport Collection, the Canadian Museum of History became the largest collector of sport heritage in Canada. The goal is to share this collection widely and make it even more accessible to the public through exhibitions and digital products. Material in the collection is also available for loan to other cultural institutions. The museum is currently in the process of reviewing and preparing an extensive archive for public use.We also regularly add content to the museum's visual collections database. We create content for the social media accounts and our blog. In fall 2024, we hosted a public event with Olympic champion Donovan Bailey. The evening was hosted by the award-winning author Kim Thuy, and the conversation was recorded so that it can be transformed into the season 2 finale of Artifactuality. This episode will join other sport-focused episodes from the podcast, including one on figure skater Elizabeth Manley and Toronto Raptors super fan Nav Bhatia. As we continue to unpack, register, and conserve the Order of Sport Collection, we will encourage researchers with projects related to our collections and archives to visit. We are excited to collaborate and support researchers and teachers at all stages of their career.In terms of displays and exhibitions, Canada's Got Game: Highlights from the Order of Sport Collection ran from October 2023 to November 2024.4 Olympic Torches: Let the Games Begin! kicked off with the 2024 Paris Games and will run until just after the 2026 Turin Games. These two displays are geared toward sightseers and museum visitors. We focused on creating a display that would be visually impactful and easy to understand, to make it more appealing to nonexpert audiences. The content of these displays does not require visitors to have in-depth knowledge of either sports or Canadian history. We have paired the artifacts with a carefully considered approach to text that aligns with our goal. We used short, active sentences and a conversational tone. Messaging in both these displays makes connections between history and sport and uses a thematic approach to highlight the idea that sport is not neutral or devoid of power or politics. These small “teaser” displays are undertaken as we continue to unpack and plan for future projects.Are there parts of the collection you hope to expand or add to?Yes, there are parts of the collection that I hope to expand and add to. As curator, my goal is to continue the work that has been happening here and to build on the formidable foundation that has been laid out by my colleague Dr. Ellison and the Order of Sport Collection.By its nature, the collection is an ongoing, unfinished project. To work on it is to grasp its asymmetries, its gaps, and its silences. Institutions like mine often lack material culture and documentary evidence related to Black, Indigenous and People of Color. So, I think there is a lot of purposeful and careful work to do with communities that are currently underrepresented in our collection.And as a white settler historian working in a national museum, I am mindful of power dynamics and the institutional contexts that underwrite reparative work with communities that have been excluded or misrepresented. I have found the writing of Michelle Murphy, a Métis feminist science studies scholar, helpful. She looks to the efforts of scholars and activists dedicated to the project of decolonization in Canada and the United States and the way they have challenged settler myths of innocence and benevolence.5 Murphy contends it is the ongoing, non-innocent, and unromantic histories that settlers need to grapple with. I heed the advice that instead of trying to work from a place of innocence or purity in my role as curator, it is more important to think of values and principles that I want to want to enact through the work. This includes efforts to be accountable, transparent, and to cultivate trust, respect, autonomy, and strong working relationships with athletes, family members, agents, sport organizations, researchers, academic communities, and the public writ large.I would also like to bring this answer back to the consideration of changing museum practices. What stories and objects we would like to add to the collection to make it more representative is intimately bound up with questions of how to collect, preserve, and engage with community. There is a growing movement within museums and galleries to become more trauma informed. Definitions and conceptions of trauma and trauma-informed are contested and varied. I follow Timothy P. Brown's observation that “trauma is not just a condition that is specific to certain groups; trauma characterizes life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Indeed, the effects of trauma can reverberate through a community to such a degree that the very notion of a national and cultural identity is kept in a perpetual state of crisis.”6It is difficult to minimize harm for visitors and staff when looking at histories and present versions of violence, colonialism, slavery, capitalism, and war. Becoming more aware of the harms and risks and types of actions one might take to create greater safety—for communities, collaborators, and colleagues—around museum processes and products is significant. Trying to be more trauma informed is an essential part of building a more representative and accurate collection that does not ignore difficult and non-innocent histories but rather invites more people into dialogue about the past, present, and future of sport and leisure in Canada.

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