Shaping the Landscape: A Progressive Conceptualisation of Local History Museums in the Algonquin Highlands

In small towns, local history museums often play a vital role in the preservation of heritage. These local history museums are responsible for ensuring that this heritage is maintained for future generations. The Dorset Heritage Museum and the Haliburton Highlands Museum are two such museums located in the Township of the Algonquin Highlands. Both museums have become important pillars within their communities and have made various efforts to remain relevant to the larger community. In doing so, they have altered their programming and exhibits to suit the needs of those who are visiting. By discussing the origins of local history museums, it is apparent that these early museums were created to preserve the "disappearing" heritage of Canada's early pioneers. In the contemporary sense, this aim to preserve an aspect of a community's existence that is slowly "disappearing" is still very much a dominant factor which impacts the ways in which local history museums continue to be run. In keeping with "tradition", the Dorset Heritage Museum and the Haliburton Highlands Museum relegate any existence of Aboriginal people to something in the distant past. The stories told in the museums relates to the progress of the early pioneer settlers within the Algonquin Highlands, an improvement that followed the Aboriginal historical presence. This perspective persists, even though there has been much scholarship that points to the need for a greater acknowledgement of the continued presence of Aboriginal society in the area, a recognition, if invoked, that could serve to address past injustices and improve the relationship between settlers and Aboriginal people. The ways in which the two museums describe the heritage of the region directly impacts the way in whichvisitors and long-term residents understand the surrounding landscape.