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Whistler Museum to digitize Myrtle Philip

Three Canadian youth needed for federal program The Whistler Museum and Archives Society is looking for a few ambitious young people to archive its Myrtle Philip collection, after the museum was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Federal Youth Employme

Three Canadian youth needed for federal program

The Whistler Museum and Archives Society is looking for a few ambitious young people to archive its Myrtle Philip collection, after the museum was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Federal Youth Employment Strategy.

Pat Gemmill, curator and archivist for the museum, says more than 100 applicants sent bids to the federal government, and the Museum and Achieves Society was one of 22 organizations which received grant money.

Now all he has to do is the hiring, he said last week.

"It’s a full-time position from January to May, 2001," Gemmill said. "And yes we’ve had good response so far. I haven’t had it in the paper yet because I missed the deadline. But just from putting the notice around Whistler, at bus stops and on the Internet, there’s been a good reaction."

Gemmill says he thinks the Archives Society received the award because its main focus for digital archiving is Myrtle Philip, one of a few recognizable female pioneers in B.C.’s history. Alex and Myrtle Philip built Whistler’s first sport fishing business, the Rainbow Lodge on Alta Lake, in 1914.

"The contract is open to any Canadian 15 years old to 30 years old," Gemmill explained. "So obviously, when you put out a job offer for Whistler – especially at this time of the year – you’ll get good response. At that age, a lot of people want to live and work here for a while anyway. But I would prefer if the money did stay in Whistler and we hired someone who already lives here."

Successful applicants will not only digitally archive a good chunk of the inventory at the museum for access on the Internet, they will also receive valuable multimedia training from a private company called Pepper Sunlight industries. The three applicants will be trained in the handling of archival materials and related research, and will become proficient in scanning photos, using software programs such as PhotoShop, Flash and the Internet program Dreamweaver.

At the end of the contract, an interactive Web site will be completed for local and national use on Canada’s Schoolnet at www.schoolnet.ca. The site will join a host of other sites created by some 2,500 young Canadians working under contract to Industry Canada. Applicants with experience or education in research-based disciplines in addition to new media technologies, such as computer science, will be considered for the new Whistler job.

"We did have the deadline at Dec. 15, but obviously we’re moving it back now," Gemmill said. "I’ll accept them for the next little while."

For more information on the job to produce an educational Web site on the life and times of Myrtle Philip, contact Gemmill at 604-932-2019. Or bring your resume to the Whistler Museum And Archives Society at 4329 Main Street. The museum is adjacent to the Whistler Public Library.