The J.A.V. David Museum in Killarney received a grant of over $11,000 from the Province's Community Museum Project Support Program. The Killarney museum is one of 30 recipients through this initiative in 2023, seven of those in the Westman Region.

Museum Curator and Chair, Joyce Dietrich, says this grant will be used to continue digitizing their collections management system using the 'Muse-toba' software program through the Association of Manitoba Museums.

"Through that program the list will be officially launched online and then people can go in and see what we have in the museum," share Dietrich.

The museum staff has spent years updating the numbering system for all the artifacts and continue the task to implement that data into the proper system for their collection of artifacts that numbers well over 10,000 items, this being their second year.  One year ago, the J.A.V David Museum received $8,000 through this program to start the process through 'Muse-toba'.

Dietrich says the $11,688 grant will go towards hiring a data entry person.  "It will pay for that, and it will pay for the cost of joining the Association of Manitoba Museums.

Having their entire collection digitized has a number of benefits. 

"The big benefit to the museum itself is that we will know exactly what we have," she explains, "and when people come and ask where it is we'll be able to find it at the drop of a hat, where its location will be at any given time.  It's good for insurance purposes to, because there are pictures of everything and you know exactly what you have."

Close to 800 items have been entered into the program thus far.  "Just for the collection itself, not including the archives, it's close to 10,000. It's going to be a lof of work," she adds.

Community Museum Project Support Grant recipients in Westman Region:

 Beautiful Plains Museum, Neepawa ($4,500);

 Brandon General Museum and Archives ($8,000);

 Brandon Museum Inc. (Daly House) ($10,000);

 JAV David Museum ($11,688); 

 Manitoba Agricultural Museum, Austin ($15,000);

 Manitoba Antique Automobile Museum, Elkhorn ($8,800);

 Minnedosa District Museum and Heritage Village Corp. ($5,040);