Les Bénévoles

This year, on Thursday, November 2, as part of the ARCS Conference, we will hold a day of volunteerism for local museums.  The name of this project, Les Bénévoles, translates to “The Volunteers”.  Take a look at our Flicker album to see pictures of past volunteer projects.

Thanks to our sponsors

Les Bénévoles Locations for ARCS 2017 Conference - Vancouver, BC

Lunch and transportation will be provided for all venues.  Participants will be contacted in advance with more information. 

Beaty Biodiversity Museum
The Herbarium at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum houses the largest dried plant collection in Canada, with about 700,000 specimens. The Beaty requests the help of volunteers to complete their first ever inventory of this collection.

Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site
The Britannia Shipyards National Historic Site is home to the last surviving Chinese bunkhouse on the West Coast. Its artefacts tell the story of the life of Chinese cannery workers starting in 1889. The Britannia Shipyard is looking for help condition reporting these artefacts and engaging in dialogue with the volunteers about managing a historic site that is on the water and exposed to the elements.

Museum of Vancouver
The Museum of Vancouver (MOV) recently installed compact shelving when they acquired the 2010 Winter Olympic Collection. With the assistance of the ARCS volunteers they can conclude the relocation clean-up, earthquake barrier installation and help prepare the MOV book collection for freezing.

Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre
The Nikkei National Museum is preparing to move their permanent collection and needs help processing recent acquisitions ranging from clothing, family and military items to archival documents, from baseball paraphernalia to  archaeological items, and from glass plate negatives to Samurai armour. Volunteers are asked to catalogue, condition report, photograph and rehouse these acquisitions.

Vancouver Police Museum 
The Vancouver Police Museum (VPM) Archive has a processing backlog of 110 oversized bound  manuscripts. These range from prison records and order books to mug-shot volumes that chronicle the history of law enforcement, internment and incarceration in Western Canada since 1924 -- and many are in poor condition. The VPM invite ARCS volunteers to condition report, catalogue, clean and rehouse the manuscripts and to enhance the current storage area by replacing the acidic fabric lining with polyethylene foam.