Off the 'Cuff

This summer, our summer students are regularly updating this blog with their experiences working at the Police Museum. Please be sure to check out Jessica’s personal (non museum-affiliated) blog called “Madness and Beauty“.

Stealth Defense - Security Comb

I’ll admit it – I’m new to the world of museums. That’s not to say that I haven’t long been an enthusiastic patron of art galleries and collections of antiquities– I have visited museums and archeological sites around the globe and am a keen student of history. It’s just that until now, as a summer student here at the VPM, I had no idea about the world that lies just under the surface of a museum.

For instance, I naively assumed that what a museum or gallery had on display represented the majority of their collection. I could not have been more wrong. The Vancouver Art Gallery, for instance, only has the space to showcase 3% of their art. That leaves a mindboggling amount of paintings, sculpture and installations sitting in storage away from the public’s view. The same goes here at the Vancouver Police Museum.

Diamond Encrusted "Gold" Knuckles

Our collection is a unique one, and we have 20,000 items in storage. You read that right – 20,000! Weird, wacky and wonderful treasures are stored out of sight of the public- I have handled a bone saw, a crack pipe, a hundred year old bludgeon, a coroner’s apron, a 1950’s police woman’s uniform and a come along – and that was all in one day. We have handcuffs, badges, diamond encrusted brass knuckles, trophies, riot gear, cougar pelts, autopsy tables, mint condition Tommy Guns, even a meat locker full of mugshots! The storage area is a strangely intriguing place to work.

So why don’t we have all of this interesting stuff on display? Why is it that just museum workers like me that get to see it all up close? There are a few reasons:

• Condition: Some of these items need to be kept in the dark in a climate controlled space to prevent further deterioration and to keep them in the best condition possible.
• Space: We are a teeny tiny museum housed in a heritage building, and we simply don’t have places to display all of our goodies all the time!
• Security: As a Police Museum we have a lot of prohibited weapons, not all of which can be safely displayed.
• Funding: The Vancouver Police Museum is a a registered charity that is not affiliated with or funded by the VPD or government. As with most arts and heritage associations we are always happy for more monetary donations to allow us to properly display even more of our fab collection!

Homemade Electric Crackpipe

But, don’t fret, little museum lover! The cool stuff that is in storage isn’t just laying around in the dark – the curator and permanent staff lovingly handle all objects and determine the best ways to preserve and store them so that if (and when!) we can display them they will look their rock star best.

So, just to make sure that you all get a chance to see some of this great stuff, over the course of the Summer I will periodically post photos of some of the strange and bizarre items that I get my mitts on, and share my experiences handling this truly unique collection of our city’s seedier side.  See you around the Coroner’s Court!

Jessica

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