MMST students, alumna contribute to Governor General’s Award-winning exhibit

Students from the Museum Studies capstone course (2022/23) played a key role in creating an exhibit that has just been named winner of the Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Community Programming.

Grace Kovacs, Hanjia Li, Abera Rajendran and Marie Song helped put together “Standing in the Doorway: Lived Histories and Experiences of the Chinese Community”. The exhibit drew on new oral histories, loaned artifacts and family archives to highlight the richness and diversity of York Region’s Chinese community in areas such as the arts, culture and sport.

The students worked together with the Markham Museum, which is a longtime partner of the Faculty of Information, as well as the York Region District School Board Museum and Archives, and the Tribute to Early Chinese Immigrants Foundation Canada. 

“This award is a profound honour and a testament to the dedication and collaborative spirit of the community and project partners behind Standing in the Doorway,” said Janet Reid, Curator of the Markham Museum, who is also an MMSt grad (Class of 1994). In the video below, Reid discusses the origins of the exhibit and much more.

In recognizing the exhibit, Melony Ward, President and CEO of Canada’s National History Society, said: “‘Standing in the Doorway’ reminds us that Canada’s history contains both pain and triumph. This outstanding project wove together so many important threads from the past, adding to what we know about our country and deepening our understanding of what it means to be Canadian.”