| Abstract | Community-based museums in British Columbia are testaments to the importance of belonging and social identity. Three case studies, the Saanich Pioneer Museum, the Kamloops Museum Association and the Langley Centennial Museum in Fort Langley demonstrate how community identity was the focus of collective memory construction. Museum buildings were also iconographic sites. This research draws on museum society minutes, records, journals and displays, and personal interviews. It examines the role of earlier groups and events, from agricultural fairs to fraternal organizations in these museums' origins. The influence of provincial and federal government policies and funding, Centennial celebrations, and umbrella organizations such as the British Columbia Museums Association are also analysed. Socialization, interaction, memorabilia, commemorations and celebrations were all part of the creation of collective memory, and demonstrate how belonging was vital to these museums' creation and histories. / Graduate
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