Where I’ve Been, a pop-up museum in 2017, was hosted at the Kingston Military Family Resource Centre. Between the people and museums that came out, the many activities and the fascinating items, you can be sure we had a great time!

The Military Communications and Electronics Museum and Fort Henry both brought in incredible items from South Korea and Washington, DC, respectively. The Royal Military College (RMC) paid a visit as well as the Douglas library’s W.D Jordan Special Collection. All together they helped make our event successful !

Under the theme of Where I’ve Been the main feature of this pop-up museum was an interactive map. Together, guests and volunteers were asked to reveal the farthest or the most interesting places they had been to. Each string colour used signifies a different type of travel. The yellow string was used for vacations, the blue string for moves/relocations and the purple for work trips. The interactive map was a hit and provided everyone with interesting conversation-starters and unique insights into different places around the world.

The guest speaker for Bring Your Thing: Remember When, John Fielding, event shared a mesmerizing story about his move to an Australian military base, while this event’s special guest, Violette Hiebert was the only person to have their string reach South America (Paraguay).

Special Guest, Violette Hiebert
This edition of Bring Your Thing’s special guest was Violette Hiebert, the Director of Tourism Kingston. As mentioned earlier, Violette is from Paraguay and brought in two tumblers, one from Paraguay and the other collected during her travels to San Francisco. Hiebert explained that the tumblers were important to her because they make her feel closer to home and remind her of their significance in her family growing up.  

Japanese box & Copy of a WWII map from Russia
This map of Nova Scotia, dating back to World War II, is more interesting than you might think. It is written entirely in Russian! Sara Bushey, its owner, says that she purchased it while travelling overseas. Bushey also brought in a unique object from Japan. This  jewelry box and its contents were a wedding gift to Mrs. Bushey. Indeed, these items highlight the wide variety of items and places everyone had been to at this past pop-up museum!

Vegemite and Crackers

Hannah Ardnt, a Bring Your Thing guest, brought in Vegemite and crackers as it reminds her of family. Ardnt’s parents were born in Australia and her grandparents send them Australian snacks and food. Made from yeast extract, Vegemite, is a food spread that has vegetable and spice additives. Vegemite is as important in Australia as maple syrup is to us here in Canada.

Feel free to check out more of the cool items people brought on our Facebook page!

Thanks to the many unique and personal items brought to our event, Where I’ve Been was a resounding success! Our events was filled with wonderful storytelling and great conversation. Bring Your Thing: Remember When? was hosted at the Seniors Centre (56 Francis Street) on Tuesday April 18th, 2017.