The Museum of Anthropology (MOA) was founded in 1947 with Harry Hawthorn, the first professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia, as director. Audrey Hawthorn, his wife, was appointed Honorary Curator, and thus became the Museum’s first volunteer. She and two anthropology professors, Marjorie Halpin and Elvi Whitaker, were the driving force behind the formation of the Volunteer Association in 1976, as the new modernist Arthur Erickson building was about to open.
Over the decades the roles of the Volunteer Associates (VAs) have shifted countless times to support the changing needs of the Museum, to respond to circumstances of the world around us, and to evolve alongside the field of museology. Through the changes, what has not wavered is the honour that the VAs feel to be involved in the care of the objects, art works, treasures, and belongings from Indigenous communities and many other cultures around the world that are housed at MOA.
Now, 50 years on, the VAs continue to make meaningful impacts big and small across the Museum. Over the years, the number of VAs has fluctuated during the years, from 23 in 1976 to a maximum of 115 in 2020 just before COVID temporarily closed MOA down. We serve on what are currently seven committees: Archaeology, Collections and Conservation, Continuing Education and Enrichment, Education, Library, Archives and Research, Recruitment, and Visitor Engagement. In the years between 1977 and 2025, volunteers donated approximately 342,000 hours to MOA.
All new volunteers must serve on the Visitor Engagement Committee, where they take shifts at the visitor information desk located in the Museum’s lobby. It’s invaluable and rapid-fire training to greet nearly 200,000 visitors annually, and answer their myriad questions. As VAs, we all know where the washrooms and café are, and how to get to the beautiful grounds behind the museum. However, other questions challenge us. “I don’t know the answer. Let me find out for you” is a common response that is encouraged. It requires curiosity and humility on our part to seek answers from others with more direct knowledge.
Over the years, the VAs have risen in surprising ways to the many challenges that MOA has faced. One of the most unexpected challenges of all was COVID, of course, which closed the Museum from mid-March to July 2020. Many VAs put in a good number of hours remotely during COVID. The Archaeology and Education committees quickly mastered Zoom to deliver digital versions of school programs so that elementary and secondary students across Greater Vancouver and beyond could continue to have enriching learning experiences with diverse cultural belongings and artworks. In the Collections Care, Management and Access Department, long-time VA Judith Eyrl, who usually uses her remarkable sewing skills to help innovate collections care solutions, sewed 1,000 reusable face masks for the staff and VAs. Once the Museum reopened, VAs assisted with wayfinding and social distancing throughout the galleries.
The next big challenge was the Great Hall Seismic Upgrade Project that required the complete replacement of the iconic space. It was demolished in April 2022 to be rebuilt over several years. Instead of finding a light-filled hall with monumental carvings, visitors were met with a construction hoarding wall. VAs learned how to respond to visitors’ latest FAQ: “Where did the poles go?” (They were resting in the O’Brian Gallery, where visitors could see them from a different perspective.) To accelerate the completion of the seismic upgrades, MOA closed for an interminable eighteen months from January 2023 to June 2024. Despite the closure VAs were busy behind the scenes. The Zoom school programs developed during COVID proved their worth, as they were adapted to once again provide online learning experiences. VA Steve Weisman had several duties, including continuing to keep an eye on temperature and humidity as well as checking his pest “trapline” for unwelcome visitors that can infest textiles and other material.
The recent Great Hall Seismic Upgrades Project wasn’t the first time that the building changed foundationally. Then, too, the VAs helped change its shape. In 2010, MOA completed its Partnership of the People Project, which renovated and expanded the Multiversity Galleries and other public spaces, as well as built new research and administration spaces. VA Carol Givton, who has now served an extraordinary forty years at MOA, noted that plans for expansion made no provision for a library. So, she made a generous contribution to support a librarian position: “My thought was if we have a librarian position, maybe they’ll give us a library.” She was right! With Carol’s gift and vision, the Harry and Audrey Hawthorn Library and Archives is now an invaluable research collection for curators, visiting researchers, and students.
Through decades, VAs have been instrumental in not only shaping the Museum’s architecture but also its digital assets. Digitization of MOA’s collections has been underway since before the Museum’s opening in 1976, when VAs helped to categorize thousands of objects. The work lasted days—and into the nights— resulting in thousands of pages of computer printout. Subsequent rapid advances in technology led to the development of MOA’s Collections database and the publicly accessible Collections Online (MOA-CAT). The Reciprocal Research Network (RRN), completed in 2010, provides a collaborative research space for 29 cultural institutions in Canada, the UK, Brazil and the United States to share their collections worldwide. VA Clifford Pereira is a unique example of how VAs continue to contribute their expertise to advance these research efforts. From Hong Kong where he is based, Cliff frequently travels to West Africa for research, and from afar, he has revised the provenance information of over 3,000 African objects in the MOA-CAT and RRN. His work over the past decade enriches our understanding of these collections, providing more accurate and comprehensive information for all future researchers. For his contributions, Cliff received the Museum Volunteer Award from the Canadian Museums Association in 2022.
Other VAs have been recognized for their work at MOA, too. Notably, Issaku Inami received a 2023 Volunteerism in the Arts Award from the BC Alliance for Arts + Culture and Vancouver Foundation.
The last fifty years have pushed MOA’s Volunteer Associates to learn and adapt—and flourish. What the next fifty years might bring for the Museum is unknowable, but what we do know for certain: new challenges lie ahead and VAs will be there to support MOA along the way.
Learn more about volunteering at MOA.
MOA VA Presidents (1976–2026)
| 1976-77 | Vera Coombe | 2001-02 | John Kirkness |
| 1977-78 | Donna Adams | 2002-03 | Jennifer Podlecki |
| 1978-79 | Donna Adams | 2003-04 | Nancy Stubbs |
| 1979-80 | Daphne Shaw | 2004-05 | Barb Harrower |
| 1980-81 | Nancy Brodie | 2005-06 | Cathy Patel |
| 1981-82 | Nancy Brodie | 2006-07 | Jane Robinson Bond |
| 1982-83 | Fran Panar | 2007-08 | Jean Lubin |
| 1983-84 | Joan Tennant | 2008-09 | Alison Emslie |
| 1984-85 | Marise Dutton | 2009-10 | Maureen Richardson |
| 1985-86 | Jacquie Cronin | 2010-11 | Sheila Carnahan |
| 1986-87 | Louise Lupini | 2011-12 | Arlee Gale |
| 1987-88 | Jean Cave | 2012-13 | Steve Weisman |
| 1988-89 | Christine Wisenthal | 2013-14 | Colette Storrow |
| 1989-90 | Kelly Rae | 2014-15 | Liz Schuetz |
| 1990-91 | Kelly Rae | 2015-16 | Marilyn Bild |
| 1991-92 | Joan Sprague | 2016-17 | Susan Fisher |
| 1992-93 | Carol Givton | 2017-18 | Rosemary Pitzer |
| 1993-94 | Pat Forgacs | 2018-19 | Kamshi Kanavathy |
| 1994-95 | Betty Montgomery | 2019-20 | Patricia Christensen |
| 1995-96 | Ann Watson | 2020-21 | Martin Kyle |
| 1996-97 | Josephine Coole | 2021-22 | Issaku Inami |
| 1997-98 | Judith Eyrl | 2022-23 | Barbara Holder |
| 1998-99 | Honorine Loader | 2023-24 | Kay Weisman |
| 1999-00 | Mary Forster | 2024-25 | Rita McAllen |
| 2000-01 | Beverley Tamboline | 2025-26 | Steve Rasmussen |