This year marks the beginning of a new year at the O’Keefe Ranch, as well as the centenary of the close of the First World War.
Cornelius O’Keefe and his late wife, Mary Ann, contributed three sons to the war, as well as a grandson. The war, as a major fixture in this Canadian family’s life, has been a major focus for exhibitions and research at the Ranch, which will come to a close in 2018 with a final exhibition, entitled 14-18: The First World War Illustrated.
The centre of this exhibition is a collection of 123 glass “magic lantern” slides, which were created in the early 1920s and marketed towards wealthy families like the O’Keefes, to view collectively and feel as though they were part of the action. The collection was donated to the Ranch archives by Cornelius’ granddaughter, along with two original slide viewers.
In 2017, it was fully digitized through the Okanagan Region Historical Digitization Project with UBC Okanagan and will be projected in the Greenhow museum from May – October 2018. Also on view will be photographs, posters and magazines that date to the First World War, and visitors are invited to question the type of message that was portrayed to families during the war.
Members of the community are invited to participate in the exhibition by submitting their own First World War photographs—the images will be scanned as per museum standards, and the originals returned promptly to the contributors, as well as a copy of the scans. Interested individuals should call or email Curator Carla-Jean Stokes curator@okeeferanch.ca 250-542-7686 before March 15.
The First World War Illustrated is one of three new 2018 exhibitions that will be available for viewing May through October.
The O’Keefe Ranch and Greenhow Museum will re-open to the public in May 2018. The Ranch is located at 9380 Hwy 97N Vernon BC. For more information visit www.okeeferanch.ca
The O’Keefe Ranch tells the story of early BC Ranching and endeavors to preserve the history and culture of the early ranching era for future generations. The Ranch is a registered charitable organization, historic site and museum.
Contributed