The Doukhobor Discovery Centre (DDC) is now open for its 40th year and new curator Netta Zeberoff is excited to add her own touches to the museum and its history.
Throughout the buildings, Zeberoff has planned little changes here and there to get the DDC in the best shape possible before tourist season.
It doesn’t hurt that Zeberoff has her own extensive collection of Doukhobor artifacts as well.
“I remember my grandmother had little tea cup sets,” Zeberoff said. Authentic Doukhobor tea cup sets will now be set up in the children’s corner for visiting kids to play with.
Zeberoff has made other small changes to the centre’s artifacts, such as replacing torn and stained fabrics and rearranging some of the items to different areas of the museum.
She also is planning to build an archive of items in the DDC. For this, she invites people who have donated items over the years to please contact her.
The gift shop has been relocated to the admissions area.
“Sometimes people come up to just buy something,” she said.
Recently, JJ and Laura Verigin donated a suit of the late John J. Verigin which will be placed in the Anna Petrovna Karkova room.
Zeberoff’s biggest exhibit this year will be on the history of Doukhobor music.
“I thought, this is history,” she said. “It goes from words, to books, to recorders, to instruments.”
She said it was important to have an exhibit on Doukhobor music since it has changed so much over the years. In fact, only recently were instruments allowed.
Incorporating music into the DDC’s events, such as the singing of “Otchie nash” (the Lord’s Prayer) before the official opening ceremony in April is new as well.
Parts of the exhibit include the very first tape recorder to record Doukhobor music and the first recordings from Doukhobor group Tovarischi (made up of William Saliken, Fred Ziben and Frank Konken). In total, the band recorded 21 albums.
Zeberoff said she wants to keep the music traditional, and many of the recordings are available at the DDC for purchase.
The DDC is now open daily. For more information call 365-5327 or visit doukhobor-museum.org.