The British Columbia Historical Federation has awarded Nelson’s Shawn Lamb (1938-2021) a posthumous Certificate of Appreciation.
The award is presented by the BCHF to individuals who have given exceptional service for a specific project or long-service in the preservation of British Columbia’s history.
Described as “totally unselfish, talented, generous and caring,” Lamb is being honoured for a lifetime of service to the museum sector and for her dedicated work to establish the Nelson Museum Archives and Gallery, formerly Touchstones Nelson Museum.
Lamb had previously won Nelson’s Citizen of the Year in 1994 and received the Freedom of the City in 2009.
The first archivist and paid staff member of the Nelson Museum, Lamb worked with wholehearted spirit and was a prolific figure in Nelson. She worked tirelessly with the public, community groups and researchers to connect them to their family’s or Nelson’s past and was an active public historian, hosting Nelson’s Turning Back the Clock on Shaw TV (you can watch an installment below), publishing books and regularly contributing to local newspapers.
She maintained an active role in developing Nelson’s collection and exhibition program, culminating in the creation of the “A Visual Memoir: 25 Years at the Nelson Museum with Shawn Lamb” exhibition in 2009. The exhibit, which commemorated her quarter-century with the organization and coincided with her retirement, highlighted key stories and materials from her career.
Her legacy lives on today through the Shawn Lamb Archives at the Nelson Museum Archives and Gallery, which were dedicated to her in 2006 and through the countless number of individuals she worked with and mentored during her career. Lamb died in 2021 at 83.
The award was presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala on July 22 in Princeton, where family members were on hand to receive it.
