Camp Woolsey: Memories of Ottawa’s Girl Guide Camp
By Emma Kent, BA (2016)
Girl Guides from Ottawa have called Camp Woolsey their home for the past 80 years and for the last 20 of those years I have called it mine. I have been a Woolsey camper and later staff for as long as I can remember. During my second year of studying history at Carleton University looking into the camp’s past just seemed like a natural thing to do. Slowly the project started to grow and I soon pulled Julie Côté, my friend and author of the novel Without a King into the research with the hope of co-writing a book on the camp’s history. When people asked me if I thought we would be done soon, I would always reply with a no. I had always hoped to be writing in the middle of the camp’s history and that there would always be new chapters to add. However, in the spring of 2017, the decision was made to close and sell off the Ontario Girl Guide Camps and Woolsey’s future has become uncertain though different ‘Save Camp Woolsey’ campaigns have started to form.
When the camp’s closure was announced my goal for the Camp Woolsey history project shifted as I had a growing fear that the strength of the Woolsey community would fade as we got displaced from our camp. The History of Camp Woolsey Facebook page was created around this time to help connect the history of the camp with its campers. With our research on the camp mainly finished, Julie went on to work on editing our first draft and that left me free to pursue other projects. I soon reached out to the Bytown Museum about the use of their community gallery to give the Woolsey community a place to gather. I first encountered the Bytown Museum on a class field trip when we visited my professor Joanna Dean’s exhibit Six Moments in the History of an Urban Forest in 2012. That field trip and my time at Carleton really did shape the formation of this exhibit.
The main goal of Camp Woolsey: Memories of Ottawa’s Girl Guide Camp is to evoke memories on the part of the viewer. The exhibit is created around a timeline starting in 1937, which was the first year Guides camped on the property and each following decade is marked with the timeline ending in 2017. Different photos, documents and memorabilia cluster around the date for each decade. To help strengthen the feelings of nostalgia for the viewer, I chose a series of repeating items. I followed the rule that if an item appeared earlier in the timeline, a later version would appear later on to try to mirror it. It was important to me that viewers who did not camp at Woolsey would start to feel a connection as they saw the development of the camp’s culture through its songs, maps, photos and other memorabilia. My choice of photos represents a classic depiction of summer camps with guides participating in traditional camp activities so any viewer familiar with the concept of summer camps could connect with them.
The exhibit starts and ends in the same way, with the first three and last three items the same: a kit list, a Girl Guide whistle and a photo of the camp gate are the same with a similar layout on the wall, with the first set from the 1930’s and the second from 80 years later. This was done to hopefully leave the viewer with the impression that although 80 years have passed, the core of the Woolsey camper experience persists.
Camp Woolsey: Memories of Ottawa’s Girl Guide Camp
February 1 – May 12, 2019
For over 80 years the Ottawa Girl Guides have made Camp Woolsey their weekend and summer home. Located along the Ottawa River, the camp has witnessed a lifetime of campers’ memories and adventures, everything from royal visits to trouble with canvas tents. In the spring of 2017, the decision was made to close and sell off all the Ontario Girl Guide Camps. Come and explore the camp’s history through memorabilia, photos and stories.
Camp Woolsey: Memories of Ottawa’s Girl Guide Camp will be on display in the Bytown Museum’s Community Gallery from February 1 to May 12, 2019.
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/historyofwoolsey/