June 24, 2024

Yiran Li, Yunshan Li, Georgia Hanson, Alperen Demirci, Lukey Lu

The Spadina Museum is one of ten Toronto History Museums sites operated by the City of Toronto, used to be owned by the Austin Family, an affluent and influential family in Toronto during late 19th Century and early 20th Century. The museum is situated next to one of the most famous tourist attractions in the city, Casa Loma, and for a long time has been recognized for its aesthetic representation of a historic, affluent residence. The name “Spadina” is derived from the Anishnaabe word “Ishpadeena” that means “to go uphill” (Spadina Museum 2023, 1). Today, this name still reflects the experience of visitors, who must either drive uphill or climb stairs to reach the site. In 2020, Toronto History Museums implemented a three-year strategic plan, aiming at decolonizing the institution and diversifying the storytelling. Since then, the Spadina Museum has been going through a period of transition centered on decolonization which has focused on the stories of the diverse groups of people associated with the house, such as the servants and workers.

In the period of May 6-June 17, 2024 we conducted a series of ethnographic research at Spadina Museum. This research focuses on understanding visitors’ experiences surrounding this decolonization strategy from an anthropological perspective. In this research, we used the approach of participant observation and ethnographic interviews to investigate visitors’ interaction with this transformation of the Spadina Museum. While visitors showed deep interest in the museum’s efforts to diversify interpretations, including the servants’ stories, feedback on Mrs. Pipkin’s portrait revealed a complex understanding of the museum’s decolonization efforts. The main challenge lies in the communication gap between the institution and its visitors.

Background

In 2020, City of Toronto implemented the Toronto History Museums Strategic Plan, envisioning the museums to lead “experiences and critical dialogue” about Toronto’s stories, aiming at diversifying the storytelling of the city through museum programs and activities. Building on the City’s past strategic documents, the Canadian-scope Truth and Reconciliation calls and the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Strategic Plan in 2020 has a specific emphasis on decolonizing Toronto History Museums, which is segmented through six goals including advancing Indigenous voices, creating inclusive community spaces, sharing stories from multiple perspectives, ensuring equitable access, building sustainability, and championing the creation of a Museum of Toronto. Also, as a municipal museum system, the museum follows the divisional strategic directions (2022) that aim to promote Toronto’s economy, cultural vibrancy, and global competitiveness (EDC Strategic Directions 2022, 1). Supporting and implementing the six strategic goals is integrated within the City’s economic and cultural development objectives.

Under municipal guidance, the Spadina Museum has made a series of transformation efforts in the past four years. Relevant histories of the site have been studied and shared through public events and artistic projects; the most highlighted one is the Awakenings program. The Awakenings invited Black, Indigenous, and artists of colour to develop their art projects at Spadina Museum as a way to reinterpret the site and the relevant history. Among all of the Awakenings projects, the most recognized one is an art exhibition, Dis/Mantle. Led by artist Gordon Shadrach, the Dis/Mantle featured a Black laundress who worked at Spadina, Mary Louisa Pipkin, and turned her portrait into an Afrofuturism-style oil painting, imagining what could have been if she had the privilege to own the house. During the exhibition period between August 2022 and May 2023, the Austin Family’s portraits were covered, and the house instead displayed a series of oil paintings featuring the Black community.

Literature Review

Museums are powerful institutions that shape knowledge, construct narratives of the past and present, and serve as sites of memory and memorialization. They narrate national identities and often function as “contact zones” where encounters and conflicts arise (Wali and Collins 2023, 331). The colonial origins of modern museums in the West have significantly influenced how they perpetuate a racist and exclusionary worldview. Historically, museums celebrated Western cultures as progressive and superior, legitimizing political expansion and economic exploitation during colonial times. They showcased national wealth and imperial charm while depicting non-Western cultures as exotic or savage. This perspective has been critically examined in postcolonial and decolonial scholarship. Arora (2021, 122) argues that decolonizing museums involves decentering Euro-American narratives and questioning the power dynamics embedded within these institutions.

Decolonizing museum practices aim to identify, dismantle, and replace colonial power structures, as Lonetree (2009) suggests (Giblin, Ramos and Grout 2019, 472). This includes reinterpreting exhibits and challenging traditional curatorial authority (Boukhris 2017, 686). The goal is to amplify previously silenced voices and foster meaningful dialogue. One concept coined in the field is “curatorial activism” describes efforts by curators to challenge white/settler colonial discourses through their exhibitions, often presenting alternative histories (Reilly 2018, 22). Mrs Pipkin’s portrait and its significance within the Spadina Museum’s narration exemplifies the decolonial curatorial activism. Museums are crucial in redefining representations of belonging, particularly in countries with colonial histories like Canada.

Prianti and Suyadnya (2022, 232) further proposes a two-layer approach to decolonizing museum practice. The first layer deconstructs the colonial legacy between colonizers and the colonized, while the second examines how national history narratives are shaped by inclusion and exclusion. Integrating museum studies and memory studies is crucial for a comprehensive exploration of social memory. Despite efforts to decolonize, museums face significant challenges. Tony Bennett (1998, 198) highlights that museums must navigate social divisions marked by race, class, and gender while adapting to a globally changing public sphere. They must confront their historical associations with colonial modernity and adopt interactive and multi-sensory engagement methods, challenging the authoritarian, Eurocentric didacticism of earlier practices. Sally Butler (2018) provided a possible direction to support cultural sustainability and regeneration through “repurposing the collection,” transforming the traditional collections into dynamic tools that engage the marginalized communities. However, Butler also points out the complexity of the power relations between collections and knowledge production.

The Truth and Reconciliation process has been critiqued for being influenced by non-Indigenous narratives of healing and closure, which often emphasize individuals over communities and publicly display victims without addressing perpetrators. Garneau (2016, 32) suggests that reconciliation may serve as an assimilationist or distraction strategy by the Canadian state. Contemporary museums function as ‘differencing machines,’ (Bennett 1998, 189) engaging with new forms of cultural diversity in our postcolonial reality. While they attract diverse visitors, foundational inequalities rooted in colonial, imperial, and capitalist histories can evoke a range of responses, from national pride to trauma.

Guided Tour – The First Glance of Decolonization

Spadina Museum offers free guided tours every hour during the afternoon. The tour usually lasts from 45 to 60 minutes, and visitors vary from 4 people to 20 people. Visitors enter the house through the servants’ path at the profile of the house. Walking downstairs, this path leads them to the gift shop in the basement. Visitors then will be led to the video room and wait for a 10-minute introduction video.

The video room provides a modern waiting area for the visitors with information that helps to understand the context of the tour. There are information panels (majorly with black-and-white and faded color photos) all around the rooms, which are mostly about the history of the house and land, and the house restoration after Austins’ donation to the City of Toronto. At 15 minutes past every hour, staff will play the introduction video for the visitors. The video consists of predominantly black-and-white photos and video archives of the Austin Family and the Old Toronto. After the video, the Historic Interpreter (HI) will enter the space and formally introduce themselves to visitors. Depending on each HI’s style, some will start with a short interaction with visitors, and some will start with the pronunciation of Spadina and lead to the Land Acknowledgement. To better help visitors contextualize the space, HI usually demonstrates the Austin generations who lived in this house with a board of Austin’s genealogy. After some other housekeeping rules, HI will lead the visitors into the house through narrow stairs and officially start the tour.

The first-floor tour is usually the most detailed and focused tour. The sequence follows the Front Hall, Drawing room, Palm room, Front Hall again for introducing Mrs. Pipkin’s reimagined portrait, Dining room, Library, Billiard room, and Kitchen. On the first visit to Front Hall, the HI, will explain to the visitors that the entrance they used is originally for the servants. Such an act, together with other servants’ workspace’s exhibition on the first floor reveals the multi-dimensional narration inside the museum.

The second-floor tour is centered on Mary’s patronage of art and her personal life. From the Blue Room with Mary’s art collection and her hidden political intention behind it to her bedroom and bathroom to reveal her life stories. This floor reveals her values and personal tastes, which further enriches her persona in front of the visitors. Visitors then will be led to the door to the Third floor with an explanation of its condition, which builds up an extra expectation for the striking contrast between the third floor and the rest.

The third-floor tour will be more flexible. The HI will lead with Bertie’s story and then will explain Maid’s life in this ‘never fully finished’ space. Usually, visitors have more freedom to self-explore this space. When the tour ends, visitors will leave the museum from the profile stairs again, a decolonial strategy for reminding visitors that they are not Austin’s guests. Some visitors will go to the gift shop for more talks with the HI or front desks and some will go to explore the garden by themselves.

Objects and stories — Visitors’ behaviors behind

Throughout the participant observation, there are three types of remarkable visitors’ behaviors: 1) In tour interaction with Historic interpreter; 2) Interest in material objects; 3) Owning the visiting pace. Laughs and questions are two kinds of main interaction visitors usually have with Historic Interpreters. Visitors usually will laugh at fun facts related to people like Albert’s trophy in the Billiard Room. When the HI informs them Albert paid himself to the golf at the Olympics and this trophy was the second to the last he got in that year, visitors usually will burst out laughing. Some visitors will stay in the Billiard room longer and take a closer look at the trophy that is placed higher up at the center of the fireplace.

Besides this, visitors tend to engage with the HI through asking question, which usually happens when visitors get surprised. There are two types of questions visitors tend to ask: people’s stories and objects’ functions they are not familiar with. One of the most asked questions is about Bertie’s disease. When visitors know Bertie travels around the world with tuberculosis, some of them will confirm if such an act is infectious or not with the HI. After they get the affirmed answer, they will also burst out laughing. For the questions targeting objects’ function, one of the key objects is Mary’s sitting bath. Due to its unusual shape, some visitors will be surprised and curiously ask the HI about its function. This will further trigger Mary’s diabetes experience and her privilege of becoming the pioneer insulin user in Canada. As a result, Bertie had a relatively longer life which visitors, again, were surprised to learn.

The second type of remarkable visitor behavior, interest in material objects, usually can be observed from their physical reaction. One ‘key space’ that notably catches visitors’ attention is the Kitchen — specifically the Stove and Oven. When most of the visitors enter the kitchen, they will intentionally look at the stove for a relatively longer time. Susana, a 72-year-old woman who grew up on a farm in the US, when she saw the broken oven due to the heat issues, whispered “Oh my gosh!” with excitement. She excitedly looked around the objects in the kitchen and stood near the table listening to the HI’s explanation of the space. When we talked about this with her, she revealed to us the reason behind such excitement: this was an almost identical scenario to her childhood memory about the heat usage issue on a farm. In other words, this oven, a single material object, triggers her sense of nostalgia.

The third noteworthy visitor behavior is their usage of walking at their own pace to explore the space. The library’s window is a popular spot for their picture-taking on sunny days. When the majority of visitors move to the Billiard room, they will lean on the windowsill, waiting for the wind to blow up the white curtain, and take a picture inside such an atmosphere. The other remarkable case happens to those visitors with specific interests. For example, in our observation of our interviewee Alexa, due to her prior knowledge of old house structures, she was directly attracted by the skylight’s ladder on the third floor. This ladder is shaded in the dark with dust and hinged on the wall at the corner. Visitors normally will directly ignore it, but she immediately saw this ladder and discussed it with her mom for a long time. They then joined the follow-up tour late. The last type of scenario happened after the tour: visitors’ visit to the garden. Depending on the weather, a relatively big proportion of visitors will not directly leave the museum after the tour, rather they will explore the gardens of the house. Lots of picture-taking happens in the indigenous garden and some visitors will sit or lie on the grass to relax. 

Ethnographic Interviews

People and Objects: Appreciation of the Diversified Narrative

For the visitors’ appreciation of stories inside the house, their comments on women and servants’ narration are intriguing. For women’s narration, due to the massive incorporation of Mary’s perspective inside the museum, some female interviewees expressed their surprise and appreciation when they learned about ‘The Lady of the House.’ For example, our interviewee Ann directly expressed her surprise when she saw lots of female representations inside the house:

Something that stood out to me in the house was first the painting of peaches that was painted by the lady of the house when she was 12. I thought that was really interesting. And then above all, the moving into the dining room and seeing her portrait bigger than her husband’s on the other side was…a type of like refreshing feeling to see that when you walk into a room there actually is a female representation, especially at the head of the table? In a space that usually would be for males at the time.

The way Mary, a female who was “supposedly irrelevant” to the power and domination in that era, represented her power in the space made Ann feel “refreshed” that she even explicitly drew a comparison to the male domination in that era. Indeed, our interviewee Althea also expressed similar feeling when she commented on female narration in the house:

… And we came from a matriarchal culture, so it’s like, typical of this kind of history that mostly men are the one that rules the family. But you can see, I think, the household changed for the better when the mother became the matriarch of the family. You know, I think there’s more progressive ideas.

Althea directly viewed such female narration as going back to a “matriarchal” structure and she views this as a “better” structure than a patriarchal one. Further, she commented this as a ‘progressive idea’ indicates her position standing in the contemporary era and showing approval toward such narration, which also illustrates the discourse she unconsciously relates is the contemporary feminism discourse.

Juxtaposing contemporary discourses with colonial ones allows visitors an appreciation and curiosity for the non-hegemonic narratives. This is also exemplified in their comments on Servants’ lives. For example, our interviewee Charles comments on his enthusiasm to see the contrast between Austins and Servants’ narration difference in Spadina Museum:

We’ve heard about it before and we’ve been to Casa Loma before and I’m quite interested in the history of this particular generation and one of the things that intrigues me most is the disparity between, you know, the wealthy and the poor. I guess I was born and raised in the middle class always I found it fascinating how the wealthy lived compared to the poor and then in these cases under the same roof.

Such discourse, further intertwined with his own experience, stimulates Charles’s acceptance and interest to see such diversified narration. Indeed, unconsciously stimulating curiosity in servants’ narration was also expressed by our interviewee Althea’s explanation of her attitude on servants’ life representation:

Because now there’s more working class. And there is, I think, there’s more sympathy and more interest in how the working class, you know, because most of the time you hear about the rich family, the affluent family, the elite, but you don’t hear about what the story of the working class at this context, you know, this part of history.

Similar to visitors’ interests in material objects in our observation, interviewees also expressed fascination towards the old objects. Specifically, visitors were interested in details and decorations in the house. Intriguingly, their appreciation is also based on a connection to contemporary discourse and, through such implicit comparison between the now and the past, they express their awareness of the creators behind objects and the further reflection on the modern lifestyle. Further, their appreciation of the craftsman behind the objects also indicates their open attitude towards the diversified narratives as a decolonization strategy in the Spadina museum.

Gaps in Communication

From both participant observations and interviews, visitors seemed to express a ‘desire to know more’ about the diversified narrative, e.g. Servants’ space. However, if comparing this to their opinion of Mrs. Pipkin, this leads to a potential ‘puzzlement’ inside Spadina Museum’s continued decolonization strategy, Mrs. Pipkin’s story seemed to be attractive to them. However, visitors seemed dissatisfied and showed indifference towards the reimagined narrations that intended to trigger reflection on the inequality in historical storytelling.

One of their ambivalence is towards the ‘truthfulness’ inside the reimagined narration. For some visitors, the historical narration is more ‘truthful’ than artistic narration. They seem to assume that all narration should be the ‘real’ in a historical site. They thought the portrait itself did not contain any issues, but the context was not ‘right.’ Johnny called this ‘historic revisionism’, Carl called it ‘fake’, and Alexa called it ‘fictionalized.’ The following quotation is from our interviewee Susana who expressed disapproval of incorporating such a reimagined narrative in a historic site, but still desiring to know more about servants’ life: “You know, it seems so speculative that- it’s- it would be nice to know if there was… some more history about it? but I don’t know if they can find anything more.”

Susana here, similar to other interviewees, expressed a contradictory attitude towards Mrs. Pipkin’s portrait. Susana got confused by such a narrative and implicitly expressed a disapproval attitude towards it, but she was also open to knowing more about Mrs. Pipkin and servant life. Namely, she was open to the diversified narrative as a decolonization strategy applied in the museum. More intriguing, Susana appeared to realize the lack of historical records of Mrs. Pipkin, which seemed in the direction the museum intended to express, but her actual comments direction was radically different than realizing the inequality. This also widely happened to our other interviewees as they tended to understand the intention behind this portrait with a connection to contemporary racial issues.

Thus, although Mrs. Pipkin’s reimagined portrait and narrative do trigger visitors’ interest in servants’ stories, and some visitors may also realize the lack of historical records of certain groups of people, their comments seem to stop here and go in other directions than museum’s aim for illustrating the inequality inside the historic narration. There exists an information ‘gap’ between visitor understanding and the museum conveying decolonial ideas. One possible reason for such a ‘gap’ might be the lack of communication of the ‘context’ for the visitors. Visitors were not explicitly informed before this portrait about the ‘Dis/Mantle’ project’s intention or the museums’ continued decolonization effort. Lacking the context, this portrait may challenge their expectation of ‘authenticity,’ seeking the ‘truthful and real historical narration’ inside a historical museum.

Among the six goals implemented by the Strategic Plan, Goal 2 and Goal 3are the crux of Spadina Museum’s transformational decolonization efforts that influenced visitors’ experience. Visitors are exposed to a shift from an established center of European focus. Falling in line with the City of Toronto mandate, historical interpreters at the Spadina Museum engage in diverse inclusive stories from multiple perspectives to support an equitable society. In other words, the historical interpreter is the liaison who enhances the inclusivity in Toronto’s stories and amplifies the voices of the marginalized groups.

However, research findings demonstrate that, though the Spadina Museum’s decolonization curatorial efforts are rooted in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Report and the Economic Equity Plan that includes equity-seeking groups, the Spadina Museum has catapulted into a new space of curatorial conciliators between the colonized and the colonizer. David Garneau states, “We all have a part to play in understanding how our lives and privileges emerge from colonialism and how we might live conciliation. (Garneau 2016, 37).” In addition, the term “curatorial activism” (Reilly 2018, 22) describes efforts by curators to challenge white/settler colonial discourses through their exhibitions, often presenting alternative histories. Mrs. Pipkin’s portrait and narration representing an exhibition of alternative history left a mixed taste in visitor mouths.

The undertaking of curatorial conciliation is tasked with what Garneau refers to as a “living apology.” The living apology is in the form of art, artifact, and narration. However, despite efforts to decolonize, museums face challenges because a visitor’s experience is subjective. “Art is a stimulant and a balm when taken internally, but dangerous if mistaken for experience (Urry and Larsen 2011, 39).” For instance, some visitors assumed the painting of Ms. Pipkin was done because she was important to the Austin Family:

Beverly: She was important to the family, right? And for her working here and still at the same time helping others with the underground railroad. Anyway, yeah it was interesting one of the children. One of the daughters painted her, so there was a closeness right.

Georgia: It was a painting. And then they took a picture of the painting, and then he did his own version of the picture. Because they did actually draw this woman, and they don’t know why only her, because there was other servants, but why of only her?

Carl: Yea, probably the favorite or something.

Georgia: Yea, they don’t know…”

There is no evidence as to why Gordon Shadrach chose to paint Ms. Pipkin. The conjecture infringes on the museum’s transformational strategy to include real and imagined about marginalized people’s experiences. Dismantling a colonial perspective by including truths about racialized history and incorporating an imagined Afrofuturism lens that Ms. Pipkin had the same advantages as James Austin leaves no room for assumption. Contemporary museums such as Spadina Museum function as “differencing machines” engaging with new forms of cultural diversity in our postcolonial reality (Bennett 1998, 189). While museums attract diverse visitors, foundational inequalities rooted in colonial, imperial, and capitalist histories can provoke a range of responses, from national pride to trauma. Though there is no immediate solution, the Spadina Museum can only continue its role as curatorial conciliators who mediate by utilizing art and narration to bring together diverse communities and continue their efforts to bring marginalized peoples’ histories to the forefront.

Conclusion

Heritage tourism, in many ways, is about experiencing, sharing, and negotiating the past. The ethnographic research at Spadina Museum provided us with a precious opportunity to observe the postcolonial mechanism around the museum’s decolonization mandate. Although Spadina Museum and most visitors share the agreement to improve the level of diversity, inclusion, and decolonization, each change related to the aim could lead to different and even contradicting feedback. The fascination with the old house and European artifacts is still the main takeaways among visitors, and the nostalgia associated with the site still plays a significant role in visitors’ expectations and feedback. Meanwhile, visitors have their understanding of the decolonization process, which, in their eyes, may not be aligned with the efforts made by the museum. Understanding these perceptions and the context behind them may contribute to a critical approach to improving the decolonization work at museums.

References

Arora, Anupama. “Decolonizing the Museum: Leila Aboulela’s ‘The Museum.’” Journal of Postcolonial Writing 57, no. 1 (2021): 121–34.

Bennett, Tony. Museums, Power, Knowledge : Selected Essays. First edition. London: Routledge, 2018

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City of Toronto, Economic Development and Culture 2022 Report for Action: Advancing Reconciliation, Equity and Inclusion: Re- imagining a New Future for Toronto History Museums https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2022/ec/bgrd/backgroundfile- 227775.pdf

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Lonetree, Amy. Decolonizing Museums : Representing Native America in National and Tribal Museums. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.

Prianti, Desi Dwi, and I Wayan Suyadnya. “Decolonising Museum Practice in a Postcolonial Nation: Museum’s Visual Order as the Work of Representation in Constructing Colonial Memory.” Open Cultural Studies 6, no. 1 (2022): 228–42.

Reilly, Maura. Curatorial Activism: Towards an Ethics of Curating. London: Thames & Hudson, 2018

Spadina Museum, “Spadina Museum General House Tour.” Tour Script, Spadina Museum, 2023

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Toronto History Museums 2023 Awakenings Dis/Mantle Reflections: Spadina Museum Part I-IV

Part I Honouring Mrs. Pipkin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg5wnUWZvNg&t=4s

Part II The Journey to Dis/Mantle https://youtu.be/iq5NZmnKknw

Part III Life Story and Artistic Growth https://youtu.be/db3jz81gjn0

Part IV Representation Matters https://youtu.be/ao47jLtz96g

Wali, Alaka, and Robert Keith Collins. “Decolonizing Museums: Toward a Paradigm Shift.” Annual Review of Anthropology 52, no. 1 (2023): 329–45.