Kirk Wipper
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Fortunately, Kirk’s many friends helped out with loans, all of which had to be repaid. In years of major purchases for the collection,
Camp Kandalore sometimes operated at a loss and it became clear it could no longer sustain the museum. To safeguard the camp, the muse- um was incorporated as a separate entity, with a board of directors to help with the much-needed fundraising.
N Kirk was always on the lookout for canoes
When the Kanawa Museum had outgrown Camp Kandalore’s dining hall, staff and campers built a log building to house the collection.
which he felt should be in the collection. Never having been able to find a Haida dugout, he com- missioned the building of one. Kirk remembers going to the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1971 to take possession of it: “Within living memory, no dugout had been built by the Haida, and Victor Adams undertook the work with some trepida- tion. The Haida helped us to give the canoe a ceremonial launching. As we prepared to push off the beach, I was struck by the wistful interest many children showed in the canoe. We offered the children a ride, discovering that none had ever before been in a Haida dugout. Despite our best efforts, we found the new canoe sluggish in the water, and responded to Victor Adam’s beck- oning to return to the beach. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘Our canoe moves much better the other way around.’ How courageous they are, I thought to myself, to let their children venture out with East- ern amateurs!”
Kirk’s resources were stretched to the limit. The time had come to seek a new solution.
Kirk not only salvaged neglected canoes, he encouraged builders to keep ancient techniques alive. 32 n CANOE ROOTS fall 2006
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