The Museum of Health Care at Kingston Curator Rowena McGowan (pictured here) appears in an upcoming episode of Our War on the History Channel. Submitted photos.
A local museum will be featured in an episode of the History Channel’s original docu-series, Our War, which follows dedicated ancestors as they scour museums and archives, clue by clue, to unearth the harrowing secrets their kin took to the grave.
The Museum of Health Care at Kingston has been awaiting the release of this “moving and impactful” series since the filming the upcoming episode in April 2022, according to a media release. The episode, filmed at the local museum, which is located at 32 George Street, features historian nurse Jill Galant who investigates the story behind a treasured photograph of her great, great-aunt Rena McLean, a PEI nurse who was tragically killed in the sinking of the Llandovery Castle hospital ship in June 1918, just five months before the end of the First World War.
According to the release, each investigation reveals epic Canadian stories about ordinary individuals who made brave and profound contributions to the First World War. The mysteries solved will unveil who the featured contributors’ ancestors truly were and bring them closer to understanding themselves.
Highlighted in the upcoming episode are a multitude of artifacts from the Museum’s large collection that would have been familiar to Canadian Nursing Sisters such as Rena McLean, according to the release.
“War tends to breed medical innovation and that’s true of the First World War as well. It was great to be able to showcase our exhibit on World War I medicine and some of the artifacts we have in the museum related to wartime healthcare,” said Curator Rowena McGowan, who appears in the documentary. “It was also fantastic to be able to highlight the important role that nurses played in wartime medicine, both practically and culturally.”
The episode will air on Remembrance Day, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023, a 9 p.m. on the History Channel.
The Museum of Health Care is housed in the Ann Baillie Building, National Historic Site, and is home to Canada’s largest collection of artifacts related to the history of healthcare. Learn more at http://www.museumofhealthcare.ca/
Kingston museum to be featured in History Channel docu-series
