Projects Receive N.S. Museum Research Grants

James Rainstorpe Morris, the first superintendent of Sable Island, is under investigation. Thanks to a research grant from the Nova Scotia Museum, a historian will research the man who worked on the island 200 years ago.

Rosalee Stilwell's grant to examine this corner of Nova Scotia's marine history is one of the several research projects made possible through the Nova Scotia Museum's endowment fund.

Wayne Gaudet, Minister of Education and Culture, said the research projects provide Nova Scotians with a greater knowledge of themselves and the province.

"Nova Scotia has such a rich natural and human history," said Mr. Gaudet. "The Nova Scotia Museum research grants help us to discover and document what it is that makes this province unique."

Funding has also been approved for Nick Hill's provocatively titled project Promiscuous and Pink: Pollination and Seed-set of Three Radically Symmetrical Rarities. Dr. Hill's team will study three rare species of coastal plain plants found in Yarmouth County.

The Women's History Research Grant will benefit Norma Jean Profitt's project to explore and document female activists' experiences of community in Cape Breton. Ms. Profitt's project is titled Communities of Place and Choice: Women and Community Activism.

Kevin Robins will survey temporary military fortifications at Halifax's Point Pleasant Park. This Cultural Groups Grant will be significant to the Black Loyalist project, as engineering in this type of construction involved mainly Black Loyalists during the same period.

Donald Stewart received a Systematics Grant for a proposed study of shrews inhabiting the Cobequid Mountains and the Cape Breton Highlands. The project is called A Molecular Phylogenetic Investigation of the Shrews, Sorex dispar and Sorex gaspensis.

Other research projects funded by the Nova Scotia Museum include:
a community-based project studying the leatherback sea turtle; the history of the Banana Fleet owned by Sweeney Fisheries Ltd. of Yarmouth; and the history of Clayton and Sons Clothing Manufacturers, a major Nova Scotian clothing manufacturer.

The museum grants promote research in both natural and cultural history. The 1999 research grants ranged in funding from $800 to $4,000. The Nova Scotia Museum board of governors approved nearly $50,000 to support research grants this year.

1999 N.S. MUSEUM RESEARCH GRANT RECIPIENTS

Paleontology Research Grant George Hrynewich Collection and Preparation of Procolophonid from the Triassic of Nova Scotia

Systematics Research Grant Robert Sheath Systematics and Biogeography of Stream-inhabiting Algae and Diatoms

Rare Species Research Grant Mike James Leatherback Turtles

Oceans Research Grant J. Garbary Invasive Green Alga in Northern Nova Scotia

Material Culture Research Grant Mary Guildford Clayton and Sons, Clothing Manufacturers, Halifax 1869-1955

Cultural Groups Research Grant Kevin Robins Archeology Survey of Unrecorded Military Fieldworks in Point Pleasant Park

Marine History Research Grant Richard Sanderson The Banana Fleet of W. Laurence Sweeney

Women's History Research Grant Norma Jean Profitt Communities of Place and Choice: Women and Community Activism

Paleontology Research Grant John Calder Systematic Preparation and Taphonomy of Tetrapod Material

Systematics Research Grant Donald Stewart A Molecular Phylogenetic Investigation of the Shrews

Rare Species Research Grant Nick Hill Pollination and Seed-set of Three Radially Symmetrical Rarities

Oceans Research Grant Louise White A Checklist of Marine Fishes of the Scotian Shelf

Material Culture Research Grant Mike Sanders Investigations of a Reported Chapel Site on Francis Nose Island

Cultural Groups Research Grant Jonathan Fowler The Minas Environs Projects

Marine History Research Grant Rosalee Stilwell An Explication of Remarks Concerning Lifesaving and Community Activities