Assistant archivist Tressa Ford of the Nelson Museum, Archives & Gallery has received a 2026 Heritage BC Honour Award recognizing emerging heritage professionals.
The museum announced in a press release Thursday Ford received the award in the Professional Achievement: Emerging Heritage Professional category as part of the annual Heritage BC Awards program.
Ford said the recognition feels both meaningful and validating.
“It’s really delightful. It’s been making me very happy for the past couple weeks that I’ve known about it,” Ford said.
“We put a lot of work into the museum. It takes a lot of effort and a lot of passion to do historical work, to make it engaging and to help other people see that there’s this really fantastic, beautiful, vibrant history to our local communities. And it’s nice that there is some recognition not just of the work, but also of the meaningfulness of the work.”
Ford first joined the museum archives department in 2017 through the Canada Summer Jobs program after completing their first year at Simon Fraser University.
After graduating with a political science degree, Ford returned to the museum in a permanent role as assistant archivist in 2021.
Archivist and collections manager Jean-Philippe Stienne said Ford quickly demonstrated a passion for local history and heritage work.
“Tressa’s passion for history was immediately clear to all, and they were a great help personally to me as I had recently arrived in the community.” Stienne said in a release.
He said Ford has developed strong research, writing and public presentation skills during their time at the museum, including producing “History Buff” articles published in the Nelson Star and leading museum and Cold War bunker tours for students and public groups.
“Tressa has also made great strides in their oral communication skills as seen when they present museum and Cold War bunker tours for student programs and public groups and with a weekly #MuseumMonday social media posts,” said Stienne.
“Tressa has shown a willingness to challenge themselves to take on new projects. It has been rewarding to see them establish themselves as a heritage professional.”
The museum also highlighted Ford’s work on research and installation for historical exhibitions in the museum’s galleries including, Utopia Unveiled: Intentional Communities in the Kootenays, Kootenay Pride: We Love a Parade!, and Deep Roots: West Kootenay Forests.
Ford said connecting people, particularily young audiences, to local history is a key part of why the work matters.
“It helps encourage other young people to also get involved, that these are areas that you have something to contribute to,” Ford said.
“We all have the ability to contribute so much to the world around us, to society, to everything. And you have the ability to be recognized for that. And that’s important.”
They emphasized the importance of making history accessible and relevent through outreach, such as the museum’s weekly “Museum Mondays” social media series.
The Heritage BC Awards program recognizes individuals and organizations for contributions to heritage conservation and awareness across British Columbia.
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