Browsing the Golden Plover Museum is a fascinating part of any visitor's time at Colville Village. The museum is always accessible and especially entertaining if severe winter conditions or unpleasant summer weather keeps you from enjoying outdoor activities.

The museum's beginnings can be traced to a young boy's incessant appetite for collecting samples of nature's bountiful treasures. Jim, and later all the family members, developed a propensity for saving interesting keepsakes collected over 50 years of life in the Arctic: ancient bones & tusks, shells, artifacts, plants, mounted birds & animals, etc. Many Eskimo-made items, plus the Helmericks' own Alaskan fur clothing and cold-weather paraphernalia are displayed in the museum.

Not only does the museum contain a large collection of Alaskan items, but also various things from all over the world, (much of this was acquired by Jim's parents during extensive travels throughout the world.) Other people have also contributed various things over the years.

Our son Derek has mounted hundreds of life-like bird displays and many study-skins of both birds and small mammals. Isaac has also contributed mounted specimens to this outstanding and continually growing collection.

What follows is just a small sampling of various displays:

Mounted Birds or Animals	Fossils, Tusks, and Other Things
Muskox rug in Museum Greatroom	Mammoth tusks found locally
Caribou family shoulder mounts	Mammoth jaw and other ancient bones
Bird mounts in main museum room -east corner	Artifacts
Ruffed Grouse mounted by Isaac	Mannequin in Eskimo caribou clothing
Red-breasted goose family mounted by Derek	Eskimo doll..............Native crafts

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