“Battlefield is a fantastic museum; it’s a museum I visited when I was a little girl and always enjoyed, so it’s really special,” she said. “I also realize that I have some really big shoes to fill following Susan (Ramsay); I’ve known Susan for years and she has done an amazing job here.”

Mrva took over as the curator of Battlefield House Museum and Park on Nov. 2, after leaving Whitehern Historic House and Garden, where she served as curator for about a year-and-a-half.

“I was sad to leave Whitehern and the people that I know there and the people that helped out with the site, but at the same time excited about the new challenges and the new people I would get to meet here,” she said.

Prior to serving as curator of Whitehern Historic House and Garden, Mrva was curatorial assistant of programming at Dundurn Castle for a number of years. She also served as assistant curator at the Brant County Museum and Archives in Brantford, did collection work with the City of Toronto and worked at Mackenzie House, Montgomery’s Inn, Spadina Museum: Historic House and Gardens and Colborne Lodge in Toronto.

Mrva’s interest in history dates back to elementary school, when she had the opportunity to visit Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto. Owned and operated by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, the village is an example of a typical crossroads community found in the Toronto area during the 1800s.

“We had the opportunity to go to there for a week and go to school there. We got to dress up and use the slate board and I loved it,” she said. “I was hooked after that; I thought it was just fantastic and the rest is history.”

Mrva says she hopes to build on the success of Battlefield House Museum and Park.

“We really want to see Battlefield expand; Susan really started that work and we just want to really continue with that work and by expand I mean, we want to see the battle even get bigger every year,” she said, adding soon there will also be work done on the observation deck of the Battlefield Monument and in the summer, work on the foundation of the Gage House.

Mrva hopes to continue to bring Battlefield House Museum and Park to the community.

“We’re the kind of museum that engages its community in a variety of ways –through public programming, education programming, the large events that we run –and I think that’s really important. Battlefield has always been a community museum; it’s really, in fact, the oldest historic house museum in Canada and I think a lot of people know that and we want to continue on that tradition,” she said.

“We also want to make sure that we’re engaging everyone in the community. Stoney Creek has changed over the past, maybe 10 or 20 years, so we want everyone to be aware of this wonderful museum; we want everyone to enjoy this museum.”

Mrva says it’s essential to preserve history. “Most of us that get into museum work, we’re

doing it because we feel really passionate about history and about Canadian history and I really do believe that this history is everybody’s history and it’s really important for us to preserve and commemorate it. The work we do now will be with us for the next 100 years and that’s what we want to see in the future,” she said.

Mrva says she’s really happy to be part of the community.

“The people that I’ve met so far have been lovely,” she said. “They’ve been just fantastic, so that tradition of volunteerism that we have at this site will continue –there’s no question about that.”