BATTLEFORDS - The Association of Canadian Travellers has made another donation to the City of North Battleford’s Archives, coinciding with the 15th Archives Week and the archive's open house on Feb. 7.
One of ACT's donations in 2001 subsidized the purchase of the first computer in the archives, which is a testament to their longstanding support of the North Battleford's archives.
Lynn Stace, archivist and senior gallery assistant with the city, shared her enthusiasm regarding the donation and what they plan to spend the money on.
“We’ll be purchasing shelving units for our off-site storage areas…thank you,” Stace said, adding that they’ve had 25 people show up for the open house and that support from the community is vital.
Stace and her archive volunteers have been busy with their 15th archives week display, situated in the Co-op mall from Feb. 9 to 11.
This year, the week's theme will follow North Battleford’s ‘boom’ of the 1950s.
Every day, the volunteers will be at the display in the Co-op mall from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“The volunteers do it every year," Stace said.
The volunteer committee has gone through many displays, including the 1974 winter games, the decades from the 1900s up to the 50s, corner stores, and even more. They make the displays mainly using old newspaper clippings.
“We’ve been trying to expand our outreach, and that’s why we did the open house today because we’ve noticed, especially trying to do more social media, people want to know where we are located and what we do…while displays show some of the things we have, it doesn’t show all of it,” Stace said.
“Archives are important for many different reasons…it helps kinda bring back memories, and it helps reassure people that those memories won’t get lost.
"I also think archives are important. After all, it gives people a place to explore history for themselves because a lot of the time, when we learn history, we’re learning it from a textbook, through someone else's voice.
“But with archives, you can learn for yourself. Look things up, research, and come to your own conclusion.”
For more historical facts and information each day during archives week, visit the City of North Battleford Historic Archive's Facebook page.
