The week of Feb. 2-8 was Archives Week in the province of Saskatchewan, and the North Battleford City Historic Archives once again came through with their 12th annual popular Archives Week exhibit.
Their display “’20s in 2020,” ran Thursday, Feb. 6 from noon to 5 p.m. and again Saturday, Feb. 8, also from noon to 5 p.m. at the Territorial Place Mall.
The display was a look back at life in the “roaring 20s” of the 20th Century in North Battleford. It was a time of major construction and innovation in the community.
Among the photos and news articles on display were those documenting the arrival of several notable buildings. Among them was the new curling rink in 1922, the new skating rink in 1924, the new swimming pool, Notre Dame School and Notre Dame Church, the city garage (1929) and the CNR Freight Shed and Coal Dock.
Prohibition was a big part of the era. The display documents the plebiscite of 1924: the result ended Prohibition in North Battleford and Saskatchewan, and led to the establishment of a local brewing industry including the Star Brewing Company.
The display also showcases the music, movies and popular culture of the day, including the brand new medium of radio. Train travel was prominent and timetables showing the routes from that era were displayed.
Also displayed were also news articles about some notable events in the area, such as the famed Meota waterspout of July 19, 1923.
The display was put together over the past couple of months through the devoted efforts of the archives volunteers. Involved in putting the project together were volunteers Valorie Fitzgerald, Larry Kulyk, Terry Lumsdon, Hugh McIvor, Dawne Tokaryk, Bill Wells and Debbie Wohlberg (city clerk).
In conjunction with Archives Week, the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan announced the launch of its new online catalogue.
According to the province’s news release, this catalogue uses Access to Memory open-source software allowing the Archives to easily share information with the public and with many other provincial and national archival catalogues. It will allow researchers to search over 900,000 descriptions of records from the permanent collection, and provides online access to over 300,000 digitized original archival records. To search the new catalogue you can go to www.search.saskarchives.com.
