The Prince Albert Historical Society (PAHS) and the Prince Albert Public Library (PAPL) are partnering together to deliver free workshops on Historical research as part of the Saskatchewan Archives Week (Feb. 1 – 7).
The free Workshops started on the Feb. 5 and will end on Feb 26. They will cover key areas like how to research archival photographs, how to use the Prince Albert Daily Herald Archives database, how to use the historical museum research in the digital and paper archives, and how to use the public library print and online periodicals research.
Prince Albert Historical Society manager and curator Michelle Taylor said Saskatchewan Archives Week is about creating awareness about the museum’s archives, and how that information can be accessed.
“For the first time having it, we felt the program was already a success, Taylor said. “We don’t have so much space in our archives so we were actually able to fill up the space for five people and we were able to show them what we have in the photo collection, (and) how they can find pictures in the photo collection.”
Taylor said the workshops are already paying dividends. One participant was able to find photos of one of his relatives in the collection.
Taylor added that they have no problem asking questions outside of workshop hours.
“If anybody wants to contact the Historical Society or the archives, they are very welcome to do that and ask questions that interest them or they are looking for information about the archives,” she said.
There are three large archives in Prince Albert that are open to the public – The Roman Catholic Dioceses Archives, the Anglican Dioceses Archives and the Bill smiley archives.
The Archives have more of community information than family history. Taylor said residents should book a time with our archivist.
“If you can’t find anything in our archives we can direct them to other archives,” she said.
The museum and the archives are always open, Taylor said they are not a season organization. They are always open to people coming in and asking questions.
“This workshop is for people who are interested in researching family history and also some people are interested in genealogy but many are interested in finding more about where their families lived what life was like when their families lived here,” Connie Gerwing, Chair of the Programs and Exhibits Committee and Volunteer at the PAHS said. “So they need to learn how to do these kind of researches. Some are interested in the genealogy of organizations like the Rotary Club, Optimist Club and so on. that is why we a did this free workshop on historical research.”
Gerwing said the workshop can be quite helpful for beginning researchers.
“So far its going well,” she said. “We have interested people and we give them quite a number of hours to be able to learn and work on their researches. We can only accommodate five now due to space in the Historical Society.
“I am quite happy because this was my idea,” she added. “Most people don’t know these resources are available and they can access it. For example, we have newspapers in our paper archives from late 19th or early 20th century at the Prince Albert Public Library.”
She pointed out that some people have used the Archives in Prince Albert for their researches or thesis or documentaries but that there is more that the public are not aware of, hence this training.
“We decided to partner with the PAHS to see if we can bring in a larger audience for the workshop,” Eric Bews, the Community Librarian with the PAPL said. “We do share a lot of values and missions with the historical society so we thought we can work together to help people with historical research.”
The first two days of workshops have already finished. The next session will be on Feb.19th and 26th from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
