SHAUNAVON - The Grand Coteau Heritage and Cultural Centre is celebrating Archives Week with an exhibition titled The History of Shaunavon’s Schools.
The exhibition will feature a selection of photos and other items highlighting the three schools - Public School, High School and Christ the King School. The exhibit will be on display in the gallery from Feb. 4 to 11 to celebrate Archives Week.
“We have selected some photographs from our archives of all three Shaunavon schools," explained Director of Culture Joanne Gregoire. "And they will be on display in the gallery, along with other articles from our archives - like school workbooks, yearbooks and some grad photos - that we have housed in the museum archives."
“People will be welcome to come anytime during our opening hours and just have a look and share some of their memories - maybe even help identify some of the people in the pictures,” she added.
People are also welcome to bring their own items to the museum.
“If people happen to be going through photographs or other things - like old report cards or yearbooks - and they don't know what to do with these things but don't want them anymore - they can bring them to us," said Gregoire. "Or even if they are old photographs that they want to keep - they can bring them to us and we'll scan them and then add them to our archival collection. We're always building that archive as well.”
The new exhibit will also be the topic for the Coffee Chat gathering on Feb. 4, where attendants will be able to view the gallery exhibition and share their experiences and memories about Shaunavon schools.
Archives Week is celebrated across Saskatchewan and highlights the importance of archives in our society.
“This week was created specifically to bring attention to archives and their importance in our world," said Collections Manager Kelly Attrell. "They tell our stories, bring back people's memories, and they tell us who we are as a people.”
“They are quite important to the history of our communities and our province,” she added.
The GCHCC Archives Week exhibition is made possible thanks to an Archives Week grant from the Saskatchewan Council for Archives and Archivists (SCAA), which provided funding for the printing and mounting of the photographs for the exhibition.
“We're very appreciative of their support and invite everybody to come on out and celebrate Archives Week with us,” said Gregoire.
The GCHCC will also be creating a slide show of the pictures for those who cannot make it to the exhibition.
Watch the GCHCC Facebook Page for updates and posts about Archives Week.
Visitors are also reminded that a new vertical platform lift is currently being installed at the GCHCC. During construction visitors are being asked to use the door on the North side of the building to access the library and the door on the South side to access the gallery.
