Heritage Reading Room

MUSEUM MAKES COLLECTIONS PROGRESS –

            Plans are progressing well on the establishment of a collection of books, maps, old photos and newspaper volumes that will be deposited in a designated room at the public library.

            The Cranbrook Archives, Museum and Landmark Foundation, in conjunction with the Cranbrook Public Library, is sponsoring the room which will be called the Heritage Reading Room and Archives.  The main reason for its being, according to a Foundation spokesman is to make the items accessible to the general public for research or just plain enjoyable reading about Cranbrook’s interesting past.

            For basic security, the collection will be kept in a separate room with reading table and chairs.  All files and other cabinets will be kept in this room as well and the library staff will be overseeing the room to make sure that proper procedures for handling the collection are followed.

            The foundation has been collecting various items that will help illuminate the rather intriguing history of Cranbrook.  This is not meant in any way to compete with Fort Steele, but rather to compliment it, and the two organizations are working together to produce this result.

            Of great interest will be the old newspaper volumes from 1898 on.  Although not considered primary research material, they do shed considerable light on dates of events, and the mood of exuberance especially during the early years of the century.

            Another very interesting aspect will be a large collection of old photographs (continually growing) that have been catalogued and placed in a special oak cabinet for easy access.  Probably more than anything else, these pictures will more vividly illustrate the dramatic changes that have taken place in the city since 1898.

            A selected number of publications (such as The Old Home Journal, the Heritage Canada Reports, Heritage Legislation) and a complete collection of Dave Kay’s Come With Me to Yesteryear should also provide useful information to those wishing to study up on the field of heritage and how important it is for a city to recognize the value of what it has to offer.

            It is hoped that the room will be ready to open in early March.  Now that an archivist has been hired by the foundation under a Canada Works grant, progress is being made much more quickly in the time-consuming and involved process of classifying each item separately and setting up a cross-reference card catalogue system to make it easier to locate material.

            Because of Cranbrook’s important position as a railway centre, (now as well as from 1898 onwards), and the establishment of a Railway Museum here, the foundation is progressing on a determined effort to amass a larger collection on the Crowsnest and Kettle Valley Railroad and its importance locally, provincially and nationally.