A Legacy of Learning - Yearbooks

The Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History has partnered with School District #5 to research and assemble a series of web sites investigating the history of education in East Kootenay. We have agreed to locate, collect, scan and return all photographs, documents, publications, crests and other memorabilia relating to school events, staff and students. If people or businesses holding such items would contact their local school principal and leave the items at the school, the School District will forward them to Cranbrook where they can be processed and returned. We do not intend to keep any of these items.

If you need more particulars please contact Anna Majkowski by e-mail at info@basininstitute.org.

School and the Community

We are interested in things that evoke memories of what school was like and how it tied into the larger community. This would include photos of people schools were named after, such as T.M. Roberts or Isabella Dicken. Programmes from past dramatic events, sports trophies, club crests, school publications, photos of teachers and school buildings – all these things (and much more) will help to assemble an understanding of how schools and their communities were linked together.

Schools help to build citizens. We are interested in where the students from Fort Steele, Moyie or Jaffray ended up, what they eventually did and how their education assisted them. We are also interested in who served on School Boards, who coached sports and drama competitions, and who the champions of education were in each community.

Scope of the Project

We are looking at all the communities included historically in School Districts #1 and #2, now merged as School District #5. So, this includes Yahk, Moyie, Lumberton, Cranbrook, Fort Steele, Jaffray, Baynes Lake, Waldo, Grasmere, Elko, Fernie, Hosmer, Sparwood, Michel, Natal and Elkford. More schools such as the one at Letcher’s Camp on Gold Creek will undoubtedly turn up. We need your assistance to make this an inclusive history that we can all be proud of.

Schools are something we all have in common. Each of us has been shaped and influenced by our school experiences. Please help us gather this history which is quickly vanishing. ‘A Legacy of Learning’ will let us make it widely available on the internet.

Please either contact us directly at info@basininstitute.org (telephone is 250-489-9150) or through your local school.

This is a fantastic project, therefore the list of Donors and Sponsors is large. Originating with a request from School Trustee Chris Johns, “A Legacy of Learning” soon developed legs of its own. We have been inundated with donations of material (with more to come we hope), and have likewise been blessed with talented volunteers.

At the Columbia Basin Institute of Regional History we are always scrambling to find sufficient financial resources to make these projects happen. With “A Legacy of Learning” a combination of provincial/federal funding through the Ministry of Social Development and community grants have provided the core funding in the first year. As well, an unprecedented number of individual, family and institutional membership purchases have enabled us to accomplish some of the technical upgrades necessary to move the project forward.

We are now taking this project into a second year of development, moving deeper into the history of the 40+ communities and 80+ schools that are the subjects of this project.

This page will continue to change, reflecting the growth of this exciting undertaking. Please do not hesitate to help with materials, financial resources, or by using the website features to identify people and events in the photographs. This project relies on community interaction.