ARCHIVES IN THE NEWS

ARCHIVISTS RESPOND TO JOURNAL'S EDITORIAL

Letters to the Editor of the Edmonton Journal

The members of the Archives Society of Alberta wholeheartedly endorse your editorial of July 8 suggesting a new facility for the Provincial Archives as a centennial project.

While many other archival institutions suffer from the same sort of benign neglect that you suggest, Albertans deserve the best care for their provincial documentary heritage housed in the Provincial Archives.

A proper facility for the care of that heritage is part of the preservation and use equation. Better operational funding is also needed. Albertans spend only 31 cents per capita on provincial archives -- the lowest in Canada, well behind Prince Edward Island at $1.75, Newfoundland at 72 cents, and Ontario at 63 cents.

The Provincial Archives of Alberta needs appropriate facilities and operational funding to regain and solidify its provincial and national position in the preservation of our documentary heritage. How can we celebrate Alberta's 100 years of achievement if the records of those achievements are lost?

What a wonderful legacy Albertans would leave subsequent generations if every Alberta municipality, health region, post secondary educational institution, school board and large corporation took steps to ensure the proper preservation of their documentary heritage. Indeed what better gifts to Alberta's second century than proper archives for the memories of its first.

Bryan Corbett, President, Archives Society of Alberta, Calgary

Regarding the editorial July 8 on a new Alberta Archives, over 70 years ago, Sir Arthur Doughty, Dominion Archivist, wrote, "Of all national assets, archives are the most precious; they are the gift of one generation to another and the extent of our care of them marks the extent of our civilization."

Let's honour the stories of our Alberta past by preserving them for our children in a new Archives. A truly fitting centennial project.

Kate Gunn, Documentary Heritage Society of Alberta, Edmonton

For the past 20 years I have observed the professional care with which the Provincial Archives staff have helped our denomination to ensure many of our church records are kept for the future. Several other religious groups also avail themselves of the Alberta Archives' services.

It is truly revealing to see the many persons who use the Provincial Archives for so many purposes -- church, school, local history, agricultural records, service club records, regional histories, genealogy, to name a few.

It has become more and more obvious in the past three years that the Archives is understaffed and overcrowded for the important work it carries on from the present facility.

The Journal is to be commended for its recent editorial which brings attention to the plight of the Provincial Archives.

We must not forget the importance of the Archives as we are inundated with projects for the centenary of our province.

Dorothy Hodgson, Chair, Archives Committee, Edmonton Presbytery, United Church of Canada