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Tours of the archives are being offered at the building this week to celebrate Archives Awareness Week, which runs April 6-10. This is the first year the city has participated. “It is important for me to get them out because I want the documents to be used, I don‘t just want to collect them. . . . They document the history of the city of Thunder Bay and its predecessors Fort William and Port Arthur,” city archivist Matt Szybalski said Monday. He said the oldest document at the facility is a map dated 1875. The map appears to feature property owned by Isabella Rainy Blackwood. The map shows a large chunk of Westfort, including Gore, Montreal, James and Heath streets. The majority of documents filed for Fort William start in 1884, and for Port Arthur, 1892. Fort William city clerk records from 1910 show one citizen suggesting Fort William amalgamate with Port Arthur, and that the city be called Portfort. “I‘m glad they didn‘t go with that one,” Szybalski said with a laugh. Port Arthur city clerk records from 1942 show a squabble between the Twin Cities when trying to figure out when to start daylight saving time. “The two cities couldn‘t agree on the date it was going to kick in,” Szybalski said. A letter in the file to council signed “Port Arthur Mother and House Wife” called for a vote on the issue and accused men on both councils of acting like “a bunch of children.” She ended her point by saying: “Put that in your pipe and smoke it.” Other interesting things to see are aerial photographs of the area dating back to the 1940s. The shots are regularly used by engineers, architects and university students. Books and newspaper clippings show that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, owned property in the city. Holland Bakery now occupies the Victoria Avenue site. Records show that he bought the property in 1914 during a visit to Canada. “I wish we knew the events of that actual day,” Szybalski said, wondering what would have convinced him to make the purchase. It appears he only visited the property, which had two dwellings on it, once, in 1923. After he died in 1930, his heirs held on to it, but sold in 1965. But it‘s not all history. Some more recent items are on display too. Proposals for the city hall and skate park public art displays have been set up, including models demonstrating what the displays would look like. The City Archives and Records Centre is at 235 Vickers St. N. It is open Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tours of the facility are taking place Thursday at 11 a.m., noon and 1 p.m. Top of Page |
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September 2, 2010, 8:22 am |