It’s been a long time coming but the Clayton McLain Memorial Museum is now on Instagram. If you’d like to see what a circa 1925 mousetrap looked like, visit us at cmmmcutknife. And give us a follow, too!
~ Debbie
Category: Archives
Updates: SK Archives Week 2023
The response to CMMM’s Archives Week 2023 posts exceeded our expectations. Many thanks to each of you who took the time to view our posts, here and on Facebook, to like and to share and to comment on them, and to click links to additional information. We’re really encouraged by the interest and engagement the posts received. Thank you!
A couple of updates are in order:
- In Memory of Private Robinson: Sharing this post was essential to its success, and it was truly shared widely, as stats indicate.
- We have been contacted by the family and are happy to report they will be submitting materials to the Passchendaele Museum for Ernest Robinson’s page.
- Thanks go out to Bonnie Ramsay, Mary Ramsay, and Randy Strelioff for their photos of relevant pages from the local histories Preserving the Past and Time Marches On. These photos have also been emailed to the family.
- Throwback Thursday to 2012: A very popular post. So many good memories came out of that celebration.
- Former Gallivan School students: Lorraine Martin has kindly shared a link to her blog post about the event Gallivan School Gathering (click to view), and emailed us a group photo – with names! See below.
Front Row (l to r) Russell Stewart, Lucille (Dubrule) Trautman, Lorraine (Bertrand/Birstein) Martin, Margaret (Ovens) Buglas, Kay (Buglas) Williams, Gail Laing, Lorna (Buglas) Gaudet.
- The Goldmine for Family Historians: In case you missed it, Robert Loranger commented on this post:
I was born in Cut Knife and grew up in the area. Being 81 years old I remember a lot of history myself. I remember the street behind the lumber yard there were teams of horses lined up for a block in the winter time, people gathered in town Saturday nights for shopping, picture shows, and course Louie’s cafe was a gathering place. I remember the old jute box where I used to put my little bit of change listening to Kitty Wells, still love her. Then there was Santa Clause day where we got a free bag of candy and a free picture show, that was a special day. I remember Dad putting the horses in the delivery barn and walking down the alley way looking at all the teams tied up. It was another place for visiting. Clarence Morrison was the manager and owner.
Robert Loranger
UPCOMING
Annual General Meeting (AGM): Date TBA but can be expected towards the end of March. In addition to reviewing the Annual Report and Financial Report, the CMMM will be electing Board Trustees.
- Trustee terms are 2 years
- Meetings once a month on the 4th Monday evening
It is essential we have a full slate of Board Members so we can maintain seasonal museum operations, initiate and complete new projects, and so much more. Each person brings something different to the table including their personal skill set, their interests and experience. Without a full Board, the museum is merely existing. If you’d like to find out a bit more, visit the Volunteer page here and/or email us at cmmmcutknife@gmail.com.
The CMMM celebrated its 50th Anniversary a few years ago. Let’s all work to insure its success for another 50 years.
~ Debbie M.
The Gold Mine for Family Historians
An ever-increasing number of people are taking a deep-dive into their family histories: constructing their family trees and searching out the stories that give their ancestors’ lives context. Archives are the building blocks for these projects; they are the treasure troves containing the chests of gold.
The Family Tree is mapped out through the use of vital statistics. Birth records, death certificates, enlistment papers, ship’s manifests, baptism certificates, obituaries, etc. are used to identify an individual’s ancestors. Secondly, stories from newspapers, local and oral histories, archival records, etc. are used to place people within the context of their times.
Clayton McLain Memorial Museum | Family Histories
Today, so much of the information necessary to fill-in-the-blanks of a family tree or to discover the context of a life once-lived is available online. Archives, large and small, are digitizing historical records, putting the files online, even providing forms to request copies of particular documents. For SK Archives Week 2015, the CMMM introduced three Genealogy Resource pages on our website, which were updated in late 2021, and combined to form the current Genealogy Links page.
Additional archival resources can be found at:
- Saskatchewan Historical Newspapers Online (SHNO) project which includes the Cut Knife Journal and the Cut Knife Grinder. Some early copies have suffered damage, others have pages missing but they are always worth a look. (Click to view.)
- Local Histories (i.e. Where the Cut Knife Waters Flow Volumes I and II) are difficult to come by. Most are out-of-print, although the odd one may occasionally pop up for sale but often, at quite a price. Some can be found at local museums and archives, and some, the lucky few, can be found in digital collections. For example, Time Marches On : a history of the Alfred, Formby, Wardenville and Wembley School Districts is available to read online at the University of Calgary’s Digital Collections Library. Finding a digital version of a local history relevant to your research is another gold mine.
Back in the day, a researcher would often have to travel to individual archives to access their materials. Now, a huge array of resources, from around the world, have a home online. Visit CMMM’s Genealogy Links to be amazed…
~ Debbie M.
Research is a Treasure Hunt
It’s true. Researching online is not as satisfying as sitting in an archives, gloves on, examining primary source materials in person. The advantage, however, is that plugging in combinations of search terms on a search engine of choice, can be done at home, at a researcher’s convenience. The results vary, of course, depending on subject matter, etc. but as more collections are digitized and uploaded online, the rewards improve.
To date, the Clayton McLain Memorial Museum has three online exhibits:
- Cut Knife Town Centre exhibit was highlighted in yesterday’s post. (Click to view.)
- Attons Lake – A Summer Meeting Place was developed as a Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) Community Memories Project. The slideshow consists of 216 photos with accompanying text, and an additional 2 dozen stories. (Click to view.)
- Cut Knife and Districts School Sites & Points of Interest is presented as a pdf document. The information was compiled in time for the 2012 Town of Cut Knife Anniversary and is complete with school districts noted and GPS coordinates provided. Perfect for a Sunday drive. (Click to view.)
All of the online exhibits and projects mentioned over the past few days rely on archival research which, in the case of a volunteer-run museum and archives, is dependent upon – yes – volunteers. Specialized knowledge is not required. Often, the search is for something quite specific, and it can be fun. It’s almost like looking for buried treasure with so many interesting tidbits discovered along the way.
We haven’t identified our next project yet, but if you’d like to be a part of a research team, it only takes a word with Lucille or a Board member, or an email to cmmmcutknife@gmail.com. We look forward to working with you!
~ Debbie M.
Throwback Thursday to 2012
2012 was the year the Town of Cut Knife turned 100 years old. The anniversary was celebrated on Canada Day long weekend with a full slate of community events. The planning and preparations had been ongoing for many months and the Clayton McLain Memorial Museum and Archives had been involved with a number of them.
The mural to commemorate the founding of the town was based upon a selection of archival photos that represented key events and people in the town’s development. The Cut Knife Town Centre exhibit was completed with a committee of volunteers who researched the successive ownership of downtown business lots. Their findings were displayed on outdoor signage adjacent to the lots during the summer of 2012. For SK Archives Week 2015, the Cut Knife Town Centre exhibit was digitized for the CMMM website.
- Click here for details and background on the Cut Knife Town Centre exhibit.
- Click on History of Business in the Town Centre: Tracking Occupancy to view the Town Centre grid with clickable links to the research (photos where available).
- Click here to see the line of ownership for 113 Broad Street, the new home of the Cut Knife Municipal Library and future location of the Museum Administration and Archives Centre.
¬ Debbie M.
Clayton McLain Memorial Museum 