The Churchill Ladies Club compiled the collection of family histories and historical information from the area entitled, Through the Years, North of 58.

There are 1,000 copies of the book in print.

This is not the Churchill Ladies Club's first foray into book publishing.

It produced a booklet on the Churchill area in the late 1940s and later played a role in publishing a history book written by local seniors.

Club member Louise Lawrie says the organization began to gather information for the library's archives.

That project, she says, led to North of 58.

"We realized we have such a rich history in Churchill, it would be nice to gather enough information for a community book," says Lawrie.

"We actually started working on the book in the early '90s."

North of 58 begins with an article on Inuit, Dene and Cree being the first peoples in the Churchill area.

From there it progresses into the more recent history of the military camp, rocket range, port and railway.

The biggest portion of the book is comprised of contributed family histories.

North of 58's Inuit content is not as strong as the organization would have liked.

However, that could be rectified in a planned supplement.

Lawrie says the club is inviting people to send in their family histories for the project.

She says a strong response from the Kivalliq is being hoped for, as well as anyone else in Nunavut with ties to Churchill.

"We're hoping once people in Nunavut see the book, they'll want to write a little bit about the time they spent in Churchill.

"I had a lot of contact with people in the Kivalliq trying to get articles sent in for this book, but people tend to procrastinate and do things after the fact."

The early Inuit occupation of Churchill is recognized in the book as being extremely important.

The ladies club is especially interested in hearing from anyone who attended the Churchill Vocational School.

"Many of Nunavut's leaders spent time at the school and it would be great to have their ties to the community included in the supplement.

"So many people have good memories of being in this area and we would like to collect them."