NWT Archives reuniting people with photos
Approximately 60,000 portrait negatives up for claim; some go back to Yellowknife's roots in the 1930s
Robin Grant
Northern News Services
Monday, June 20, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Archivists at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre are on a mission to reunite tens of thousands of portraits dating back to the 1960s to the families and individuals who commissioned them.
In 2008, when Bob Wilson, owner of Yellowknife Photo, closed his studio, he donated the collection of almost 60,000 negatives to the NWT Archives.
For the past two years, senior archivist Erin Suliak and her colleague Robin Weaver have been sorting through the negatives with the goal of returning all of them to their rightful owners.
"It's amazing to see the passage of time. To also see some families that you recognize that have been in town for a really long time," she said.
"Sometimes you see photos that go for a really long span of time. So you see wedding photos, then baby pictures, then graduation pictures of those babies. You can see their whole families unfolding."
She added, "There are families that go back to the beginning of Yellowknife in the (1930s). And families that we know that were key players in Yellowknife history. And families that continue on to this day."
To claim photos, NWT Archives is asking anyone who had photos commissioned either by Yellowknife Photo - or under the previous name Reimann Studio - to submit a form on the NWT Archives website. People can claim photos that either they commissioned or their ancestors commissioned but claimers must be related to the people in the photos.
So far, there has been no lack of interest.
"We have been flooded - like totally flooded with claims. So we have over 300. I think we are close to 400 now ... Logging them and just starting the research process now," Suliak said.
"It's a great way for people to learn about history and about their personal history. And also let people know about the NWT archives. So we're really happy to be able to do this kind of project."
By the fall, NWT Archives plans to have returned all the photos that have been successfully claimed.
"We really want to reunite people with their photos."
Included with the commissioned photos is a collection of what Suliak described as documentary photography from 1960 to 1980 which record Yellowknife events.
She NWT Archives plans on creating a display for those photos as the likely next step of the project, after the portraits are dealt with.
"That's not in the works right now. Right now it's all about the claim project," she said.
