The Chestermere Historical Foundation (CHF) is asking for the public’s help to solve the mystery of an anonymously donated photo album.
“If somebody knows who dropped it off would they please contact us,” asked CHF Board Member Kay Clarke.
Near the beginning of October, the library received the photo album, filled with photographs from the turn of the century, as an anonymous donation.
“They didn’t feel that this was something that would fit their mandate so to speak, and so they offered it to Chestermere Historical Foundation,” said Clarke.
“I’m not sure it exactly fits our mandate either but we are willing to do a little research and see if we can find out a little bit more about what’s in it,” she said.
There are 92 photographs, most of which are studio portrait taken labelled as having been taken at a studio in Sheffield, England.
The album also contains several newspaper clippings some with connections to Southern Alberta.
“There is one little newspaper clipping that mentions the grand parade at Sylvan Lake,” said Clarke.
There is another clipping about Brigadier P.R. Shields of Calgary.
While the album has undoubted historical significance, what CHF hasn’t been able to determine is whether there is a connection to Chestermere’s history.
“Between Brigadier Shields of Calgary and Sylvan Lake somebody lives in this area,” she said.
The CHF hopes that someone in the city or surrounding area will come forward with some more details about the album and whether there is a Chestermere connection.
If there is a local connection, the album is a great addition to the work the CHF is doing on the early immigrants to the area.
“One of the things that Chestermere Historical Foundation is doing is talking about the early immigrants,” said Clarke.
She said while there is no evidence yet of a local connection, the album is exactly the kind of thing people leaving England for Canada would bring with them.
In addition to asking for the public’s help, Clarke said that she’ll be putting her genealogy training to work trying to trace the people in the album.
“There are some names, not very many, but there are some names in here which we could start to do a little research,” she said.
She said that working through the genealogy of the names is a bit of a long shot.
If they are unable to find out anything about the album, Clarke said that the foundation may use the album to show examples of what people coming to Canada wore and had with them on their journey.
“This is what they looked like when they came in the early 1900s,” she said.
Anyone with information on the photo album can contact either Clarke at 403-279-1036 or Audrey McDonald at 403-272-9280 with CHF.
