The district that desires to have a history of its development compiled is lucky if, amongst its own citizens, it can discover an individual who knows the district intimately and is sufficiently interested to secure and record the facts relating to community growth. This is the most satisfactory method of getting a local history written.
If no such interested and capable person is available to undertake the work, a committee of interested citizens may collect the material while it is still available and hold it in readiness for someone, perhaps not so closely informed as they may be, who can write the story of the district from the facts they have assembled.
The following are suggestions for the collection of necessary material that will assist a future writer to get the overall picture of the district so necessary before she/he undertakes the work. Some of these suggestions may seem unnecessarily detailed, but experience has proven their worth. For example, it may seem superfluous to list the names of all councillors, trustees, teachers, doctors, station agents, merchants etc. Whether or not they will be incorporated into the story of the community must be left to the judgment of the future writer, depending on their relevance to the context of the story; but, if such lists are available, the historian may be enabled to make contact with the persons so listed, or their descendants and secure from them information that will fill out the picture of by-gone days.
Prepare a scrapbook with accounts and pictures of people and events in your community. The use of a loose-leaf scrapbook is recommended so that, as the pages accumulate, they may be changed from one position to another so that the record may be kept chronologically, or topically:
Find one or more interested persons in each school district who will undertake to discover:
Make a map of the municipality or county with the names of the original settlers from the information collected through the school districts as above.
Make a map of the municipality or county showing present owners.
Secure stories of the early settlement of each school district, note when and how the district was formed, and secure stories of the original pioneers as told by their descendants or from diaries or old letters These may be inserted in the scrapbook or kept in some secure place until a historian is found, or if not actually procured, the place where they are to be found may be listed and such information kept in the scrapbook. Photocopies may be made of letters or documents which families are unwilling to part with, or they can be copied using a computer and scanner. Likewise, copies of cherished photographs can be scanned at high resolution.
List the names of chairmen, secretaries and if possible, the trustees in each school district, with the dates of their service from the school’s founding to the present, as well as the names and dates of teachers. These can usually be found in school registers.
Discover what use was made of early school buildings for religious services and other meetings. What men or women were connected with early church organization?
Set down any information that can be obtained from municipal records, letters, diaries, or by questioning pioneers or their families, regarding the early municipalities:
Record the beginning of towns and villages, with dates. Relate this to:
Find out where the merchants lived, from where they had come, whether they or their descendants are still in town; if not, why they left and where they went. Secure any stories or adventures or interesting events connected with their businesses.
Describe the earliest homes how they were furnished, how they were heated. Tell with what type of homes they were replaced.
In connection with agriculture, discover:
Determine the first farm organization in your district, such as Farmers’ Institute, Agricultural Societies, Grain Growers, United Farmers, Federation of Agriculture, Pool Elevators, and others. Note what part the local farmers played in each organization. List names of officers and directors of such organizations, with dates. Secure the history of fairs in the district. Note outstanding exhibits by local persons through the years, changes in the types and quality of exhibits, and the continuity of interest shown by certain farm families.
Collect the history of local churches. Note:
Record the beginnings and history of voluntary organizations, such as Masons, Rotary, Odd Fellows, Orange Order, etc.
Name outstanding women and their organizations, such as Ladies Aid Societies, Women’s Institutes, Hospital Aid Societies, Lodges, etc.
Secure names of doctors, station agents, lawyers, notaries, grain buyers, etc. with any stories of outstanding interest connected with them.
Record the recreation or sports the early settlers enjoyed, and changes in these. Name outstanding participants, and tell stories of interest connected with them.
Determine the history of education in the community, noting:
Collect stories connected with the school or with outstanding teachers.
Collect the history of the district in World Wars I, World War II, Korean War, and elsewhere:
Be on the alert for human interest stories to illustrate or to enliven the narrative.
Suggested sources of information:
If these files are not available locally, they may be found, either in original or microfilm copy, at regional, provincial/state, and national archives. In Manitoba, papers can be read at the Provincial Legislative Library in Winnipeg. The use of newspaper files would require some interested citizen or ex-citizen to give considerable time to their perusal, noting:
These will be found particularly in the local and personal column, and in the obituary accounts.
If a historian is not well acquainted with the district about which she/he means to write, reading through the files of the local newspaper will provide a picture of the community’s life and give a background of knowledge that will prove invaluable.
Page revised: 13 May 2013
