What do these newly digitized photographs have in common?
They are missing context! But don’t worry — we know where to find it!
Here’s the context behind their missing context:
Decades worth of Salmon Arm Observer photographs were donated to the Archives years ago. They were roughly sorted and few of them were identified. Years of work by dedicated volunteers has gotten this collection neatly organized by the newspaper issue date the photographs were published in. Gary Brooke arrives promptly on Wednesdays and Thursdays and gets to work sorting. This has been going on for years! Luckily, he still enjoys the work. The photographs range from the 1960s to the early 2000s, depicting a fabulous variety of people, topics, and events that were reported in the local news. As the sorting nears the millennium, I figured it was safe to start digitization at the beginning. Another dedicated volunteer Chuck Mobley has started on scanning the images this month. Next up, someone (could it be you?) is going to have to look up the newspaper issues associated with the photographs and find the missing context! Once that is done, the images and their lovely metadata can be ingested into the database.
As noted in previous blog posts, the Salmon Arm Observer is only indexed to the 1950s. While incomplete, the index is an extremely useful starting point for research. In my mind, getting the Observer photograph collection digitized and into the database will act as a similar type of finding aid for the back half of the twenty-first century.
As always, many thanks to the volunteers who have worked on this project in the past, who continue to do so, and to those who may in the future!
Photographs, context, and my comments:
Top:
SAO-19650325-001: Construction of levee along Salmon Arm wharf channel with old automobiles, 1965. Gee! I hope this environmental hazard has been removed in the meantime. I have no information readily available — I guess I'll wait and see what turns up as the project moves forward!
Bottom, left to right:
SAO-19650429-001: Harry Jerome, Olympian and physical education teacher with anti-smoking education materials, 1965. While interesting, this photograph would likely have been submitted from out of area and does not reflect local news or people (Jerome was based out of the Lower Mainland). It does show what influences were trickling in, though!
SAO-19650304-002: Frank Hedingham, Agnes Rudeen (seated), and Shirley Tucker of adult theatrical group The Jesters in Night Must Fall, 1965. 2/3 of these names did not previously appear in our database!
SAO-19650513-003: "Death to all Shuswap mosquitos." Chairman of Salmon Arm & District mosquito control committee Don Cameron, 1965. This photograph already exists in the Museum's photograph collection as a reproduction donated by former Salmon Arm Observer owner Denis Marshall. There was no date associated with the photograph, however. That is now updated and we know where to find the context in the newspaper!