Esplanade Archives Photo Accession number 0032.0015
At the Esplanade Archives, you may discover family connections, or a dog named Laddie.
Your baby picture. Pingle’s Drug Store. Laddie the dog. Your cousin’s wedding photographs.
What do all of these have in common? These images might be in the holdings at the Esplanade Archives. We often think of history as something from long ago — and while that does describe some of the materials that we have in the Archives, it also brings up a great point; the past and the present aren’t as far apart as we think.
A woman came into the Archives the other day, visiting our galleries during our Pay What You Will program. She wanted to know more about the Archives, and what we do.
Needing a place to start, I prompted, “Well, let’s start with your last name,” I eagerly typed the name into our database. As images came up on the screen, she enjoyed pointing out great-aunts, and a few twice-removed cousins’ confirmation photos.
Then, her eyes widened. “That’s my dad’s name,” she said, and I could tell she was quite shocked. “I’ve never seen him at that age,” she explained, a small hitch in her voice. The photo was taken in the 1950s by Gainsboro Studios — which donated their studio collection to the Archives a couple decades ago.
“He’s so young,” she continued, leaning a little closer to the screen, “I’ve never seen that photo in my life — but you can tell it’s him, there’s the ‘B’ on his tie.” We were able, at that moment, to find a missing piece that was so important that it was still connected to living memory.
The personal discovery of this one photograph and the wonder of discovering a part of someone’s life was the result of many things falling together — a quick pose for a photographer, a photo collection donated to the community’s archives, and then, in 2019, a visit to the Esplanade almost 70 years later.
It’s not just about the past, as a relic of times gone by — it’s also about the current generation, the living components of Medicine Hat’s ongoing history. We are all a part of Medicine Hat’s history, in one way or another. We shape our community in ways that might not become evident until years later. The Archives is a wonderful place to make connections to the past, but also to bring context and knowledge to the present.
We’ll see you soon.
Jenni Utrera Barrientos is assistant archivist at the Esplanade.
