Editor’s note: Sara Bohuch has been a conservator in the University of Calgary’s LCR (Libraries and Cultural Resources) Department since May 2023. She received her MSc in Conservation Practice from Cardiff University (Wales) and, since moving back to Alberta, has completed conservation projects on everything from saddles to staircases. Her recent work at the U of C is with the photographs, archival papers and other surprises that can be found within the Glenbow Library and Archives portion of the LCR department.
The banner image above was photographed by Sara Bohuch.
Written by: Sara Bohuch, BA Archaeology (Simon Fraser University), MSc Conservation Practice (Cardiff University)
Archival records can give the illusion of a neat and tidy history. The material is almost the definition of unassuming: boxes of paper sitting in a temperature-controlled room, organized for ease of access and use. But any foray into reading the seemingly innocuous records that make up a library or archive quickly reveals a truth: what may seem like dusty, logistical data can be particularly complicated.
An example of this can be found in a letter filed away on the shelves of the Glenbow Archives. The letter is part of the George and John McDougall family fonds, a collection made up of two metres of textual records, 490 photographs and two postcard albums that pertain to the family’s time in Alberta. Most of it was transferred to the Glenbow in 1968, with additional components donated in the decades that followed.
The letter in question dates to 1875 and was written to one of the family’s patriarchs. It’s a dry inquiry (in both its material nature and its topic) from a politician in Manitoba. But the contents become much more interesting when you realize their direct connection to the creation of Treaty 6:
Read more“To the Reverend George McDougall of the Saskatchewan –
Sir
I have to request you to proceed to the Saskatchewan Region, as a messenger from me, and inform the Cree Indians of the Saskatchewan, that the Government of the Queen, will send Her Commissioners to make Treaties with them next summer at Fort Carlton and Fort Pitt, towards the end of July or beginning of August next:
The Queen is mindful of all her Indian children, and has not forgotten the Crees.
In the meantime, I ask the Crees to live at peace with other Indians, and the Whites, and not to interfere with any surveyors or other servants or subjects of the Queen in any of their operations.
The Queen, has always dealt justly with Her Indian Children, and has their good at heart.
This letter will be your authority for delivering the message I send by you, and you can show it to any Chiefs you meet.
Given at Government House
Fort Garry, Manitoba
This ninth day of August A.D. 1875 –
Under my hand and seal.
Alex. Morris
Lieutenant Governor of the Northwest Territories”
