Preserving the Past!

Photo archive assistant Trevor Gould (Paqtnkek First Nation) enjoyed taking a walk through the past with Elsie.

Elsie Charles Basque has been a long-standing member of the Mi’kmawey Debert Cultural Centre Elders’ Advisory Council. Having just celebrated her 99th birthday, Elsie has documented carefully her amazing life through photographs, documents and news articles in binders and albums. Elsie’s collection is a remarkable record of Mi’kmaw life and history in the late 19th and 20th centuries. We expect it to be an invaluable historic resource for many generations.

Elsie graciously lent the MDCC fifteen of these albums for a pilot project that involved scanning high resolution digital images, data-entry and repackaging the collection in archival quality binders. Led by Trevor Gould (Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation), this process took over a year to complete and still more work is needed on the data-entry side. In late May, MDCC staff were able to return Elsie’s collection, which was a wonderful day full of memories and sharing.

Elsie and her daughter Marty loved the new conservation binders that will help preserve the collection.