News

There's a new kid in town, well, not so new - but I recently discovered it. It's a series of Facebook pages dedicated to sharing vintage images of streetscapes from your city's history. Most are postcards held by private collectors, in the case of the one I 'liked' today - administered by a gent in New Brunswick. He has been only posting since December but after an article in today's Regina Leader-Post, the page has surpassed 1000 'likes'. When I joined up early this morning it was 600+ followers, by noon it was over 1000. The administrator engaged the followers by asking if they knew where a view was taken. He asked people what personal memory they held of that view, which long-gone businesses they missed. As the newspaper article read, some of the memories go back to the distant 1970s (often lamenting long-lost watering holes) but others recall how their dads or grandmothers contributed to the scene. "Grandpa ran that business until the 1960s." More than one follower said they missed the popcorn trolley on Broad Street. (It operated into the 1980s, I remember it well.) Since then, I've met the man whose father and other family members ran it. I thanked him for donating the actual cart to the Regina Plains Museum, where it now sits in storage. In response to reminiscence about old Christmas display windows, I posted that the museum owns images and a few objects from those magical times. ("Daisy and her Pups" paper mâché sculptures from Blondie & Dagwood cartoon strip.) These FB conversations were rapid-fire with people's memories! It got me to thinking "what's so engaging about photographs displayed online that isn't doing it for museums?" Is it that it's perused in one's leisure time, in the comfort of one's home, something you can show grandma in the care home or students in the classroom? Saskatchewan Archives Board, historical societies, museums and galleries have been showing off these gems for decades, but we can't seem to attract that kind of following in that short span of time. (Just checked, it's up by almost 200 'likes' since I started writing this.) They use the word 'nostalgia' when describing the content of their page. Yes we're all getting older. Will displaying Saskatchewan's historic treasures in a museum go the way of the old buildings that didn't get saved? Then what happens to the actual stuff? Karen Handling