The Arrow Lakes Historical Society (ALHS) wants to hear from you.
The society had a good run in the 2015-2016 year and among the accomplishments were scanning and cataloguing Milton Parent’s collection of photos — 1,500 of which can now be viewed online — digitizing interviews from the 1970s and 1980s, and increasing sight tours in Edgewood, Needles, Fauquier, and Burton.
As part of the society’s ongoing commitment to providing excellent service and archival information about the Arrow Lakes and Lardeau/Trout Lake regions, it is undertaking a planning process to map out the next three years.
“We’re hoping that we’ll get ideas of things that people or organizations are looking for that we can supply,” said Marilyn Taylor, a member of the ALHS.
To get those ideas, a survey was sent out to members of the historical society and businesses on Broadway St.
Questions from the survey include: whether or not a resident has used the services of the ALHS and what their satisfaction level was with the service, if there is a specific need or request for services the ALHS can help with, and any comments or suggestions for the ALHS.
The society would like to continue digitizing more content. This isn’t just specific to photographs — the ALHS also has a variety of diaries, business papers, and club records. They would also like to have more interaction with schools. They had a Grade 3 class come in to visit this year who were studying the community. In the process of that visit, the students had the chance to learn about what exists at the archives.
“Some of them had family members that were in the binders, they could find information about them,” said Taylor. “One of the children was actually in one of the binders himself because there had been a newspaper article about him. He was quite thrilled with that.”
Surveys for the ALHS are due July 18.
