Regina Legion launches digital archive to mark 100 years
Regina's Royal Canadian Legion Branch 001 is marking the RCL's 100th anniversary by taking more than 2,000 pieces of Saskatchewan military history online.
The Regina Branch 001 Museum and Archives, working with the Royal United Services Institute Regina, has launched a digital collection on MemorySask featuring photographs, letters, documents, and records spanning military life across the province.
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The museum holds more than 5,000 artifacts dating from 1885 to the present. Its holdings include uniforms, medals, scrapbooks, correspondence, and personal documents from veterans and military families in Regina, Swift Current, Moose Jaw, Lumsden, and dozens of smaller communities across southern Saskatchewan, including some that no longer exist.
The online collection is searchable at memorysask.ca/royal-canadian-legion-branch-001-regina-museum. The full 5,000-artifact collection remains available to researchers and visitors by appointment.
"Before I was hired, nothing had been digitized or transcribed," said Kelsey Lonie, executive director and chief historian of RUSI Regina and collections manager of the museum. "With a team of dedicated volunteers and University of Regina interns, we have transcribed whatever is written on the back of each photograph, postcard, or letter, digitized each item, and made it fully searchable on MemorySask. Our goal is to make our military history accessible and help people discover their own family members among the faces in the collection.
The project received funding from the Saskatchewan Council for Archives and Archivists, SaskCulture, and Sask Lotteries.
Many photographs in the collection have no names attached. The museum is asking anyone who recognizes a person in the digital collection to email museum@reginalegion.com with the photograph's identification number.
Digitization is ongoing, with thousands more artifacts still to be added.
The museum is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free. It is located at 1820 Cornwall Street, Regina. Those wishing to view specific artifacts can arrange access by contacting the museum in advance.