This may sound self-serving, I am after all a librarian so
of course I think librarians are wonderful, but I want to give a particular
shout-out to some librarians from Canada: the ones working on digitizing and indexing
at the University of Alberta Libraries and librarians from the Reference
Section of Millennium Library in Winnipeg.
This summer I’m finally making good headway on a writing
project involving my grandparents. I’ve
got transcriptions of interviews I conducted four years ago, notes from my grandma, and drafts of the fits and starts I’ve made to writing about my grandparents
over the years. To supplement that, I’ve
been making use of various databases to help fill in some dates and
details. One thing I’ve wanted to know
is the name of the fur companies my grandfather worked for.
Enter the University of Alberta Libraries and the
digitization of the Henderson’s Directories.
These are a wonderful source of info that includes directories for
Winnipeg, including not only names and addresses of citizens but also job
titles and employers. http://peel.library.ualberta.ca/bibliography/921.4.html
I’ve had a lot of fun going though the digitized bits. The only problem is there are gaps in the
digitized collection. Among years that
are missing are 1934-1938. My grandparents
got married in 1937 and Grandma’s notes make reference to a strike that Grandpa
was involved in that led to him change employers. I wanted to know who he was working for
before the strike, so I searched the catalog of the Winnipeg Public Library in
hopes of seeing if they had paper copies of the years in question. The
problem was I couldn’t quite tell from the catalog record if they had the
particular volumes I was interested in, so I used their “Just ask" service. I could have just asked if they had the
directories for those years, but I am my mother’s daughter and I know
librarians in general like detail so I wrote:
Business Directories
from 1934-1938
I'm doing research on my grandparents Albert and Mary Schaefer and have made use of the online Henderson's Directories, but I'm trying to learn what furrier company(ies) my grandfather worked for between 1934 and 1938.
I may be planning a trip to Winnipeg in the future and am wondering if the library has any business directories that list employees or Henderson Directories for those years in print.
Thank you.
The next day I got word back. They not only let me
know they have the directories, but they looked up the information, and offered
to scan and email me the relevant pages.
Cool! Now I can ask my next
question, since I no longer have access to the Winnipeg newspapers. (see Weitzels excel in every form of track )
I wrote back:
Thank you for your
help.
Scans of the pages for
the years he is listed would be wonderful.
If it's not too much
to ask, would you happen to be able to find any newspaper articles talking about
a strike of Neaman Fur Company employees in 1937 or 38. In notes that my grandmother
made before she died she mentioned him leaving the company due to the strike
and going back to work for John Temple.
Thank you again.
I'm proud to be a fellow librarian (I work in a branch of the public library in
Milwaukee WI)
The next day a reply.
Hello Ruth,
Greetings
from all of us at the Information and Reference Section, Millennium
Library in Winnipeg - lovely to hear from you!
Your
query has been super interesting, and we were quite amazed at all of the
furriers in Winnipeg during the time frame you provided.
I
have attached the Henderson directory entries for your grandfather for the
years 1934-1937. It looks like the last name was spelled differently in
1934.
There
are also some articles that I will send you in a separate email pertaining to a
strike - I believe around 1936..
Sincerely,
Harriet
Winnipeg Public Library
So there you have it.
Librarians are content creators and generally helpful folks wherever
you go.
