Cold, below zero. Nellie, Clara, & I are here & Jack Wilson doing chores. I wrote 2 letters, some knitting & we played Chinese checkers, George phones; Ad too Norval went away for hog-ma-nay. Snow is on the ground, but a few cars are running.
There’s war in China, In Finland & in German or France, and earthquakes in Turkey also floods. — Llewellyn, Saskatchewan, January 1, 1940
These are the words Barbara Elizabeth Anderson (née Hunter) wrote on the first page of her diary, a gift she received from her daughter, Clara.
Mrs. Anderson was the daughter of settlers William and Margaret Hunter from Dumfrese, Scotland, who travelled from Ontario to Llewellyn, Saskatchewan in 1833. Her diary is one of thousands of digitized documents available in the Prairie Immigration Experience.
This online collection holds a collection of nearly 15,000 digitized archival documents, including diaries, correspondence, photos, and audio and video recordings from the holdings of the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections and the University of Saskatchewan Archives.
J. Dixon threshing gang, Brandon, Manitoba, 1908. Source: University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, Prairie Immigration Experience.
On its website, the University of Manitoba describes the collection: “These archival records detail the experiences of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants of varied nationalities and ethnic groups who went to Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta in search of a better way of life. The records detail the full immigration experience, from their arrival in Canada, to the hardships they faced settling in a new country, to the lasting effects immigration has had on Canadian society and culture.”
The digitized items document settlers’ lives in the Canadian prairies.
They are organized by nationality and ethnic group: Czech, Danish, English, German, Icelandic, Irish, Jewish, Rumanian, Scottish, Turks and Caicos Islands, Ukraine, and other backgrounds.
There is also a section on documents related to immigration and immigration policy in western Canada, and at least one handwritten family history.
Even if your ancestors are not mentioned in the documents, reviewing them will give you an understanding of how they lived.
Tip: If you are writing your family history and want to use some of the images, click on the Details tab above the image for information about copyright. In many cases, if not all, the images is licensed under a Creative Commons License and available to use, with a credit, for non-commercial purposes.
My immediate reaction to the Prairie Immigrant Experience? Fab-u-lous.
