Saskatoon City Archives has started the task of packing thousands of records, including 450,000 photos, 4,000 feet of shelves, 3,000 linear feet of records, and thousands of maps, plans and blueprints to prepare for the move to its new permanent home.
Since 2010, the archives have been held at the Cardinal Crescent location near the airport but will now be housed at the old post office building at 202 Fourth Ave. North, across the street from city hall and the downtown Saskatoon Public Library.
According to local radio station 650 CKOM, the largest collection the archives holds is the negative photo collection from the Star Phoenix newspaper, dating from the 1940s to 1999.
Saskatoon City Archives started packing this past Monday.
“We’re excited about moving City Archives into this new space. It’s larger, better organized and more secure than Cardinal Crescent,” says Jeff O’Brien, City Archivist. “This move is timely. We’ve simply outgrown our current space. ”
Mr. O’Brien added, “For city staff, the new location will also make archives more accessible as we’ll be right across the street from city hall.”
Construction of the new City Archives space is scheduled to be complete on May 1. City Archives’ move-in day is tentatively scheduled for May 6.
Employees will be unable to access records or reply to public inquiries until the new location fully opens in June 2024.
