SHAUNAVON — Census-taking is nothing new. Recording the history of the residences and businesses of a city, region or country is a crucial task for many reasons including planning public services, setting electoral boundaries, understanding population change, demographics, industrial/agricultural growth and for creating a historical record.
The next Canadian Census by Statistics Canada will take place in 2026.
In addition to the first Canadian census in 1871, more localized efforts were being undertaken at the time to record this important information. In large cities throughout Western Canada, the task of collating business and residential listings was undertaken by the Henderson family as a business endeavour, beginning in the late 1800s. These printed directories have now been digitized by the University of Alberta.
Logan Thienes, recent graduate of the University of Alberta’s Masters in Digital Humanities program met with Bonnie Austen, great-granddaughter of James Henderson, the founder of The Henderson’s Directory, to learn more about the directory's history.
Thienes' blog and interview clips with Austen can be found at: https://news.library.ualberta.ca/blog/2024/11/26/the-hendersons-direc tories-the-oral-history/
Henderson and family went from city to city across the prairies in the late 1800s, collecting information on businesses and people. Businesses were contacted via letter or in person by going door-to-door.
The directory was then published with information about residential and business occupants, and sold by subscription. A caution written on the inside cover of the directory warned subscribers not to share their copy with others, as decreased subscriber numbers would increase subscription prices.
Henderson’s Directory was an important tool for locating people/businesses, particularly before widespread telephone use. With the advent of telephone directories, the requirement to find someone in person became less crucial; you could simply phone them. Fast forward to today and cellphone usage has all but obliterated the need for a phone book. The phone book has become thinner and thinner as landlines have been replaced by cellphones. Internet searches have annihilated the Yellow Pages. You want pizza at 2 a.m.? Google it.
Information is now at our fingertips and there is reduced need for printed materials. This may not present an immediate problem, but the absence of printed information on local history, such as businesses, could present a problem in the future if historical information is of interest to individuals, businesses, organizations or communities. This leads to the increased importance of digitization.
Thienes’ studies in digitization also led him to a project on digitizing the Edmonton street newspaper, Our Voice, and he went to Italy this past summer for a workshop on the digitization of medieval manuscripts.
Thienes states, “The most important thing about digitization is accessibility. The Henderson’s Directories are now available online on the internet archive, so anyone can go back and scan through them now, which really helps researchers. But it’s still important to preserve the original documents because a scan might not capture the hidden details and story of the real physical book or document.”
Digitization and preservation of local historical information is also crucial. The Shaunavon Standard collection, dating back to 1913, provides a fairly comprehensive overview of that period of history for Shaunavon and area. That collection has been digitized to ensure preservation of the paper copies and to create an easier and more accessible way to search its contents.
A nearly complete collection of the physical copies is also still available and in the care of the Grand Coteau Heritage & Cultural Centre. This collection provides the basis for much of the internal and external research conducted by the Grand Coteau Heritage & Cultural Centre. Using those resources, Kathleen East, research volunteer at the centre in Shaunavon, has accumulated an extensive history of businesses and buildings in Shaunavon dating back to its establishment in 1913.
Local business owners who are interested in the history of their business and/or building could reach out to the Grand Coteau Heritage & Cultural Centre for further information.
