The history of the Lac La Biche Mission shows a particular fascination with the printed word, and with the process of digitalization, the Mission can open up these historical vaults to the public.
The Mission was the site of Alberta’s first printing press and is one of the only places that mass-produced magazines and prayer books in the Cree language. And now, the Mission is looking towards the future as they begin to digitalize their vast collection of written history.
“We are just at the beginning of a massive project to digitalize our history books and make available a wealth of resources,” said Emilie Chevigny, from the Lac La Biche Mission.
The first step of this process is to categorize the rare books to determine exactly what they have.
“Once we know our collection, we can apply for grants and that will help us in the process of digitalizing our resources,” Chevigny said.
The long-term goal is for the Mission to become a leading resource centre for genealogy and historical records. Although many students and academics utilize the Mission for its vast archives, digitalizing and organizing these collections would be a huge step in this process.
“We really want to be able to copy these rare books so that everyone has access to their knowledge,” Chevigny said.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PRINTED WORD
In 1877, Father Emile Grouard brought Alberta’s first printing press to the Lac La Biche Mission site. The press was shipped from Europe, and printed in English, French, Beaver, Cree, and Dene.
He was stopped at the border of France, where he was questioned after showing border authorities the various Slavic type-plates. The authorities believed that Grouard was a spy and this “machine” was being used as an espionage device.
“The history of that printing press is quite unique,” said Victoria Holota, an assistant curator and tour guide at the Mission. “Father Grouard merely wanted to spread the good news into as many languages as possible,
Unfortunately he ran into some difficulties getting that machine from Europe to Canada.”
In the 1960’s and 1970’s the Mission began printing a Cree news magazine, entirely in the Cree language using offset printing and a duplicating machine to mass-produce the booklets.
The value of printing and publishing has been a major part of the Mission’s storied history, and curator’s like Chevigny are hopeful that with grant assistance they can make these pieces of history completely accessible.
“It will be a long project, but a very worthwhile one in the end,” she said.
