Our Beginning

The history of The City of Red Deer Archives can be traced back to the civic election of October 1962, when Ethel Taylor’s election platform included the formation of a custodial body which would serve to collect and preserve historic materials from the city and surrounding area. Ellis Johnstone, the manager of the Central Alberta Dairy Pool and member of the Red Deer Rotary Club, was also interested in these ideals. They joined forces to host a public meeting at the Buffalo Hotel and spread the idea through the community. In attendance at this meeting was Hugh Dempsey, the professional archivist at the Glenbow Foundation, who provided information and advice to the group on forming a functional and professional archives. Preserving the history of local families was a key point, which was met with enthusiastic support from the gathered community members, and the support of The City was deemed essential to ensure ongoing and stable operations for the new endeavor.

By 1963 the subject of the Archives and an Archive Committee was presented to Council by Taylor. The passing of By-law No. 2172 on March 23, 1964 brought the Archives into official creation. Made up of seven community members appointed by Council and one Councillor, the group would act in an advisory capacity to City Council and begin collecting and managing the historical documents of the community. The founding committee included Councillor Ethel Taylor, W.H. Edgar, T.H. Edis, Thelma Foster, Annie L. Gaetz, Ted Meeres, H.J. Snell, and Fred Turnbull, with Thelma Foster hired as The City’s first Archivist.

Our Staff

The Archives has had many staff and volunteers over the past 60 years. Thelma Foster was the first archivist, serving from April 1964 to September 1968. In 1979, Michael Dawe joined the archives as a staff member, and continued until 2017 when he was elected to City Council. Many wonderful archival professionals and dedicated volunteers have contributed significantly to the Archives including our current staff members, volunteers, and supervisor.

Our Locations

The Archives’ first home was in the basement of new City Hall, and later took up residence in the Centennial Library in 1967. After the construction of the Red Deer & District Museum building in 1978, the archives had a new home where it remained until 2020.

Today, the Archives is housed downtown in the Archives and Records Centre building at 4725 49 Street. Fun fact: the building has played host to numerous businesses before the Archives including a liquor store, a gym, a liquidation store, and a medical laboratory.

Today

Thousands of boxes of paper records, maps, photographs, architectural drawings, newspapers, and artwork (just to name a few types of records!) from the community are housed on the rolling shelving in the Archives’ stacks. City records are also regularly deposited at the Archives as part of The City’s Records and Information Management program to ensure an ongoing civic history. Together, these records paint a unique historical portrait, documenting the history of Red Deer and central Alberta going back to the mid-1800s.

The Archives is available for public research, both in person and online. On site, we also have a local history library, the Red Deer Branch of the Alberta Genealogical Society library, local newspapers on microfilm, and computers that can be used by researchers, providing access to Ancestry.ca and Newspapers.com.

• explore our online collections
• visit our exhibitions to learn more about Red Deer's history
• donate your historic records, or
• contact us with your reference question.