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Recent News and Events
Acquisition of the Morris Predinchuk/ Morris Studios Collection
2/28/2002
The Saskatchewan Archives Board is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Morris Predinchuk/ Morris Studios Collection of photographs. The more than 18,300 negatives and prints have become part of the Saskatchewan Archives permanent holdings and will be available for research in its Regina office. The Archives received the photographs in 2001 from Morris Predinchuk, owner and operator of Morris Studios Limited in Moosomin.
Mr. Predinchuk was born at Foam Lake in 1931. He began his career in education in 1950. While teaching at Stanley School near Moosomin in 1954 he decided to take up photography on a part time basis by opening up the Moosomin Studio. The following year he went into commercial and portrait photography full time. In the 1950 s and 1960 s, Mr. Predinchuk was also the press photographer for the Moosomin World Spectator which owned several other newspapers in the region. He eventually expanded his business to Virden and Brandon in Manitoba and to Esterhazy, Sask. where he worked on extensive photographic contracts for International Minerals Corporation. He later sold the Esterhazy and Virden branches but continued to operate in Moosomin and Brandon until 2000. Another important part of his business since 1984 has been the production of videos for documentary and commercial purposes. His 46 years in professional photography have set a Saskatchewan and Manitoba record for the longest operating studio by the original founder.
Morris Predinchuk worked to re-build the defunct Saskatchewan Professional Photographers Association in 1966 and he became its President in 1967. He was also instrumental in helping to establish the Professional Photographers of Canada in 1970 and was one of its founding directors. A community leader, he has been actively involved with the Moosomin Chamber of Commerce for 46 years, often serving as its President. He also represented the Moosomin Zone on the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce for three years. He was on the Moosomin School Division Board from 1968 to 1973 and has been an active member of the United Church of Canada and the Moosomin Elks Club for 47 years.
The photographs are the result of a lifetime of dedication to the art and enterprise of professional photography in Saskatchewan. They were taken between the years 1954 and 2000 and document local businesses, schools and school groups, organizations, municipal councils, aerial views, landscapes, and buildings, to name a few examples. Press photography is prominent throughout and features local people, community events, official openings, and visits to Moosomin by prominent people including the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1959. Residents and communities from surrounding districts are represented in the collection as well. Only a small sampling of Morris Predinchuk s studio work is being retained by the Archives, including some individual, family, and wedding portraits. His photographs provide a significant and unique visual record of east-central Saskatchewan during the last half of the twentieth century. They represent an important addition to the Saskatchewan Archives holdings and complement its earlier images of Moosomin and district. They will be of vital interest to researchers studying this part of the province.
Any questions concerning this acquisition should be directed to Tim Novak, Archivist, Reference and Special Media, Historical Records Branch (306) 787-4067.
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