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Recent News and Events
INDEX TO HOMESTEAD RECORDS TO GO ON-LINE IN 2005
6/14/2004
Farm & Food Report
Communications Branch, Walter Scott Building
3085 Albert Street, Regina, Canada, S4S 0B1
Log Number: 04-24-119
Week of June 14, 2004
INDEX TO HOMESTEAD RECORDS TO GO ON-LINE IN 2005
Families researching their homesteading history, and communities preparing local history books will have an easier time of it once the Saskatchewan Homestead Index Project (SHIP) is completed in February 2005, in time for Saskatchewan s Centennial!
Saskatchewan s homestead records, 1870 to 1930, are currently available to researchers on microfilm in the Saskatchewan Archives in Regina and Saskatoon. The index to these records, some 360,000 names and land descriptions in a card catalogue, is now in the process of being keyed into a fully searchable database. This database will be placed onto the Internet and published as a compact disk (CD).
The index compiled in an electronic database will make homestead research so much easier for people, said Marge Thomas, Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society (SGS), which is spearheading the project. If the records are on the Internet, people can research from their homes whether they are in Saskatchewan or California or anywhere else in the world.
And, indeed, people around the world are interested in Saskatchewan s homestead records! The records have been available for some years on microfilm in the Latter-Day Saints (LDS) Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and can be borrowed by international researchers through LDS Family History Centres around the world.
The homestead records contain a wealth of information about the settlement of federal government Crown land in Saskatchewan from 1870 to 1930. The records document the history of the earliest agricultural settlement of Saskatchewan and how the pioneers fared in their first years on the land. Each homesteader s file contains the original application forms and official statements by two witnesses. But, some homesteaders files contain extra information: letters written by the homesteader and Dominion Department of the Interior officials, and, sometimes, naturalization papers.
There is already an avid interest in these records on the part of local and family historians, genealogists and educators, Thomas said. Last year, the public used more than 9,000 homestead files at the Saskatchewan Archives in Saskatoon and Regina. And hundreds of Saskatchewan farm families access the records to document their land ownership in order to qualify for the Century Family Farm Award offered by Saskatchewan Agriculture, Food and Rural Revitalization.
A digital, on-line index would make research much easier and would streamline the process of requesting copies of the documents from the Saskatchewan Archives, said Chris Gebhard, archivist with the Saskatchewan Archives Board in Regina.
The homestead records index on database will simplify the search process, Gebhard said. The homestead records are the single most widely used collection in the Saskatchewan Archives. On any given day, there are several individuals perusing the records in the Archives reading rooms in Regina and Saskatoon. In addition, we respond to two or three inquiries a day about information in the homestead records for the Century Family Farm Award. It would be much more convenient for the public to be able to go onto their computer at home and do their preliminary research.
The project is a mammoth undertaking.
Of the 360,000 names and land descriptions, about 150,000 have been keyed into the database so far, Thomas said. And we re including other information in the index, such as the type of homestead: was it Metis scrip or was it land given to soldiers after the wars?
The data entry staff can type almost 1,000 entries in a day, Thomas said. SGS was fortunate in that the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST) partnered on the homestead records project and allowed several data entry students to do some of the work at the Archives during their practicum. Subsequently, two of these students were hired to do the data entry full time.
And as the information is keyed into the computer, it is being proofed by volunteers from the SGS in both Saskatoon and Regina, Thomas said. The volunteers are telling us that they re finding it very interesting and that they re learning about the different types of information that s available in the homestead records.
To assist with the project costs, the SGS received $20,000 in project funding from the Saskatchewan Archives Board and the Saskatchewan Heritage Foundation. However, the project s total cost is in the neighborhood of $50,000 and an additional $30,000 is needed, says Thomas.
The SGS welcomes donations from individuals in any amount to assist with this project and will provide income tax receipts, as the SGS is a registered charitable organization, Thomas said.
Or if individuals or organizations would like to donate under a category, we have five donor categories: the Settler, $500-$999; the Leading Settler, $1,000-$4,900; the Pioneer, $5,000-$9,999; the Homesteader, $10,000-$19,999; and the Builder, $20,000-$25,000.
Persons who would like more information about the homestead index project can contact the SGS in Regina at (306) 780-9207.
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For more information, contact:
Marge Thomas
Executive Director
Saskatchewan Genealogical Society
1870 Lorne St.
Regina, SK, S4P 2L7
Phone: (306) 780-9207
Fax: (306) 781-6021
www.saskgenealogy.com
Chris Gebhard
Chief Archivist
Reference and Special Media
Saskatchewan Archives Board
3303 Hillsdale St.
Regina, SK, S4S 0A2
Phone: (306) 787-3381
Fax: (306) 787-1197
www.saskarchives.com
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