With the Brighton Digital Archives (BDA) set to digitize a literal treasure trove of local education history, there was no better time to celebrate its discovery and shine a light on the area’s rich history during a special event at the Brighton Public Library last Wednesday.
On April 6, the library celebrated the digitization of a scrapbook belonging to Allan A. Martin, who served as the school inspector for Northumberland County between 1929 and 1951. Martin was transferred to the Peel school board, but students and teachers from more than 100 schools in the county created pages thanking him for his service.
Heather Ratz, CEO of the Brighton Public Library, noted the scrapbook was given to the library by Martin’s daughter Louise. And, being that the scrapbook was in ‘fragile’ condition, the book needed to be digitized, with the BDA agreeing to take on the painstaking project expected to be completed that day.
“One of the reasons we wanted to do it is because the pictures and images and messages in the book are in great condition, but the book itself is very fragile, we want more people to enjoy it and we will have it for many years to come,” said Ratz. “The book is very fragile and we don’t want people coming in to check it out, or even touching it, we would rather people look at the digital images and they can look at the book from afar.”
Catherine Stutt, a founding member of the BDA and vice-chair of the group, noted the now-closed Memory Junction and the Bengay Estate provided the BDA with more than 2,000 images to be digitized back in September. Along with the images, three binders were discovered containing the scrapbook material presented to Mr. Martin.
“So we were thrilled, we looked at them and we realized it was a snapshot of education in 1951,” said Stutt, adding BDA members weren’t aware that Martin’s daughter Louise had the actual original scrapbook. “There was about 120 schools represented, turns out eastern Northumberland had its own school board, Mr. Martin was the inspector for that. Looks like it’s all public schools, but maybe a high school from Campbellford, but we’re not sure about that.”
Stutt said the digitization of the scrapbook was a wonderful occasion to re-engage the local public with some just-discovered and fascinating local history. During the course of the day, several living members who participated in the scrapbook were interviewed on camera for posterity and those in attendance were able to ask questions of the members of the BDA on hand. The library also had local history and heritage displays that day.
“We thought it was a great opportunity to do this and to bring people in to celebrate this collection…and just say here’s what we have and help us figure it out,” she said.
The scrapbook itself, said Stutt, is an incredible piece of local history full of wonderful comments, not to mention photos of the school, class, teacher and student autographs and also letters and notes to Martin. It speaks to not only how beloved a person Martin was, but also about education in Northumberland during the era of his employment.
“It’s not only historically amazing, it’s charming. There’s a fellow named Howard McCann who was in Grade 7 at Mount Olivet (Codrington) school. He said in Grade 7 that he would like to be a farmer.
Well, he’s been a farmer. He’s probably in his 70s now and he’s been a very successful farmer and his dream came true. There’s a gentlemen in there named Laird Nelson. He’s in there in Grade 1. Melba Pound is a teacher and she talks how Mr. Martin meant so much to her with his direction. So, we’re bringing relevance to people today who 71 years ago signed that book. Like 71 years ago. These people are going to be in the room seeing the book that they probably forgot they had anything to do with. It’s very, very interesting and it brings the community together and we need every opportunity we have, we need to seize the opportunity,” said Stutt.
Stutt also said the contents of the scrapbook will be a pan-Northumberland exercise as all the archives from the various areas of the county will be asked to chip in and identify the people who wrote in the scrapbook.
“We know Brighton well, we know the players, so we’re going to work together with other archives and it’s truly going to be a county project,” said Stutt.
Ralph De Jonge, one of the founding members of the BDA, said the pages in the scrapbook were too big for one scan, so two scans of each document were done and stitched together. He was assisted in the scanning by Abigail Miller, the activist for the Northumberland County Archives and Museum.
Following the digitization of the Martin scrapbook, it will be published on the BDA website (vita collections.ca/brightonarchives) and it will be shared with neighbouring archive and history groups.
(Written by: Alan Rivett)
