Archives
The Southern Alberta Pioneers and their Descendants Archives holds documents, photographs, audio recordings, family histories, newspaper clippings, and many other artifacts.
From the Vault
Eleanor Luxton, daughter of Norman and Georgina (McDougall) Luxton delivered the guest speaker address at the 36th Annual Southern Alberta Pioneer and Oldtimers Association Round-Up in 1956. A printed version of this address ended up in the SAPD archive.
The Golden Link : An Address by Miss Eleanor Luxton to the Southern Alberta Pioneers and Oldtimers Association
Reproduced here with the kind permission of the Eleanor Luxton Foundation. The Luxton Archives are located in the Archives & Library of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, Banff, Alberta.
The archives is located in the Memorial Building and researchers may gain admittance to the Memorial Building by appointment and are encouraged to do so. For access to the archives, contact our Historian.
Donations
The Southern Alberta Pioneers and their Descendants gratefully accept donations of historically significiant (as determined by our Historical Committee) materials that are related to the early history of Southern Alberta and, in particular, to the experiences of pioneer residents prior to December 31, 1890.
If you wish to augment our archives, please contact the Historian.
Member Family Histories
The archive maintains the original application files of SAPD members, as well as, additional family information submitted by members (commonly referred to as the Black Binders).
Recently an initiative was begun by our Historical group to update our member's genealogical information
Pioneer Profiles
Joan and Clarence Davis, members of our organization have extracted the 1891 Alberta census which used to be posted on the Alberta Family History Society website. There are over 11,000 names on the census.
As we have researched only approximately 2,500 names of pioneers so far, we have a lot of work to do.
If anyone visiting this website is a descendant of a pioneer or has information about any pioneer or their descendants, please contact the SAPD Historian .Photographs
SAPD has collected 1000+ digitized photos of historical significance. These images form the base for our annual Stampede Display and as part of the Digital Memory Project work is being undertaken to make some of these images more widely available online.Publications
The SAPD has published or assisted in the publication of the following Books:
From the Pioneer Kitchens, 1990
A cookbook of pioneer recipes, historic facts and photos
For sale by contacting our office
Pioneer Families of Southern Alberta, 1993
Contains a brief synopsis of 1500 pioneers as well as over 30 illustrations and 207 pioneer portraits
A scanned copy is available at Pioneers Families of Southern Alberta
The short biographies were converted back to text in our online Short Pioneer Profiles
Pioneer Families of Southern Alberta - Addendum Edition, 2005
Contains a brief synopsis of an additional 879 names of pioneers researched since the Pioneers of Southern Alberta, 1993 edition was published and includes pictures depicting homestead life
These were converted back to text and merged in our online Short Pioneer Profiles
Meet Southern Alberta, 1954
written by Margaret Maw, edited by W.E. Ross
A scanned copy is available at Meet Southern Alberta
Tales of the Old Town, 1950
written by Leishman McNeill
A scanned copy is available at Tales of the Old Town
In the Shadow of the Rockies, 1930
A history of Alberta written by C. Malcolm MacInnes
Copies are available at the SAPD and Glenbow Museum Archives
A scanned copy is available at In the Shadow of the Rockies
The History of the Province of Alberta, 1912
A 2 volume history of Alberta written by Archibald Oswald MacRae, Ph.D. with biographies of 584 men and 2 women
Copies are available at the Glenbow Museum and the University of Calgary Library
A scanned copy is available at The History of the Province of Alberta v.1 and
The History of the Province of Alberta v.2