Shellbrook Museum's Church Collection

written by Nancy Carswell

One way that churches brought joy and comfort to their congregations was through music. This Museum organ ordered from the Eaton's catalog in 1904 at the cost of $42 is representative of the type organ found in small churches.

The Shellbrook Heritage Museum continues to highlight parts of its collection as it celebrates its 40th anniversary. The last article focused on schools and while schools were important, after securing food for the body, settlers frequently looked to securing food for the soul before securing food for the mind.

Long before the end of the 1800s, various Christian denominations had established missions in Saskatchewan to convert First Nations to Christianity. With the arrival of immigrants, the missions assigned itinerant clergy and theological students to rural areas. These devout men were referred to as "Saddle Bag Preachers". The Shellbrook and area's history book Treasured Memories mentions in 1901 Father Lajeunesse began travelling by horse and buggy once a month to Shellbrook from his permanent post at Muskeg Lake Cree Nation. By 1907 regular Anglican services were held at "Three Creeks, Holbein, Parkside and Shellbrook."

The first church services were commonly held in private homes. As mentioned in our homemakers' article, "If the homemaker was hosting the Sunday church service in their home, Saturday housecleaning may have had extra burdens." Later, some schools served as churches and some churches served as schools. As congregations grew in size they were eager to build a "house of worship" and usually added a rectory as a home for their clergy. Treasured Memories identifies St. Andrew's Anglican Church as the first church built in Shellbrook in anno domini 1910. The Museum 's photo collection has a variety of church pictures, including St. Andrew's, and other church events.

Many denominations supplied Sunday School programs and often the Sunday School picnic was a much anticipated highlight of the church year. Sunday Schools and Vacation Bible Schools would have used Bible stories, songs, arts and crafts, and drama. The Museum book collection along with several Bibles and hymn books has a copy of The Children's Bible History. In the author's words, this illustrated book is a retelling of the Bible stories in "simple pictures and simple language." It was given as a prize to a Lilian in 1872 possibly for her ability to memorize and recite Bible verses.

Saskatchewan historian John Archer believed, "The church contributed to the spiritual and educational life of pioneer communities, bringing hope, comfort and social contacts to the lonely and frequently disheartened homesteading families." While church records are invaluable to historians and genealogists today, congregations did not see churches as indifferent recorders but as faithful partners in all life's major events; births, confirmations, marriages, and deaths.

Thanks to Bertha Johnson and others who responded to our request for information on the photo that accompanied the Museum's one room schoolhouse article. In genealogy, Johnson is a primary source as she is in the picture. She says the photo is from the school year 1946-47 and it is Miss Miller's Grade 9-10 class. Johnson corrected the spelling of her own last name from Sillespi to Gillespi. In a conversation about the photo with her classmate Joyce Brunton (nee Mansfeld), they also corrected Leonard's last name from Harvey to Harder. Also, Bernard's last name was correct from Lybon to Luyben.

To reread articles and learn more about the Shellbrook and District Heritage Museum visit http://shellbrookmuseum.blogspot.ca/. A recent addition is the Grimes Obituary Scrapbook. It is an indexed spreadsheet of the obituaries collected by Evelyn Grimes between 1961 and 1996 from the Shellbrook Chronicle and other local newspapers.

The Museum Committee and Friends of the Museum continue to invest energy in inventorying the collection. The inventorying process is the first step as the museum moves from storing artifacts to telling their stories. If you would like to help, please see Alanna Carswell at the library or call Marlene Fellows at 747-2475.

The Museum welcomes monetary donations for inventory show cases and other donations to help better display items to tell their stories. Please make donations to the Town of Shellbrook to receive a receipt.

The Museum is open and participating in the Shellbrook Street Fair on Saturday August 24.

Grimes Obituary Scrapbooks

Added to the Digital Collections!

Evelyn Grimes, between 1961 and 1996, collected obituaries of local and former community members from the local newspaper the Shellbrook Chronicle, the Prince Albert Daily Herald, and other as of yet unidentified newspapers. The names, birth dates, birth locations, death dates, death locations, and burial locations of the individuals have been indexed and the spreadsheet can be seen and downloaded from the Museum's Google Drive account. Digitization of the clippings is a future project.

Shellbrook Museum's One Room Schoolhouse

written by Nancy Carswell

This class photo from the Shellbrook Heritage Museum collection was donated by W.T. Bill Smith who is in the middle row.  1946-47 school year, Miss Miller's Grade 9-10 class. Back row: Frank Sokolowsky, Russel Kennedy, Dave Roberts, Leonard Harder, Ted Sokolowsky, Tom Bibby, Johnny Halliwell.  Middle Row: Frank Zawada, Allan Miller, Bertha Sillespi Gillespi, Marion Wilson, Lillian Stevens, Lois Canaday, Joyce Fisher, Joyce Mansfeld, Anne Hislop, Sylvia Wilkinson, W.T. Bill Smith, Earl Jewitt, Miss Miller.  Front Row: Bernard Lybon Luyben, Reta Mortensen, Betty Schaan, Alba Roberts, Joyce Shapira, Shirley Mansfield, June Goudal, Ronald Harvey Hadley.

In celebration of its 40^th anniversary, the Shellbrook Heritage Museum is sharing a series of articles focusing on a part of its collection. The homesteaders and homemakers highlighted in previous articles sought not only a better life for themselves but for their children and commonly viewed education as a foundation.

When a community had enough students, it applied for a school grant. Saskatchewan schools in the late 1800's were voluntary and taught the 3Rs—reading, (w)riting, and 'rithmetic. It was hoped that schooling would facilitate legal communication around homesteading and prevent con artists from taking advantage of immigrants who did not speak English. In the early 1900's, schools continued the 3Rs with some adding school gardens and agricultural lessons. While school was free, most students in the late 1800s and early 1900s left after achieving the mandatory Grade 4-5 to take up responsibilities on the family farm.

The Museum has a furnished one room schoolhouse from the Rayside School District #2808. It is a typical schoolroom with blackboard, teacher desk, student desks, and cloak room. Senior visitors may recognize the readers and the roll down maps. With a little imagination, one can hear a spelling bee, catch the laughter of outside games, sense the anxiety of a visit from the school inspector, and witness the splendor of an elaborate Christmas concert with students proudly presenting plays, poems, and songs.

The Shellbrook history book, Treasured Memories, explains that the first Shellbrook school was built in 1910 when the Pleasantville and Parkview schools became overcrowded.  It was located at the intersection of 1^st Avenue and 1^st Street Miss Dowling, a first year teacher, was hired.

The student population served by the Shellbrook school rapidly outgrew the one room and in 1912 a two-storey brick building opened with D.L. Fitzpatrick as principal and teacher and Miss Dowling as teacher. On January 16, 1913, the Shellbrook Chronicle reported the results of the annual meeting of the Shellbrook School District No. 252.  Some expenditures listed are: "Paid teachers' salary $1140.00", "Paid for erecting an repairing schoolhouse, outhouses, etc. $3345.19", and "Paid for school library and reference books $10.95".

Another growth spurt in student population doubled the two rooms to four in 1919 with the separate "Little" school added in 1923.  These classrooms served the student population well into the 1940's. The current Shellbrook high school name honours W. P. Sandin who dedicated over 18 years of service to improving local schools. Sandin commented that his greatest challenges were obtaining funding and agreeing on the location for schools with the Department of Education which supports the truth of the adage "History repeats itself." 

The one room schoolhouse model has modern admirers. Authors of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns and The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined admire the one room schoolhouse's student centered approach because the teacher had to customize learning and the learner had to practice independence. In a multi-grade environment, senior students had many opportunities to review and consolidate learning when they or the teacher taught content to junior students and junior students had previews of future content and concepts. Students practiced self-discipline as they worked independently on teacher-assigned activities. The one room schoolhouse model leverages the diversity within its learning community.

The Museum Committee and Friends of the Museum continue to invest energy in inventorying the collection. The inventorying process is the first step as the museum moves from storing artifacts to telling their stories. If you would like to help, please drop in to see Alanna Carswell at the library or call Marlene Fellows at 747-2475.

The Museum welcomes monetary donations for inventory show cases and other donations to help better display items to tell their stories.  Please make donations to the Town of Shellbrook to receive a receipt.