N.S. Archives Plans Online Guide About Mi’kmaqs

The Public Archives of Nova Scotia will develop an online guide for archival and library materials relating to the Mi’kmaq in the province.

The board of trustees of the archives announced the plan in conjunction with National Aboriginal Day, celebrated today, June 21.

The project emphasizes the rich diversity and immense cultural significance of these holdings. It will be completed by next March.

The guide will enable the public “to experience our Mi’kmaq uniqueness, share our commonality and discuss our differences,” said Duncan Gould, an archives board member from Cape Breton.

“People are more apt to be educated through the Internet, as opposed to other means,” Mr. Gould added. “It will be important for the younger generation.”

The new thematic guide will be part of the archives Web site --
www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm . It will incorporate textual records, photographs, maps, sound recordings and moving images in a searchable database containing descriptions of the materials. Detailed file and item lists will be attached to the descriptions. There will be links to digitized images of representative holdings.

Visitors to the Web site will be able to read about and view examples of items documenting the Mi’kmaq from the mid-1700s to the present. Highlights will include early treaties, 18th and 19th-century petitions to the Governor and House of Assembly, George Creed’s tracings of petroglyphs/pictographs in Kejumkujik National Park, and the pre-1867 records created provincially by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

The guide will also incorporate a “virtual exhibit” to showcase materials central to Mi’kmaq culture and traditions. Documentary art, maps and photographs from varied sources, including Helen Creighton, Clara Dennis, W.L. Bishop and Nova Scotia Information Services, will be featured in this section. A searchable database of published materials held in the archives library will also provide better access to books, newspapers and periodicals created by or relating to the Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia.

Tourism and Culture Minister Rodney MacDonald applauded the efforts of the archives board to improve and extend access to these valuable resources. He expressed confidence that the thematic guide would “contribute to a greater awareness and a better understanding and appreciation of Mi’kmaq culture and traditions.”

Provincial archivist W. Brian Speirs said, “Once this specialized research and reference guide is available, the archives Web site

• which already receives 4.5 million hits a year -- will become even more popular and useful to students, academics and the general public of all ages in Nova Scotia and elsewhere.”

The board of trustees has committed trust-fund income to carrying out the project. Other funding will come from the federal Young Canada Works/Science and Technology Youth Employment Strategy Program.