A new web exhibit from the Association for Manitoba Archives highlights the Red River Settlement Churches from 1818-1870. The churches were central to the lives of settlers in the remote fur trading community on the banks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Archival documents left by the congregations reveal what life was like in the now-vanished society.
Interactive maps show the settlement as it was in 1825, 1855 and 1870. Letters and diaries of missionaries and parishioners are available to be read. Viewers learn how stone and frame church buildings were built out of local materials. Background information gives the historical context to documents and the exhibit is illustrated with photographs, drawings and paintings. Colourful characters come alive through their letters and diaries.
The exhibit, entitled Recorders of Community, was created in honour of Manitoba Day which was on May 12. To view the site, visit www.mbarchives.mb.ca/recorders.
