Wellington museum hopes to ID people in 1925 Fergus, Ont. photo
The museum has over 90k archived photographs and occasionally receive some that don't have any information
The Wellington County Museum is building on its recent online accomplishments seeking help online, hoping to identify a couple and a little girl in a 1925 wedding photograph taken in Fergus, Ont.
Since April, the museum has used social media as a tool to reach out to the public in a campaign to learn about local people in old photographs received as archival donations.
Karen Wagner, an archivist with the Wellington County Museum said the facility has over 90,000 photographs in its collection and still occasionally receives some with little or no information about the pictures. The online appeals have proven successful.
"We have posted a few other photographs that have needed identification, like school teams, a class photo, and we have received feedback," she said.
She adds they often receive more tips on photographs that tap into people's fond memories, such as events at the Beatty Pool in Fergus.
"A lot of people have a lot of fond memories of it, so that brings out a lot of conversation," she said.
Tracing 1925 photo
There's not a lot of information about this 1925 photograph, Wagner said.
The picture came in as part of a collection of images received in 1995 and the donor was not sure who the couple and little girl in the photograph were.
"All we know is that [the photograph] was taken in Fergus and it was taken by a photographer named Booth," Wagner said, adding the photo is on a mount.
Happy <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PhotoFriday?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PhotoFriday</a>! The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WCMA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WCMA</a> needs your help identifying the people in this photograph. It was taken around 1925 by Booth Studios of Fergus. Any ideas? More information can be found at: <a href="https://t.co/7lh8fJOTVB">https://t.co/7lh8fJOTVB</a> <a href="https://t.co/jMkIhctzGB">pic.twitter.com/jMkIhctzGB</a>
—@wellingtncounty"There's actually a photographer's list that tells us he was in Fergus in 1925, so at least we know the basics."
"We want people to know we are preserving their history and of course we want to make that history identifiable," Wagner said.
Once the museum receives more information about the photograph, Wagner said they'll be able to upload it to their online collections catalogue, which stores information on all archived photographs, letters and diaries pertaining to Wellington County.