Research

Saskatchewan One Room School Project: 
 



 The Cupar  museum is sharing the recently digitized collection of 80 one room school photos from the Cupar area, ranging in years from 1945 - 1954 with the Saskatchewan One Room School Project.  It will allow greater access to this part of our collection to a wider audience, and will hopefully encourage more people to visit our museum and our blogspot.
The group responsible for this site run on volunteers as we do therefore it may take a bit of time before you can access the images.




The Saskatchewan Archives in Regina :

will be housing the Cupar Division Teachers Association minutes, financial information and convention reports dating between 1945 to 1965. This information was originally donated to us by Sheila Polasek. Unfortunately we do not have the space to keep them, and keeping them in Regina will allow a wider audience to access them for research purposes.

Research Policy

It is the goal and purpose of The Cupar and District Heritage Museum to primarily assist individual and family groups in basic research involving rounding out previous research, by allowing access on site to announcements of births, marriages, deaths and other events of a social nature, many of which can be found in write ups in the local paper “ The Cupar Herald” and which have not yet been made available on the internet. These may also include involvement in local organizations of a religious, social, school or business nature. The designated volunteer will direct researchers to appropriate existing collections. The museum will maintain on site a list of written documentation and photographs which individuals can access.

The museun can not facilitate in depth research with their limited space or resources but will make every attempt to assist and direct researchers to other individuals, organizations and internet sites that may be able to assist. A list of these places will be kept at the museum and updated whenever possible.

The museum will also be sensitive to copyright, ownership and intellectual property for certain materials which require proper documentation of source and approval of owner, if the researcher wishes to publish their findings either in paper form or on a family genealogical website / blogspot / facebook page.

The Cupar Museum Research Manual including Research Policy will be available at the Cupar Museum in the summer of 2015. This manual is meant to be of assistance to volunteers and researchers alike. It will include documentation including community history books, magazines, school year books, Cupar Herald, local historical maps, minutes of local groups, records of Masonic Lodge, WWI attestation papers, photographs of Cupar including family groups, sports, businesses, etc. There will also be website listings that individuals may wish to check at a later date also the location of documentation directly applicable to the community but unable to be housed at the museum such as homestead records. Not all materials can be listed here and the booklet will expand as new acquisitions / donations arrive. 

The Cupar Town Office has the following financial records which the museum does not have the space to keep. You may contact the office to make arrangements to view them but they can not be lent out.

Village of Cupar cash book expenditures: January 4/ 1922 to December 31/ 1929.

Village of Cupar cash book expenditures: January 25/ 1930 to December 31/ 1935

Village of Cupar cash book expenditures: January 6/ 1936 to December 31/ 1940.

Village of Cupar cash book payments: January 7/ 1941 to December 30/ 1949.

Village of Cupar cash receipts: January 1/ 1940 to December 31/ 1949.

These are financial records which mainly include taxes and relief payments with names of individuals, businesses, and churches. One can also find costs associated with building the Recreational Hall and it's rental and upkeep. There are minor items of interest regarding dog tax, street lights, rat bounty, trees, water sales, Joan of Arc Home, T.B. League, and cemetery, rink, nuisance grounds etc.

These records are useful in knowing what families and what businesses existed in the town of Cupar in this period.

 Did you know that Cupar had it's own paper: THE CUPAR HERALD. The first issue was on November 30 1906. It ran until 1954-55. Some of the original issues now housed at the museum but are in bad repair. Fortunately the Saskatchewan Archives in Regina have microfilm copies the public can view. You can choose to print out pages or save to USB drive / flash drive. 
In 2002 THE CUPAR HERALD was revived, but sadly ended in 2006.
We have all the issues and you may read them at the museum. How quickly the present becomes the past and suddenly how precious.

The Cupar Cracker was published from 1942 to 1945, a total of 6 issues. It was edited by Geo. A. Riches, and published from the office of the Cupar Herald by the Cupar and District Branch of the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Canadian Legion ,  B E S L. The purpose of this magazine was to keep the Boys and Girls serving with the Armed Forces up to date with local and district happenings.

The Cupar and District Heritage Museum has made copies of the originals which you may read at the museum.

Community history books are a valuable resource as they give you an insight not only into the settlement of an area, the lives and stories of residents, but also the history and development of many social and religious organizations and services.

   The museum has copies of Pioneer Portraits 1905-1965, and Cupar District: Taking Root and Growing published in the 1980s. Unfortuantely these  copies can only be read at the museum.

The Cupar Public Library on Stanley Street, open Wednesdays and Fridays, also has community history books of the area you may borrow.

A Masonic Lodge was established in Cupar in 1909. Designated as Cupar Lodge No. 47 G.R.S.

Our museum has an array of artifacts and paperwork gathered over the years. Infact the main museum itself was once the Masonic Lodge. Of interest to people researching their family members are the original hand written initiation records. The record includes who recommended the person, his occupation, residence, age, date of initiation and death date.