ishmael n. daro

My summer job at the University of Saskatchewan library deals with cataloging and archiving some important documents from a B.C. Supreme Court case. It’s not the most exciting thing in the world, but some of the material can be rather interesting. Archiving in general is an area I had never thought about much but there are archivists around the world doing the legwork so we can have an accurate idea of history.

The Saskatchewan Council for Archives and Archivists recently completed an online gallery of work images from Saskatchewan. There are lots of great images going back decades. Here are some interesting ones:

“This com-poo-terr machine is a marvel. Feed it a dozen loaves of bread and it will actually write your name for you on a piece of paper! Boy, what are they gonna think of next?”

“Go on, Bobby, just keep chippin’ away at that rock. The three of us will supervise so you don’t hurt yourself. Remember that if you need a break, it’ll come out of your pay.”

“Remember the drill, boys. We throw the horses into the fire and if that doesn’t stop it, we call the police.”

“All right boys, it’s lunchtime. Come on, those horses aren’t gonna eat themselves.

“This is just awful. My grandmother could mix a better batch of cocaine than you. In fact, I’m pretty sure this is cottage cheese.”

“What’s going on? Are you two up to any shenanigans out here? A bank’s reputation is built on how quiet and motionless its staff is, so if I see you two — I saw that Theodore! That’s it, you get another six hours in the cage!”

“Used to be I had to go to the park and expose myself to one or two children at a time. Now with this fancy printing press, I can just leaflet the entire neighbourhood with naked pictures of myself.”

“That’s odd, I can’t find the name anywhere. I’m starting to suspect that “Gofuk Yorself” isn’t even a real name, or maybe it’s been misfiled. Sounds Dutch, whatever it is.

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images: SCAA
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