Collecting photographs chronicling the history of Saskatchewan and its First People has been a passion for Adrian K. Paton spanning more than 50 years.
Now, at 85, Paton has published his first book: An Honest, Genial and Kindly People - a private collection of First Nations photographs from the turn of the century in southern Saskatchewan. The title comes from a quote written in a journal by Cecil Le Mesurier, an early settler in southeast Saskatchewan. It is used to describe the Indigenous people he interacted with in the area.
"It's very gratifying. Part of that is the quite a bit of positive feedback that we're getting from various places. That's more than I had even hoped for," Paton said.
Paton was born in Gravelbourg, but moved to Arcola and has lived there for the past 50 years. That was around the time he began to collect old photos of the of the area and province.
"I've just always been interested in old things. My grandparents homesteaded here and I was interested in that. I was interested in the Indigenous people and the area. I started collecting pictures and it just grew from there," Paton said. "After it became known that I collected these type of pictures I started to get them from all sorts of places."
As the collection grew, he created the South Saskatchewan Photo Museum, a one-man operation in Arcola. That allowed his collection to reach a larger audience through projects with the Saskatchewan History and Folklore Society, the University of Saskatchewan and Sask History Online. Subsequently, some of his collection has been digitalized and is available online to the public. It also includes a unique oral history component allowing viewers to listen to Paton’s memories and recollections associated with the photos.
“Adrian has collected in a way that deepens his knowledge of the place where he lives and of his understanding of his Indigenous neighbours who, despite the weight of colonialism, continue to make that region their home. But what is most inspiring about Adrian Paton and his collection of photos is his desire to share it with others.” said Keith Thor Carlson, professor of History at the University of Saskatchewan, who wrote the forward to the book.
Above all that includes a desire to share his collection with the First Nation communities whose ancestors are depicted in the photographs. He reached out to area First Nations communities to repatriate the photos back to those communities giving some the first opportunity to see a photo of an ancestor they had only heard about.
"For 10 years I had a large building in this town, which wasn't hard to acquire in a small town, and I ran a gallery. I had these pictures on display and many of the First Nations people came in to look at them and I got information from them," Paton said.
Paton has been gathering information since well before the internet era. He would write letters and pursue leads if he heard about a photographer who may have passed through the area, even if it was nearly a century ago.
Beyond the photographs, the book contains information about the photographs and the people pictured.
"It's not just pictures, I tried to paint a picture in words that people could understand. That's a little difficult when the event happened 100 years ago. The terminology has changed an awful lot and things like that, but I think we succeeded. I had some very good editors help me," Paton said.
Paton has more than 8,000 photographs in his collection.
"A few years ago I had a health problem and I decided I should try to do something with these pictures," Paton said. "(Carlson) took an interest and he pushed me that it should be put in book-form, so it could be published and people could see them."
Through a collaboration with the Sask. Folklore Society, there is a touring exhibition of 56 photos that has been around for five years. That project was embraced by educators in the province and Paton has similar hopes for his book.
"I have been contact by the Saskatchewan education department and they wish to review it," he said. "I'm hoping this book might be used in schools."
Paton's book is 8x10 inches and has 200 pages. It is available for $35/copy (plus shipping if applicable, a single charge of $15 covers shipping for 1-8 books). Anyone interested in purchasing a book can contact Adrian Paton at [email protected] or his daughter Val Guillemin at [email protected] in Saskatoon.
