A Glimpse into the Archives

Wildflowers blends backcountry adventure with historical research, a lot of which has taken place at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies — an incredible treasure trove of archival material, with a vast Mary Schäffer collection. Here’s a glimpse into what our historian Meghan J. Ward chose to pull for our team to look at prior to the Maligne Expedition!

For her fifth visit to the archives during the project, Meghan retrieved items from both the archival and curatorial departments (a huge thanks to the museum staff for accommodating our requests!) It was such a delight to see the full range of materials, from Schäffer’s letters and photographs to her watercolours and photographic equipment. There are hundreds more items associated with Schäffer, so this is really just the tip of the iceberg!

All photos by Nat Giillis.

Meghan works carefully to extract Schäffer’s glass lantern slides from the boxes. These are incredibly fragile and we felt privileged to be able to view them on the light table! Photo by Nat Gillis.

Schäffer’s Pony Premo folding camera and Lantern slide projector (Delineascope). Photo by Nat Gillis.

Typed letters, hand-signed by Mary. Photo by Nat Gillis.

Meghan takes a gentle peek at Sidney Unwin’s war journal. Photo by Nat Gillis.

Schäffer’s watercolours of wildflowers (Calypso bulbosa, 1891). Photo by Nat Gillis.

Meghan Ward and Jane Marshall look at Schäffer’s hand-drawn map from her 1911 survey of Maligne Lake. Photo by Nat Gillis.