Delta Marsh History Initiative, Steering Committee Meeting

9:00 am, 22 January 2007
Home of Shirley Christianson, Portage la Prairie

Present: Shirley Christianson, Heidi den Haan, Gordon Goldsborough (sec), Bob Jones, Winnie Pauch, Glen Suggett

1. Minutes of the last meeting (27 November 2006) were approved by consensus.

2. Business

a) PCI Archives – Goldsborough had received a DVD from James Kostachuk at PCI, apparently containing images relating to Delta. It had several similar photos – some pertaining to parades in Portage and other subjects of unclear relevance to our theme, and it did not include some photos found earlier in the PCI collection by Goldsborough. The files were quite low resolution and would have to be rescanned for publication purposes. He will check with Kostachuk to see if any photos were inadvertently omitted from the disk.

b) Bryson interview – The interview with Greg Bryson was postponed by bad weather, and another will be arranged by Pauch soon.

c) Camcorder – Goldsborough was instructed to purchase a second digital camcorder for use in further interviews.

d) Interviews – Jones reported that he had recorded video interviews between Cynthia Jordan, Bill Linden and Clarice Brown.

e) Writing update – Suggett reported that he has completed story drafts of the Duke of York 1901 visit to Delta, the Prince of Wales 1919 visit, and stories on Dr. Bigelow and Dr. Atkinson. He is working on a Jimmy Robinson story now, and he is reading about James Ford Bell (but needs to find the Bell diaries), and is seeking information on Dr. Cadham and Tin Town.

f) DWF historical materials – Goldsborough was charged to contact Rob Olson to request access to the early minute books on Delta Waterfowl history and development of the marsh; Art Hawkins’ notes and files. If they grant access but wish the materials to remain on site, we could offer to pay to heat the library building where they are presently housed.

g) Tin Town visit – Suggett reported that he spent an evening several weeks ago at Tin Town with about eight lodge owners. They informed him that Jimmy Robinson once owned Lodge 13 there and was visited by Erroll Flynn, who allegedly carved his initials in a windowsill.

h) “Murder Oak” court transcript – Suggett is still reviewing this.

i) Book outline – Goldsborough will circulate the draft book outline that was developed a couple of years ago, and people will select topics about which they would like to write.

j) Campbell memoirs – Goldsborough will contact Alex Wright regarding these to see whether they may prove useful to our purposes.

3. Next meeting: The next meeting will be held at the home of Shirley Christianson (118 Wilkinson Crescent, Portage la Prairie) at 9:00 am on Monday, 19 February 2007.

4. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 10:20 AM.