Out with the old, into the new: City Archives on the move
City Archives is moving from its current location (since 2010) at 224 Cardinal Crescent near the Saskatoon Airport to new permanent quarters in the old Post Office Building located at 202 - 4th Avenue North, right across the street from City Hall and the downtown Saskatoon Public Library. The City of Saskatoon refers to the new location as the Civic Square East (CSE) building.
“We’re excited about moving City Archives into this new space - it’s larger, better organized and more secure than Cardinal Crescent,” says Jeff O’Brien, City Archivist. “This move is timely; we’ve simply outgrown our current space. We have a huge archival collection – we will have about 3500 boxes of records to move once we’re packed up.”
Planning for a large move. City Archives - by the numbers:
- 450,000 photographs
- 4,000 feet of shelves (66 bays of 8’ high shelving units, a total length of 275 feet
- 3,000 linear feet of records
- thousands of maps, plans and blueprints
- hundreds of miscellaneous materials
- 135 map cabinet drawers, along with bookcases and filing cabinets
- dozens of oversized financial ledgers and tax rolls
“Locating close to the downtown Saskatoon Public Library will allow us to share resources with the Local History Room so we may serve our shared community more effectively,” adds O’Brien. “For City staff, the new location will also make archives more accessible as we’ll be right across the street from City Hall. Our new location will support City Archives in being a more effective resource for all civic departments.”
City Archives mandate is to preserve and provide access to the historical records of the City of Saskatoon, as well as to those of historically significant individuals and organizations in Saskatoon. Archives is committed to build more effective and ongoing partnerships with civic and community stakeholders interested in the shared history of Saskatoon.
Preparation for the move of the City Archives and its collection began in January 2024. Construction of the new City Archives space is scheduled to be complete on May 1, 2024. City Archives move-in day is tentatively scheduled for May 6, 2024.
Starting April 8, 2024, as City Archives starts its time-consuming and careful pack up, the team will be unable to access records and therefore will be closed for public inquiries until the new location fully re-opens in its new forever home in June 2024.
City Archives thanks residents and stakeholders for their understanding and apologizes in advance for any inconvenience as they undertake this large and sure to be exciting move.
Visit saskatoon.ca/archives