Mount Royal University Centennial

    

Picture perfect collaboration

 

The phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” holds special meaning for Pat Roome, director of Mount Royal University Archives and lead organizer of the Mount Royal Athletics photo archive project.

Roome and a group of Mount Royal physical education students are collaborating to help preserve Mount Royal’s rich history of athletics by sorting and archiving over 8,000 sports-related photos.

“We have a long history of athletes at Mount Royal. We have won a lot of championships and a lot of professional athletes have graduated from this institution,” says Roome.

“But if you don’t organize visual records and you don’t make it a priority, the history gets lost. The photos deteriorate, people pass away and some of it you can never get back again."

Many hands make light work

The project’s goal is to have all the photos organized, archived and made available for the widest possible use by April, 2010. Some of the photos will be featured in a souvenir book planned to mark Mount Royal’s centennial.

“The end goal is to preserve Mount Royal’s sport history,” says Roome. “But archival work can be very slow and tedious. To have the students’ involvement is a wonderful asset.”

The project began in late December 2009 when Roome acquired 14 boxes of photos from Cougar Athletics highlighting various sports at Mount Royal including hockey, basketball, soccer, curling, golf, volleyball, cross country running and swimming. The photos date from 1972 to the present.

History in action

Roome asked Gary Koroluk, associate professor with the Department of Physical Education and Recreation Studies if he could assist her with identifying staff, students and faculty members in the photos. Koroluk suggested Roome turn her request into a project for students in his Sport History class. So in lieu of a term paper the students had the opportunity to work on the photo archive project.

The response was immense. Only 10 spots were available but 30 students expressed interest. A lottery was held and names were randomly selected to participate in the project.

Each participant is required to allocate 10 hours towards the project, totalling 100 hours of collaborative work.

“The amount of time is virtually the same as a term paper but this project provides more variety for the students,” says Koroluk.
“I’m very open about stepping outside the box to develop new and interesting projects for my students. Not only are they learning organizational skills but they also get some insight into how sport teams evolved at Mount Royal.”

Hands on learning

Courtney Lyall is a first-year student in the Bachelor of Physical Education — University Transfer program and is one of the participants in the photo archive project.

“I am enjoying the project,” says Lyall. “It’s a lot of work and tedious at times but it has been a good experience and I’m glad I could play a small part in helping to build a photo archive legacy.

“Being a basketball player, it’s neat to see how the uniforms have evolved over the years and how the hairstyles have changed. It’s also interesting to see earlier photos of some of the basketball coaches.”

Once the photos are organized and archived, Roome anticipates that an interview component will follow. Students will use the binder of images to help create an oral history.

“I like the idea of teaming a student interviewer with a senior retired faculty member like Don Stouffer, who’s up there on the wall of fame. Don coached a lot of teams at Mount Royal and was particularly involved with Mount Royal’s hockey team,” says Roome.

“For a young hockey player to talk with Don would be such an inspiring and mentoring experience.

“For students this project allows them to fully engage with history and they also learn research and organizational skills — these are also liberal arts skills that are important no matter what discipline you’re in.”

As Koroluk points out, the timing for this project could not have been better.

“It is perfect timing as Mount Royal approaches its centennial,” he says. “That’s what the centennial should be — a celebration of our history.

“If you want to understand where you are, you have to understand where you came from.”

— Jondrea De Ruyter, March 12, 2010