Fonds consists of annotated photographs of various people, buildings and views mainly in Peace River, Alberta and includes school children and buildings, churches, weddings, street views, banks, businesses, hospitals, ferries, bridges, steam boats, missionaries and mission buildings, the Grouard Trail, agricultural exhibitions, agricultural scenes, livestock, an HBC trading post, a group of Dominion land surveyors, water falls, the Peace River, oil wells, sled dogs, automobiles, airplanes, women’s and men’s sports teams, and North West Mounted Police (NWMP) barracks. Fonds also includes photographs of Athabasca Landing and the Hay River Mission.

The fonds consists of a transcribed copy of “A Description of the Land and Life: Edmonton to Peace River, 1908,” transcription prepared by William C. McKillican’s for his mother of his journal kept during his and Horace A. Craig’s May 19 to June 22, 1908 journey from Calgary to Edmonton and then onto Peace River, to hold agricultural meetings/information sessions for an unidentified institute at various locations. McKillican’s account refers to the quality of the land and its agricultural potential, the flora and the fauna, settlements they passed through, as well as individuals they met along the way, including surveyors J.B. St. Cyr and (J.L.?) Coté, and Members of the Legislative Assembly T.A Brick and W.F. Bredin. The fonds also includes photographs relating to the journey, including images of the boat “Midnight Sun,” wagons and horses, the Athabasca and Peace Rivers, tents, a homesteader and a moose calf, as well as photocopies of these images and others from a photograph album.

The collection consists of oral history interviews conducted by Carl J. Tracie during the years 1966 to 1969 with pioneers of the Grande Prairie region. The interviews include recordings of the following individuals:

• Eric Wilson homesteaded in Saskatoon Lake in 1910;
• Barney Throness Lake Saskatoon circa (ca) 1911;
• Marley Sherk and Gordon Sherk, traveled with Mennonites to Beaverlodge area ca. 1910;
• James Summerville homesteaded in Grande Prairie ca. 1911;
• J.J.E. Clarke homesteaded in Peace River ca. 1911;
• G. Balisky homesteaded in Grande Prairie ca. 1912;
• Joseph Tracie homesteaded in Grande Prairie ca.1916; and
• Oskar Anderson homesteaded in Peace River ca. 1911.

The tapes discuss climate, individuals, religions, agriculture, transportation, the economy, and geography of the region.