Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on the content of the records.
Level of description
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1917-1994, predominant 1940-1967 (Creation)
- Note
- Some records dated after the death of Nicholas W. Gavinchuk are included in this fonds.
Physical description area
Physical description
ca. 10,000 negatives and other material
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Nicholas W. (William) Gavinchuk was born on November 23, 1889 in the village of Rusiw, Sniatyn District in western Ukraine. At the age of ten he immigrated with his family to Canada and settled on a farm in Hilliard, Alberta in 1899. Gavinchuk worked at various jobs, including a stint with the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the Medicine Hat area, before attending Alberta College in Edmonton from 1909 to 1911. He taught for two years and then during World War I he was employed as a secretary at a Ukrainian Co-operative Store in Chipman.
In 1915 he married Anna Horbach and together they had six children, Michael, Peter, Mary, Olga, Victoria, and John. In 1919 Gavinchuk was transferred to Smoky Lake to manage a new store. He worked in that position for a while before opening his own photography studio, Gavinchuk Studio, ca. 1920.
From this time until the mid 1960's Gavinchuk documented all aspects of life in the local Ukrainian communities through his commercial photography, personal photography, and filmmaking. In addition to running his studio, Gavinchuk also held numerous positions within the Smoky Lake community, including notary public, postmaster, justice of the peace, commissioner for oaths, registrar of vital statistics, a secretary for the Municipal District of Smoky Lake, and secretary-treasurer for many school districts in the Smoky Lake area. Gavinchuk was also active in the Ukrainian community and was a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Ukrainian National Hall, the Ukrainian Self-Reliance League, the Ukrainian Institute of St. John, the Ukrainian Mutual Aid Society, and the Ukrainian Pioneer's Association of Alberta.
Gavinchuk died on July 8, 1968, pre-deceased by his wife Anna, who died on January 7, 1964.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Fonds consists of textual records, photographs, negatives, glass plate negatives, transparencies, and cinefilms created by Nicholas W. Gavinchuk in the course of his personal and professional life.
Fonds includes portraits and photographs depicting various people, buildings, and views in the Smoky Lake, Alberta area and in various Ukrainian communities, as well as some photographs depicting various people, buildings, and views of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Vancouver, British Columbia.
The cinefilms depict various people, views, buildings, and celebrations in the Smoky Lake, Calgary, and Edmonton areas including schools, parades, Ukrainian celebrations, sports, the railway, farming, various industries, and religious ceremonies.
The textual records include correspondence, notes, notices, letterhead, postcards, receipts, lists of high school students, projection licenses, a receipt book, biographical sketches, appointments, advertising material, returned cheques, and agreements, insurance policies, certificates, legal records, a receipt book, issues of Ukrainian Voice, annuals from St. John’s Institution and the Ukrainian Mutual Aid Society, and various photographs and cinefilms depicting the Gavinchuk family.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Mr. Dave Leonard, an archivist at the Provincial Archives of Alberta, deposited accession PR1988.0356 in the Provincial Archives of Alberta in 1988. Mr. Leonard’s relationship with Nicholas W. Gavinchuk is unknown. Mr. Michael Skuba, a son in law of Nicholas W. Gavinchuk, deposited accession PR1989.0355 in the Provincial Archives of Alberta in 1989. Mr. Skuba also deposited several accruals to the same accession in the years 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1995. Victoria Detmold (daughter of Nicholas Gavinchuk) donated the material that comprises PR2009.0785 in 2009.
Arrangement
Arrangement note: The initial accession deposited in 1989 was divided into four series and arranged either chronologically or alphabetically. The (G) General collection series is arranged chronologically, the (G-P) Portrait series is arranged alphabetically by surname, the (G-W) Weddings and Anniversaries series is arranged alphabetically by surname (usually the groom’s surname), and the (G-F) Funerals series is arranged alphabetically by surname. The photographs in PR2009.0785 have not been arranged into G, G-P, G-W, or G-F series. These photographs can be accessed through a file list.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script note
Some of the material is in Ukrainian.
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Access Conditions: None
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Use Conditions: Permission for use required.
Finding aids
Inventory is available.
Associated materials
Accruals
Further accruals are not expected.
General note
Information for the biographical sketch was taken from the records. Photographs from this fonds can be found in the G file under location numbers G.001-G.4429.This fonds was donated at the same time, and in the same accession as the following fonds: PR0615 Smokey Lake School District No. 3880 fonds and PR0616 Smoky Lake Social Credit Group fonds. Also donated at the same time in accession PR1988.0356 is one photograph from the Fedoruk Studio fonds.
General note
Includes the following accessions:
PR2009.0785
PR1988.0356
PR1989.0355
Conservation
A small number of the photographs have been encapsulated.
Physical description
Fonds also includes ca. 3000 photographs, 16 cinefilms, ca. 118 transparencies, and 0.12 m of textual records.