‘The people’s story’: Winnipeg’s archives could move back downtown

A new city report is recommending Winnipeg's archives get moved back to Carnegie Library in the Exchange District, a move historians are calling long overdue.

Winnipeg’s archives could be moving back downtown, years after a storm forced them to be held in a warehouse.

A new city report is recommending they get moved back to their original home at Carnegie Library in the Exchange District, a move historians are calling long overdue.

Everything from first-hand written city council minutes to original maps have been stored in a warehouse on Myrtle Street in the city’s industrial zone since 2014, ever since a rainstorm flooded the original building on William Avenue that was under renovation at the time.

Manitoba Historical Society president Gordon Goldsborough is calling the public service recommendation an all-around win because the current industrial location isn’t accessible to the public or safe for long-term preservation of the documents that tell the city’s story.

“The building itself was never designed for archival holdings, and so recently, for instance, they had a fire outside the building. Somebody lit a fire on the outside of the building, and there was a real risk that the collection could go up in smoke,” Goldsborough told Global News on Friday. “This building was never designed for the purpose for which it’s being used, and that’s why we absolutely need a better place to store these wonderful records.”

The “unique” and “irreplaceable” collections that extend onto three kilometres of shelfspace remain at risk for a number of other reasons, Association for Manitoba Archives committee member Tom Nesmith told Global News.

“The warehouse that they’re in has no preservation controls, which are standard features of proper archival facilities, and so, the records are exposed to rapid, extreme temperature fluctuations, which is only exacerbated by climate change.”

The report says bringing the archives back to a renovated Carnegie Library is the city’s best and cheapest option, coming with an estimated price tag of $12.69 million, a move local history blogger Christian Cassidy says would also help save the more-than-115-year-old building and make it easier for the public to access.