Staff
If you happen to have a few back issues of the Rimbey Review kicking around that you’re not planning to use to train your puppy, line your birdcage or even wrap some freshly caught fish in this summer, than the folks at Rimbey’s Pas-Ka-Poo Park would like to talk to you.
And the same goes for back issues of the Rimbey Record, Rimbey Pioneer, Rimbey Advance or any other newspaper printed in the community over the past 90 years or so.
“I was hoping we could collect back as we could, all of the back issues every since the first newspaper in Rimbey started. So far, we’ve gone back to 1919 and we have one of the oldest ones when it was called the Rimbey Advance,” said Cheryl Scheie, manager of Pas-Ka-Poo Park. “Then, from 1930 to 1999 it was the Rimbey Record, then it became the Rimbey Review. We’ve collected now right up to 2010 so we’re hoping, seeing as how we’ll have all of them here, if anybody wants to drop by and look up their families, look up obituaries, look up weddings or whatever, they can come to the park and look through the old newspapers.”
Within the past six months the collection has grown considerably, thanks in large part to a bit of local assistance.
“The girls were able to give me the entire collection from 2008. I was there one day and Michele (Rosenthal) had brought me out a great big box of them,” Scheie said. “I also have all of the 2009 s, and I think we’re relatively complete, with a few exceptions. We have a few issues we’re still missing and quite a few are in 2005 as well as a few in 1997. We’d like to have the collection as complete as possible.”
Specifically, the park is seeking copies of the Rimbey Record and Rimbey Review including all editions printed in the month of January 1997, along with the Aug. 20, Nov. 5 and Dec. 24 issues; the Jan. 12, April 26, May 2, June 28 and the July 5 and 27 editions of 2000; the Feb.7 and Dec. 27 editions from 2001; the Dec. 25 edition (or closest to) of 2002, the Feb. 19 and May 14 editions from 2003; the Jan. 28 and Dec. 14 and 28 editions in 2004; the Aug. 9 and 30 as well as the Sept. 6 and 13 editions of 2005 and the Aug. 1 edition from 2006.
“Actually, it turned out that when (former publisher/owner) Jack Parry sold the paper, he gave us all the back issues that they had kept,” Scheie said in recalling how the collection began. “They had one copy of each down in the basement and he just happened to bring them here when they brought the old printing press that we have here when they printed the Rimbey Record locally, and Jack donated it all to the park.”
That trend continued under the editorship of Rob Gilgan who would frequently bring back issues to the park, including one particular occasion when he delivered a huge load just prior to the basement flooding, a move Scheie said was “very lucky” for the park.
Anyone interested in helping to build the collection can contact Scheie at (403) 843-2004 or drop off their back issues at the park. In addition to the list mentioned, the park is also seeking locally produced newspapers from 1909 to the 1930s.
“It’s wonderful that the public and your newspaper are working with us and we want to keep the museum as complete as possible and have the entire written history of Rimbey and area,” Scheie added.