Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find specific records in The City of Red Deer digital archives collection?

You can enter any search terms you want to in the top right hand “Search” box and it will find any records with that key word in it.

To help you in your search:

• Fewer and shorter words create more results (“map” versus “map of Red Deer”)
• Use wildcards (✱) to find different spellings and endings (horse✱ finds horse, horses, and horsecart)
• Use the subjects to narrow down your search
• Use “-” to exclude words, such as “-Council” or “-Agenda” to exclude all references to Council or to Agendas

 

How can I find records similar to one I have already found?

You can often navigate to similar records using the metadata fields. Above, to the left, or beneath each record, you’ll find a list of metadata (information about the record). If the field is purple, you can click on it to find other records that came at the same time (accession number), from the same creator (photographer or creator fields), or are part of the records from the same person or organization (fonds).

 

I’m looking for additional records on a specific topic. Is more information available?

Our online collection contains only a small portion of the entire collection. We have about 150,000 images, 4000 videos, 2000 maps, and about 2 kilometres of textual records altogether and only a fraction of that is available online at this time. Many resources are needed to scan and upload records into a digital collection.

Please contact us at [email protected] or stop by during regular business hours for assistance with other records we may have about your research topic.

 

I have a record that says it’s from the Red Deer Archives but when I try to look it up online, I can’t find it. Why?

Some scanned images have been rescanned and assigned new numbers. As well, some records have copyright restrictions which mean they can’t be shared on this site. If you send a copy of your photograph to us at [email protected] we may be able to help you find an updated scan and identifier number for you.

 

I think some of this information is wrong. How can I fix it?

While we’ve done our best to share correct and complete information, we know that it’s not perfect—yet! If you have anything to add to a record or if you have a correction, we want to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected] with the Identifier number in the email and the information you want to add or change, or call us at 403-309-8403.

 

How do I cite the images I download?

Proper citations are important to enable other researchers to find the original image and the additional information that goes with that. Our recommended minimum citation is “Red Deer Archives, [unique identifier]” such as “Red Deer Archives, P2928” or “Red Deer Archives, K15570.” You can see a unique identifier circled in green below. When you download an item from the archives, this will also be the name of the file (RedDeerArchives_E18919.jpg) so that should make it easier to remember.

There are some images where you should do a longer citation. If you see “Creator must be cited” in the Rights field (circled in red above), that means that you also need to add the information from the Creator field or the Source field. The longer citation could be “Red Deer Advocate, Red Deer Archives, P16324” or “Photographer: Greg Neiman. MG 327 Red Deer Advocate fonds, Red Deer Archives, P2747.”

If you need assistance with this, please reach out to us at [email protected] or via phone at 403-309-8403.

 

Tell me more about the Red Deer Archives

The Red Deer Archives section of The City of Red Deer acquires, preserves and makes available to the public both municipal and community records.