Living Skies Regional Council Archives: Centennial Photograph Request

Do you hold a favourite photograph of your Community of Faith? Tucked in boxes, albums, or on your phone, is there a picture of yourself or loved ones past that makes you smile or reflect?

The Living Skies Archives is on a quest to receive digital copies of the photos that embody the ethos, activities, and life of your United Church. As the United Church of Canada celebrates and reflects on its Centennial, we are looking to gather and share images that help us remember our Story.

The Archives will be moving in the Spring/Summer 2025 and, unfortunately, we will not be able to provide high quality copies of images that are currently in the Archives. We are asking for your help in obtaining digital copies of images of your Community of Faith so we can share them with the Region and the wider Church, and preservte them in our Archives.

Deadline

The sooner the better! And for real: March 28, 2025

Steps to Donate

Please follow the steps below to donate your photographs.

Assess and select excellent photographs

Is it clear? Everyone in frame? Well taken? Would you put it on your fridge?

Is it similar to other photographs you’d like to donate? Aim to choose a representative sampling of a larger event, activity, or person.

Does it reflect the ethos, activities, and people of your Community of Faith?

Describe each photograph the best you can (a little bit of mystery is okay)

  • Who is in the photo?
  • When and where was it taken?
  • Why (occasion)?
  • What is happening in the photo?
  • Who took the photo?

Technical Recommendations (to follow if possible)

Please rename each digital photo as: LSRC_YOURLASTNAME_FIRSTINITIAL_COMMUNITYOFFATH_1 (or 2, 3, etc.). This way we can track who has donated the photo and know who to ask if we have questions. “Community of Faith” is used here in the broadest possible way, and while it will most often mean your United Church, it could mean many things like your Presbytery, your summer camp, your Conference, etc.

LSRC_ACLAND_E_KNOXSASKATOON_1

LSRC_MCCARTHY_S_CAMPTAPAWINGO_8

If you have a physical photograph, if you can, please scan at 300 ppi, with a minimum of 3000 pixels for the longest measurement. You may be able to do this with your home scanner, at the library, and –almost certainly– at a business, like Staples.

Save as an uncompressed tiff and/or a high-quality jpeg. Ideally both!

Don’t have a scanner, but are an ace with your smartphone or DSLR camera? While it may not be the best quality, you’re welcome to take a photo of your physical photograph with your camera and send the digital image to us. Please watch out for glare, shadows, and make sure the photo is as clear as possible

Gift it to the Living Skies Archives

When emailing the photograph and description to the Living Skies Archives please include an explanation of how it came to be in your possession:

I took it at our Church Fall Supper in 1997.

It was in a box of my Grandmother’s photo albums, which I found when she died in1989. My Grandmother was Edith Smythe, UCW president at Knox for a long time.

In your email to the Archives, please include the following:

I hereby agree to transfer digital ownership and share copyright (in so far as I hold it) to The Living Skies Regional Council.  These images may be made available for research, copying, reproduction, and other public uses.

Please include your contact information.

Send your description, gift notation, and your high-quality jpeg/tiff images as attachments via email(s) to eacland@united-church.ca

Want to gift your original photograph, or slide, or negative? Please be in touch.

Have questions? Reach out!

Erin Acland & Leanne Templeton

Acting Living Skies Archivist,

Archives e-mail: livingskiesarchives@united-church.ca

Thank you!