Government of Yukon
News archives
FOR RELEASE #05-167
June 20, 2005
A Yukon Love Story Brought To Life Through Yukon Archives Virtual Exhibit
WHITEHORSE - Community Services Minister Glenn Hart, on behalf of Tourism and Culture Minister Elaine Taylor, will unveil the on-line virtual exhibit A Yukon Romance: Claude and Mary Tidd tonight at a reception, beginning at 7 p.m., at the Yukon Archives.
The on-line exhibit, funded and supported by the Government of Yukon, Canadian Heritage and the Canadian Culture On-line Program, presents the amazing story of Claude and Mary Tidd who met and married in the Yukon at a time when few people called Yukon home.
Their unique story documents the years between 1919 and 1946 and may have been forgotten except for the descriptive letters Mary wrote to her family in the States, and the exquisite and exhaustive collection of images Claude made of Yukon communities' people, culture and landscape.
"Much of the collection digitized by the Yukon Archives was first collected from Mark and Myrna Ryder, Mary's twin brother and his wife, with donations made in the 1970s," Hart said. "Subsequent donations were made in the 1990s in conjunction with an exhibit created by Robin Armour. Now over 2000 Tidd photos will be added to the Yukon Archives Images Database."
A Yukon Romance: Claude and Mary Tidd documents Claude's early life as an RCMP officer who experienced Yukon's north while stationed at New Rampart House deep in Gwitchin traditional territory.
Mary, travelling north to begin her nursing career, was awed by the unparalleled beauty of the mountains, glaciers and islands on route to Skagway. There she boarded the S.S. Casca for the river trip to Fort Yukon.
Mary and Claude met in Dawson City, precipitating the beginning of a Yukon romance and a life that would take them to communities as far north as Old Crow, Forty Mile, Ross River and Whitehorse.
"The on-line virtual exhibit is an interactive site, including a curriculum component for high school students and a mapping game for people of all ages," Hart stated, noting that the Yukon Archives also partnered with the MacBride Museum, who offered artifacts from their own collection for digitization and for display at tonight's event.
The on-line virtual exhibit will be posted on the Tourism and Culture web site at http://www.yukonromance.ca/ with links from Archives Canada. Erling Friis-Baastad wrote the narrative for the exhibit. The design work was done by Outcrop Yukon.
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| Peter Carr | Karen Tremblay |
| Communications Advisor | A/Communications Officer |
| (867) 667-8688 | (867) 667-8304 |
| peter.carr@gov.yk.ca | karen.tremblay@gov.yk.ca |