THUNDER BAY – LIVING – Friends of Grain Elevators (FOGE), a locally based, charitable organization, announced it is thrilled and grateful to receive funding from Library and Archives Canada (LAC) under the Documentary Heritage Communities Program (DHCP). The $50,000 grant will allow the group to complete the transcription and professional archiving of their award-winning (2019 Ontario Historical Society President’s Award) Voices of the Grain Trade oral history collection. Work will begin immediately and completed by March 2024. Only 38 of these awards were made this year across Canada.
The Voices collection holds over 200 interviews with local and regional grain trade workers reflecting on their experiences in Thunder Bay’s and Canada’s grain industry. “Our collection is a unique, personal snapshot of Thunder Bay’s central role in developing Canada’s export grain trade,” comments Nancy Perozzo, secretary of FOGE. “We are so pleased that this LAC grant makes it possible to spread our story worldwide. Thunder Bay deserves to take pride in this exciting piece of local and national history.”
Friends of Grain Elevators shares LAC’s belief that this project will enhance the digital accessibility of their collection, which currently exists in part on their website (friendsofgrainelevators.org). By 2024, the collection will also have a permanent home in the Lakehead University digital archives for generations of future use. The group hopes the increased availability of their collection will inspire interest in Thunder Bay’s grain-industry history—a monumental achievement—which is largely unknown, even by locals.
About Friends of Grain Elevators: Friends of Grain Elevators (FOGE) is a non-profit, charitable organization based in Thunder Bay, ON. Founded in 2003, the organization has worked to preserve and promote Thunder Bay’s unique contributions to the Canadian grain industry through public events, displays, and digital collections. The organization saves historic and modern grain trade photographs, memorabilia, artifacts, and stories, which are available on their website (friendsofgrainelevators.org) and Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofgrainelevators).