Duo captures living history

NEW?GLASGOW - More than 60 years ago, Corrine Day and her family posed for neighbour Don McGarva as he collected images of some of Pictou County's most notable people.
This fall, she posed again, this time for a collection of photos taken by Philip MacKenzie and Clyde Macdonald.
"Corrine was a neighbour of McGarva's, and she was included with her family - this would be back in 1952 or 1953," MacKenzie explained. "She's still here, in the exact same house still."
Day's picture is among the more than 600 photos included in a tribute inspired by McGarva's work. Two books of photos - one from New Glasgow, the other from Pictou - have been taken since October, featuring people from all walks of life.
That's one of the areas where this project diversifies from McGarva's. His work was more of a who's who of Pictou County, said MacKenzie.
"I have more of a variety," he said. "Every rung of the ladder, every walk of life. He focused on successful people, but this is for everyone."
McGarva took seven years to gather his photos, while the digital age allowed MacKenzie and Macdonald to collect images for both books in just three months.
"This is a priceless project for the community. These people in it are part of the history of the towns right now," MacKenzie said, adding that some of his favourite images were pictures of veterans taken at the Pictou Legion and Northumberland Veteran's Unit on Remembrance Day.
Originally, MacKenzie and Macdonald had only planned on taking photos for a New Glasgow book, which has been dedicated to the memory of Dr. Howard Locke. But Beth Henderson with the Pictou Historical Photograph Society approached the duo and asked them to tackle the same project in the town. From there, a second book - this one dedicated to Pictou historian Don MacIsaac - was born.
In addition to the snapshots of faces that make up the living history of both towns, items in the background will likely be of interest to people in the future, Macdonald added. Many of the images were taken in local stores, so viewers will be able to spot things like grocery prices of the day, while many of the photos were taken during the downtown New Glasgow revitalization project, which will include a lot of that work in the background.
"Even the clothes and the way we combed our hair, our vehicles," said Macdonald.
People were enthusiastic about participating in the project, he added.
"Philip and I sensed the same kind of reaction from these people - that they felt they were going to be part of history with this project."
The project was made financially possible by Macdonald, while the duo had help with the Pictou project by Joan Heighton, Paul Landry and Art MacDonald.
The two books have now been passed on to the Pictou County Roots Society and are available for viewing. The New Glasgow Library plans to scan the images and put them in an online collection, hopefully by this spring, so they can be viewed by people around the world.