Schreiber Historical Society Welcomes Local Author to its Annual General Meeting

The Schreiber Historical and Archives Society held its annual meeting at the Schreiber Public Library. The archives exists in conjunction with the library as source for preserving the history of the township of Schreiber. There was a special guest this evening as the society had invited local artist and author Katy Speziale to use the event to introduce her new book, the Empowered Creator.

Chairperson Donna Mikeluk started the meeting by asking for approval of the agenda. The first item up was the carrying of the minutes from the previous meeting. Included in the Annual report was a breakdown of the activities of the society over the last year. 

The historical society had spearheaded a partnership with the Terrace Bay Schreiber newspaper and the Terrace Bay and Schreiber libraries to have copyright use of all content of the newspaper. A digitization project had been funded in order to preserve all existing copies of the paper and now exists as online accessible content for anyone wishing to peruse old editions of the newspaper. As a result of the partnership the library was able to implement a digital archive of the local history collection of pictures and written articles. The “our digital world” content can be accessed through both libraries websites.

Another interesting tie in for the historical society involves the Schreiber Media Centre which has been producing local content stories for just over 3 years. All SMC content already exists as digital content and will now be preserved for future generations as part of the Historical society's archive programme. As Donna explained, having a social history documented has been a great asset. The society has also become a partner with the recently opened Discovery Centre and Railroad Museum and has provided material for the displays in the Discovery centre. 

The patch of friends and quilting centre also fall under the umbrella of the Historical Society and promote community involvement of local residents.

Kim Krause from the Schreiber Media Centre was asked to give a brief update on the activities of the media centre. Kim concentrated on the value that the media centre has added to the community and how he hopes to increase focus on the community television aspect of the project. SMC has in the past had an over 80% viewership just within the community but that number had dwindled as the shift to more civic news content took priority with council meetings and board meeting currently filling most of the content.

This year there will be a bigger push for community involvement and working with other groups in town to promote local stories that touch the community. Kim believes that the media centre has the potential to drive economic development as the increased exposure creates interest and possible  tourism opportunities for the area.

Next up was the special guest presentation. Katy Speziale thanked the committee for inviting her to this special event. She then did a reading of the first few pages that highlighted her journey of exploration and ultimately writing the book. The overall message of the book centred around personal  growth and consciousness. Having been a painter most of her life she found that at times, creative blocks would often appear and hinder her ability to function and actually complete her works. Katy stresses that often stepping back and re evaluating goals can often redirect energy to find success in creativity. Her four “I”s framework has given her the ability to move forward when feeling blocked creatively. They are: Imagination, Inspiration, Intuition and Ignite.

Writing the book has been empowering for Katy and her wish is to help others achieve their goals and break down the barriers blocking creativity. During the presentation Katy revealed that her inspiration for the book came from her grandmother, Georgia Cebrario, who also sits on the board of the Historical society. Many years ago, Georgia had written a book about her family with the intention of preserving her families Ukranian heritage. She presented it to Katy one Christmas when Katy was just 10 years old. Katy then asked her grandmother to talk about her book which had been published years before. 

Members where then given the opportunity to ask questions, followed by Katie donating a copy of the book to the library. The meeting closed and a small reception was held in the library to celebrate the book launch.