Opening the binder, she flips to one of her favourite photographs, a sepia image from the 1930s depicting two young lovers, strolling under the pine-tree cover of Norway Bay, carrying a metal pail together.

The binder is one of hundreds kept by the Bristol Quebec Historical Society since the organization’s founding three decades ago, each one documenting the historic homes and cottages of the area. Now, in the society’s 30th year, Twolan and other members are trying to expand that collection.

The collection started in 1994 when a small group of Norway Bay residents decided to get to work documenting some of the village’s many historic cottages.

The group spent winters scouring newspaper archives, old photographs, community newsletters and obituaries for anything related to the homes. Then, they spent summers filing the clippings in a series of binders, each one a living history of the residence sometimes containing generations worth of memories inside.

Bristol Quebec Historical Society member Connie Twolan displays one of her favourite photographs from the society’s binder collection: a sepia photo of two young lovers carrying a pail under the pine-tree cover of Norway Bay. Photo: K.C. Jordan

Over the years, the binder collection ballooned from a handful to a few hundred as the society and the cottage owners contributed clippings. Now housed in the town hall, community members are invited to come flip through the binders at any time, add documents to their own cottage’s binder, or even start a binder if one doesn’t exist already.

Twolan said a few years ago the society had a frank discussion about the direction of the society with a declining and aging membership.

“It was ‘Where do we go from here? Where do we see ourselves two years, five years, 10 years down the road?’” she said. “We want to focus on the history, and how do we do that best and use our time best? [ . . . ] We have a finite amount of resources.”

Members decided to leave the upkeep of the binders to the families and focus its efforts instead on capturing the history of the entire municipality, not just the cottages at Norway Bay.

As part of that plan, Twolan suggested the group meet every month to file content into new binders on various Bristol locations and topics, as they did on Apr. 24.

“We’ve got a binder now on Bristol Mines. We have a binder on Pontiac Station. We have a binder at Bristol north of the [highway] 148. We have binders on all the churches. We’re focusing more on community places versus individual binders,” she said.

At the Apr. 24 meeting members also discussed one of their priorities for the future – getting the collection online for all to see.

“I think we will see more virtual binders, on cottages and community places and activities, that are going to grow as the reach extends over time,” she said.

With about half the members it had at the beginning of the pandemic, the group wanted to make the best use of its current resources. Although many members are admittedly not technologically savvy, the group has been exploring options to bring in external help.

“We would love to bring in folks who have the technical skills and abilities that could help us in this activity [ . . . ] and we want to tap into other societies and what they’re doing.”

President Nancy Crain said the society is looking creatively at funding options.

“There’s certainly always grants available, [but] we do not have a not-for-profit status right now, so that sometimes limits the ability for us to access grants directly.”

Despite the large amount of work and small volunteer numbers, Crain said they are going to work hard to make this project a reality. “We’re a small but mighty group [ . . . ] Putting our plan and our strategy together is how we’re going to bite away at this elephant.”

Some of the society’s efforts have been focused on raising awareness about the binders, which are not necessarily known especially to new residents of Bristol and Norway Bay.

“It’s one of our challenges right now, individual families keeping their specific home binder alive, and how do you get that message out?” said Crain. “If something doesn’t exist for their cottage, they can build a binder.”
Twolan said beyond the digitization of its binders, the society is planning a number of other projects in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

Members recently discovered a book of photographs dating from the 1930s they dusted off from the basement of Bristol’s municipal hall, and are going to try to preserve the photographs digitally.

She said they are looking at organizing a walking tour starting in Norway Bay or Bristol Village, and are considering updating the historical signage within the community.

Twolan said the society is having discussions with other historical societies about what they are doing, and exploring the possibility of teaming up for future projects.

“We want to tap into other societies and what they’re doing, so that there’s lots of sharing, because things just don’t stop at the border of Bristol,” she said.

“Those are discussions we’re having right now as a committee where we’re looking at the pros and cons of what is the best avenue.”

In addition to the society’s annual coffee party which will happen in July, the society is planning a celebration for its 30th anniversary, which will happen sometime this summer.

Some binders have been better kept than others, including the four binders dedicated to the one at 1 chemin River, formerly inhabited by two Ottawa Citizen journalists who filled the binders with their own newspaper clippings, some of which featured articles about Norway Bay. Photo: K.C. Jordan

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