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  • Kids and a Kitty!

    Apr 30th, 2013 by

    While Sam Steele was serving with the South African Constabulary in 1901, his young family remained in Montreal for a time, eventually reuniting with him later that next year in Pretoria. But while they were parted, Marie and Sam continued their custom of writing each other faithfully and lamenting the distance that separated them. Marie, knowing Sam missed seeing his three young children, booked photography sessions for hers ... read full post

  • Soldiers of the Queen

    Mar 25th, 2013 by

    There are quite a few pieces of sheet music in the Sam Steele papers held at Bruce Peel Special Collections Library at the University of Alberta. One piece of music recently caught my attention, because Marie Steele refers to it a few times when writing her husband Sam who in in South Africa fighting in the Boer War. The particular music is titled “Soldiers of the Queen”, and in her letters written in 1900 Marie mentions how ... read full post

  • Happy Family Day!

    Feb 18th, 2013 by

    It is Family Day in Alberta, as well as in many other places in Canada, so I wanted to post a picture of the Steele family to honor the occasion! This particular picture was taken in 1916 when the family was living in Kent, England. At this time, two of the Steele children – son Harwood and eldest daughter Flora were serving in the military. Harwood enlisted with the Canadian Infantry in May of 1915 and saw active service in ... read full post

  • Brrrr!!!

    Jan 29th, 2013 by

    Waking up in the Edmonton area today, we were greeted with temperatures hovering near 29 degrees below zero – not so unusual for January in Alberta! It always strikes me, when working with historical documents, how obsevations and comments about weather strike a truly common chord. As humans, we seem to have a need to discuss, comment (and in our case today – commiserate) about the weather! And observations about the weather ... read full post

  • Sam ‘s 165th Birthday!

    Jan 5th, 2013 by

    Sam as a baby ... read full post

  • Season’s Greetings!

    Dec 6th, 2012 by

    Interesting items fill the Steele family archives housed at the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library! In honour of the Christmas season, I thought I would share a few of the items that bring this season to mind. ... read full post

  • Armistice Day 1918

    Nov 6th, 2012 by

    With November 11th rapidly approaching, I thought it would be interesting to look at what Sam recorded in his diary on this historic day in 1918. Sam, at this point in time, was not at all well. He was bedridden with the flu and other ailments that would end his life in only a short two months following this Armisitce Day. His diary entries for most of the days in the four or five months before his death often contain only on ... read full post

  • Video Blog 3: Law and Order in the Yukon

    Sep 21st, 2012 by

    In the third Sam Steele Video Blog, tour guide Samantha investigates an escape note from Steele’s time with the NWMP in the Klondike. ... read full post

  • Video Blog 2: Sam Steele Goes to the Boer War

    Sep 13th, 2012 by

    In the second installment of the Sam Steele Video Series, tour guide Paul takes you to the eve of the Boer War with an interesting letter from a couple young volunteers for the Lord Strathcona’s Horse. If you want to see the letter for yourself the exhibit is open until September 30th at the Enterprise Square Gallery (10230 Jasper Ave) in Edmonton, Alberta. ... read full post

  • Video Blog 1: Sam the Family Man

    Sep 7th, 2012 by

    Welcome to the Sam Steele Video Blog Series!The end of the Sam Steele: Journey of a Canadian Hero is fast approaching and we wanted to make give everyone interested in Steele but unable to visit Edmonton a chance to see a little bit of what is on display.The first video comes from our tour guide Julie and it is about her favourite part of the exhibt, Sam the family man and the letters and photographs of his wife and children. ... read full post

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