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Source : Bradford West Gwillimbury Times
Media Type : Photograph
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Community : Bradford
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Description : It was standing room only at a reception held to pay tribute to "Mr. History," Joe Saint, at the Bradford Public Library, August 5th. Saint has been a member of the Bradford West Gwillimbury Local History Association since it was founded on March 1, 1990. He was for years the unofficial historian of Bradford, with a wealth of anecdotes about the early years of the town, and a collection of photos and information on Births, Deaths and Marriages, culled from newspapers and other sources dating back to the mid-1800s. And he shared the information he gathered, enlivening meetings of the Local History Association, the Scotch Settlement Historical Society, the Tecumseth-West Gwillimbury Historical Society, assisting with historical walking tours of Bradford, and working with fellow-historian George Jackson and architects to compile "The Historical Buildings of Bradford." Local History Assoc. co-founder Barbara Verney said, "His knowledge of Bradford West Gwillimbury is so extensive, which made our meetings so interesting. If we wanted to know something, it was always, "Ask Joe!" What has been so marvelous is his memory. He is like a walking history book." His copious records are now among the resources available at the Library's Local History Room, as the "Joe Saint Collection", filed and indexed for the ease of use - and the vital statistics he compiled make up a key part of the library's online database, ibidnet."It's a marvelous resource, and that resource is used all over the world," Library CEO Liz Fenwick told Saint."It has been one of our best investments - and we're so pleased you started us on it."