Larson’s Garage, Eaglesham. — [1953-1954]. — 15 cm of textual records.
Agency History
The Larson family arrived in the Peace River Country in 1928 with 11 children from Minot, North Dakota. Syver Larson was a blacksmith by trade, and of necessity, they established a shop on the home farm, doing their own blacksmithing as well as the neighbours. As machinery became more sophisticated and there was more demand for automotive products, the blacksmith shop became a welding shop and then a garage. Ca. 1950, Reuben Larson moved the garage to the Village of Eaglesham. As well as selling gas, Larson’s Garage in Eaglesham sold J.I. Case Farm Implements, Mercury & Meteor cars, and BA Products as well as servicing cars and machinery and doing welding and general repairs. The garage, with Reuben Larson as manager appears to have closed ca. 1962
Custodial History
The records were preserved by Gordon Donaldson, who purchased Larson’s Garage ca. 1967, and deposited at South Peace Regional Archives by his son, Greg Donaldson, in 2012.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of 16 counter sales booklets and one book of cheque stubs, detailing the types of work, sales and expenses at Larson’s Garage in 1953 and 1954. Each counter slip contains the date, the name of the customer, the details of work done, and the price charged. Customers were mainly farmers in the neighbourhood, but also included companies such as United Geographic Drilling, the Northern Alberta Railway, and Spirit River School Division.