Summary information
| Repository: | South Peace Regional Archives |
| Title: | Martha-Mary Ladies Aid from Bethany Church fonds |
| Reference code: | 0720 |
| Date: | 1933-11-03 – 1993-11-18 (date of creation) |
| Physical description: | 10 cm of textual records
5 photographs |
| Language: | English |
| Language: | Norwegian |
| Dates of creation, revision and deletion: | Arrangement and description of material from 2015.083 completed by Luke Harasen on 2025-09-18. |
Administrative history / Biographical sketch
The Martha-Mary Ladies Aid from Bethany Church was a charitable organization operating out of Bethany Church and around Valhalla, Alberta. Originally founded on November 5th, 1933, the Martha and Mary Ladies Aid’s founding executives was Mrs. M.C. Olson as president, Mrs. A. Jonassen as vice president, and Mrs. H. Beck as secretary treasurer. Other charter members were Mrs. Loberg, Mrs. Krantz, Mrs. Bjorgufson, Mrs. Omlid, Mrs. Arneson, and Mrs. Amundson.
The group would typically begin their meetings with prayer or song, after which they would conduct the business of the meeting and work on handcrafts. The group collected funds through donations, organizing events, and by selling crafts and baking made by its members. The money collected by Martha-Mary Ladies Aid were used to support local efforts like building and maintaining Bethany Church, as well as international causes like donating to the Canadian and Norwegian Red Cross during the Second World War.
Plans to build Bethany Church began in January of 1935 when $50 were set aside to begin funding the project. The first organized Bethany congregation was formed in 1936 with Reverend T.J. Vikse as their first pastor. The chapel was built during the summer of 1938 and would be jointly owned by the congregation and the ladies aid group.
The Martha-Mary Ladies Aid from Bethany Church would continue operating until 1993 when it held its last craft and bake sale.
Custodial history
The Martha-Mary Ladies Aid from Bethany Church fonds remained with the organization’s last president, Dorothea Omlid, until she donated the records to the South Peace Regional Archives in 2015.
Scope and content
Fonds consists of records accumulated through the activities of the Martha-Mary Ladies Aid from Bethany Church between 1933 and 1993. Records include written history of the organization, photographs of its events and members, financial documents, and books of meeting minutes spanning the group’s existence.
Notes
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title taken from the organization’s name as written on the gift agreement.
Arrangement
Fonds is arranged into series based on record record types and the functions they served. The fonds arrived with little in the way of recognizable organization, but the secretary books of minutes were mostly kept together by the donor. Series were arranged alphabetically within the fonds.
Access points
- Textual record (documentary form)
- Graphic material – photograph (documentary form)
- Religion (subject)
- Women (subject)
Table of contents
0720.02, Financial Records, 1933-11-03 – 1953-11-14
0720.03, Secretary Books, 1933-11-05 – 1993-11-09
Series descriptions
| Series 0720.01: History
Date: 1948 – 1993 (date of creation) Scope and content: Series consists of records collected for the purpose of documenting the Martha-Mary Ladies Aid from Bethany Church and their history. Record types include photographs of members and events, a written summary of the group’s history, and an article about their last handiwork and bake sale event. Physical description: 0.1cm of textual records 5 photographs Access points: • Graphic material – photograph (documentary form) • Textual record (documentary form) Publication status: Published |
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| File / item list | |||
| Reference code | Title | Dates | Physical description |
| 0720.01.01 | Item – Birgit Omlid headed for Ladies Aid 1948 | 1948 | 1 photograph : b&w ; 7 x 11.5 cm + 1 sticky note |
| Scope and content:
Item depicts a woman in a horse-drawn sleigh in front of a house with a child to her right in the foreground and woman looking on behind her. |
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| 0720.01.02 | Item – No. 282 Martha-Mary Ladies Aid on 20th anniversary | 1957-11-08 | 1 photograph : b&w ; 9.1 x 9 cm + sticky note |
| Scope and content:
Item depicts four women standing behind a table with two cakes and a vase of flowers with one man standing off to the right. The people are identified by a note on the back of the photo listing them as from left to right, as Mrs. Jonason, Mrs. M, Olson, Birgit Bjorgufson, Birgit Omlid, and Mr. P. Loberg. |
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| 0720.01.03 | Item – Martha Mary Ladies Aid early 1980’s | 198- | 1 photograph : col. ; 8.8 x 13.1 cm |
| Scope and content:
Item depicts nine women posing together for a photo inside of Bethany Church. An inscription in pen on the back identifies the women as Bernice Kjemhus, Dorothea Omlid, Caroline Roset, Margit Thomson, Audrey Everton, Anna Severson, Ingeborg Jerstad, Gunhild, Solheim and Vivian Lee. |
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| 0720.01.04 | Item – 1988 Martha-Mary Ladies Aid | 1988 | 1 photograph : col. ; 8.8 x 12.6 cm |
| Scope and content:
Item depicts ten women posing for a photo, three seated in the front and the rest standing behind, in Bethany Church. Writing in pen on the back identifies the women as Vivian Lee, Bernice Kjemhus, Caroline Roset, Laureen Dane, Audrey Everton, Margit Thomson, Gunhild Solheim, Marie Lee, Dorothea Omlid, and Anna Severson. |
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| 0720.01.05 | Item – Martha Mary Ladies Aid Sale | 199- | 1 photograph : col. ; 10.1 x 15.1 cm |
| Scope and content:
Item depicts the interior of Bethany Church with women sitting in pews facing toward hanging goods and a table of baking. Two women, identified as Gunhild Solheim and Caroline Roset by writing on the back of the photo, sit behind the table of baking. |
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| 0720.01.06 | Item – History of the Martha & Mary Ladies Aid of Bethany Congregation; Peace River Circuit; Canada District | 195-? | 0.1cm of textual records (7 pages) |
| Scope and content:
Item provides a written historical summary of the Martha-Mary Ladies Aid organization and its activities from its beginning on November 5th, 1933 up to March of 1952. |
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| 0720.01.07 | Item – The End of an Era – Bethany Ladies Published by the Hythe Headliner; submitted by Olive Stickney |
1993-11-18 | 1 page of textual records |
| Creator:
Hythe Headliner Scope and content: Item is an article from the Hythe Headliner written by Stickney reporting on the last sale held by the Martha-Mary Ladies Aid of Bethany Church. |
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| Series 0720.02: Financial Records
Date: 1933-11-03 – 1953-11-14 (date of creation) Scope and content: Series consists of donation and transaction records in the form of correspondence, receipts, notebooks, and a ledger book. Physical description: 4.5cm of textual records Language of the material: English Norwegian Access points: • Textual record (documentary form) Arrangement: Arranged chronologically Publication status: Published |
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| Series 0720.03: Secretary Books
Date: 1933-11-05 – 1993-11-09 (date of creation) Scope and content: Series consists of books containing the minutes of meetings held by the Martha-Mary Ladies Aid of Bethany Church between 1933 and 1993. Physical description: 6.4cm of textual records (5 books) Language of the material: English Norwegian Access points: • Textual record (documentary form) Arrangement: Arranged chronologically and by book number Publication status: Published |
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