Alberta's Estonian Heritage Website

A website about Alberta's Estonian heritage, www.albertasource.ca/abestonians, was officially launched in 2008. The website, which currently includes hundreds of articles and approximately 1,200 images, continues to grow and develop. The website (stored at the University of Alberta) is organized into five sections: History, People, Communities, Cultural Life and Multimedia Resources.

The website is designed for use by young students as well as adults interested in their heritage or genealogy and historical researchers. Consequently, the language is simple but the content is extensive.

The idea for the website originated with the collection of a large volume of materials during production of the Alberta's Estonians DVD. Only some of these resources could be included on the DVD, and members of the Alberta Estonian Heritage Society agreed that they needed to be accessible to as wide an audience as possible.

Initial work was done in cooperation with the now-defunct Heritage Community Foundation, headed by Dr. Adriana Davies. Funding for the project was provided by the Community Initiatives program of the Alberta government and the New Horizons for Seniors program of the Canadian government. This project would not have been possible without the generous sharing of images, records and other materials by the members of the AEHS and their families and friends.

A celebration of the project took place in Red Deer on May 3, 2008, with government leaders and other honoured guests in attendance. In addition to speeches and a demonstration of the website, the event featured a display of Estonian national costumes belonging to the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery.