REGINA — As the Royal Canadian Legion celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2026, Regina's Branch 001 is marking the milestone with a major step toward preserving Saskatchewan's military history for future generations.
The Regina Branch 001 Museum and Archives, in partnership with the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Regina, has launched a new online digital collection featuring more than 2,000 historical photographs, letters, documents, and other records documenting military life in Saskatchewan.
The Regina Legion Museum houses more than 5,000 artifacts spanning from 1885 to the present day. Its collections tell the stories of veterans and military families from Regina, Swift Current, Moose Jaw, Lumsden, and numerous small communities across southern Saskatchewan— including some communities that no longer exist.
The collection includes uniforms, medals, photographs, newspapers, scrapbooks, books, correspondence, and personal documents that preserve the experiences of those who served both overseas and on the home front.
Visitors can now explore a growing portion of the collection online through MemorySask. While thousands of items are now available online, the museum's full collection of more than 5,000 artifacts is available to researchers and visitors by request, allowing the public to view these unique pieces of Saskatchewan's military history in person.
"It's taken a lot of work," said Kelsey Lonie, Executive Director and Chief Historian of RUSI Regina and Collections Manager of the Regina Branch 001 Museum and Archives. "Before I was hired, nothing had been digitized or transcribed. With a team of dedicated volunteers and University of Regina interns, we have transcribed whatever is written on the back of each photograph, postcard, or letter, digitized each item, and made it fully searchable on MemorySask. Our goal is to make our military history accessible and help people discover their own family members among the faces in the collection."
The project was made possible through the support of the Saskatchewan Council for Archives and Archivists, SaskCulture, and Sask Lotteries.
Because many historic photographs are without names or identifying information, the museum is asking the public for help. Anyone who recognizes an individual in the digital collection is encouraged to email museum@reginalegion.com with the photograph's unique identification number to assist in identifying those pictured. Digitization efforts are ongoing, with thousands more artifacts still to be processed and added to the online collection.
The Regina Branch 001 Museum and Archives is open to the public Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission is free, and donations are always welcome. The museum is located at 1820 Cornwall Street, Regina. Visitors are welcome to tour the museum during open hours, and members of the public who wish to view specific artifacts or archival materials can arrange access by contacting the museum in advance.
