Yukon history buffs, meet your new favourite Facebook page
Membership in the Yukon History and Abandoned Places Facebook pages soared in 2018
A local historian and creator of a popular Facebook page in Yukon says the site has become a place Yukoners turn to for information about their shared history.
"It is just so incredible the stories that come out of this group, the pictures. the stories are things that have just never been published before so it's really exciting for someone like me," said the creator, Murray Lundberg.
The Facebook page, Yukon History and Abandoned Places, had 10,700 members as of mid-December.
It existed for about four years with several hundred members, said Lundberg, but didn't take off until 2018, when membership surged, taking on hundreds of new members per day at times.
Lundberg insists people only report facts with no rumours or speculation. People make mistakes, he said, but are often quickly corrected by other members.
"Individual memory is not all that reliable, but once you get into collective memory like this, it's pretty infallible," he said.
A common occurrence is that people post about something they remember from the past, triggering a flood of memories from other members.
In the past month, for example a former Yukoner posted a photo of a long-gone movie theatre that had been on Main Street in Whitehorse.
It prompted dozens of replies from people who saw their first movie there as children or other experiences they had.
Lundberg believes the page is cementing the bond between Yukoners.
"People all of a sudden are realizing just how much we have in common here," he said. "And I think given what's going on in the world right now I think that's really important."
The Facebook page has really struck a nerve, said Whitehorse resident and amateur historian Donna Clayson.
"People were very excited," she said. "And every day you're going to see new pictures and more stories. So this is just exploding."
Clayson says long time residents are attracted by the nostalgia associated with talking about the old days, while newer residents want to learn about it.