Woman discovers mystery scrapbook about P.E.I. centennial in her Sask. home

Maureen Kolot has had boxes of her late mother's things stored in a little room since inheriting them in 2001. Eighteen years later, Kolot made an unexpected discovery.

She was going through her mother's stuff when she found a  scrapbook that collected items from P.E.I.'s centennial in 1973. The strange thing about that, Kolot said, is her mother had never been to P.E.I.

The origin of the scrapbook is unknown.

"It's a total mystery but it was really interesting reading," she said. 

One theory Kolot presented is that the book might have been in her family's possession because of her aunt, an antiques dealer

The only clue is a set of initials — "G.C.P." — written after a quick note near the back of the book, beneath a pamphlet dated Sunday, Dec. 31, 1972.

"I didn't recognize the print, it wasn't my mothers," Kolot said. "I couldn't imagine whose it was." 

Now Kolot hopes to find the owner and return the hand-crafted, string-bound book. 

One of the pieces in the book that Kolot found most interesting was an article that talked about how many in P.E.I hadn't been fond of the decision to join Canada in 1873. 

"But they had a huge celebration for the hundredth anniversary," she said. 

Sitting with the green scrapbook, with its with its thick, worn pages, Kolot said it would have taken a lot of time and thought about how to put it together. Kolot hopes maybe someone will step forward and know who it belonged to or give it a new home. 

"I would love to find out someday who G.C.P. is."

Kolot said the scrapbook could go in a museum or archives somewhere, as it was kept in remarkable shape. She said people don't make scrapbooks like this any more. 

"It is a lost art."