University to digitize personal collection of Martha Kostuch

April 30, 2008

Athabasca University has acquired the digital rights to the personal collection of noted environmentalist Martha Kostuch. Dr. Kostuch died last week at the age of 58 at her home in Rocky Mountain House.

The collection consists of more than 100 boxes of letters, correspondence and personal notes from her 30 years at the forefront of Alberta's environmental movement. Dr. Kostuch, who was born in Minnesota and moved to Alberta in 1975, was best known for her opposition to the Oldman River Dam project in southern Alberta in the 1990's. She was also active with the province's Clean Air Strategic Alliance and the Canadian Environmental Network.

"It's an absolutely amazing collection," says Steve Schafer, Athabasca University's Director of Library Services. "It's a well organized and carefully assembled catalogue of the birth of the environmental movement in Alberta. Martha's collection will be a treasure trove for researchers and anyone interested in environmental issues."

Schafer says Dr. Kostuch's estate chose Athabasca because it's an open university. "She wanted to make sure that everyone had access to her collection. We intend to honour her wishes by digitizing the collection and making it available on the web for all to use."

Making the collection available on the internet will involve thousands of hours of sorting, cataloguing and digitizing the individual documents and letters, says Schafer.

Athabasca University President Frits Pannekoek is confident that with the support of the Alberta community, the financial support required to make this exciting collection available to public as soon as possible will be forthcoming.

"Dr. Kostuch has done much for Alberta and we consider ourselves honoured to have been entrusted to make her legacy available to all," he says. We welcome any support to make her papers available to students, to communities, and to scholars."

For more information contact:

John O'Brien

Manager of Media Relations

(403) 298-2931 – office

(403) 990-1131 – cell

jobrien@athabascau.ca

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Updated August 21, 2012