Everett Baker Photos
"What is most striking about these images, apart from the richness of color and the skillful use of light, are the happy, smiling faces: people seemingly brimming with a quiet pride that Baker wanted to take their photograph. Many who posed for him were rewarded with a few complimentary slides that he often sent as a thank you.”
–Bill Waiser, from Everett Baker’s Saskatchewan: Portraits of an Era
"Faces of Saskatchewan" - A tribute to the photography of Everett Baker. Video and photo restoration by Ken Dill.
If you are interested in accessing the Everett Baker photos in high resolution for professional use, please contact us with the reason for usage and the file names/numbers of the photos you are looking for (e.g., SHFS_5693).
Everett Baker (shown at left) was born in Minnesota in 1893. He came to Saskatchewan in 1917 as a door-to-door salesman. He was so successful that he was able to buy a half-section farm near Aneroid. In 1918 he married his childhood sweetheart, Ruth Hellebo, and the couple settled down to farm and raise a family.
From 1919 onwards, Baker became increasingly involved as an organizer in the co-operative movement. In 1937, he moved to North Battleford to take a job as a Field Man for the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. His job required him to travel from town to town, organizing and promoting Saskatchewan co-operatives.
In 1939, Baker bought a German 35 mm Leica camera. From then on, his travels allowed him to capture thousands of colour-slide photos of Saskatchewan and its people.
Everett Baker’s life-long interest in the province’s history also led him to become the first president of the newly-formed SHFS in 1957.
In 1958, Baker retired from the Wheat Pool, but he continued to travel and take photos of Saskatchewan for many years.
Shortly before his death in 1981, Everett Baker gifted his collection of nearly 10,000 slides to the Co-operative College of Canada. The collection found its way to SHFS, and the photos were made available to the public, as always intended by Everett Baker. The collection contains images of farming, ranching, historic landscapes, local communities, and Saskatchewan people from all walks of life.
The SHFS would like to acknowledge and thank the Western Development Museum for digitizing the Everett Baker Photos.
To see a starting collection of photos that relate to Indigenous peoples in the Everett Baker Collection, visit our Indigenous Photos page.
Where did Everett Baker take his Photos?
The different colored points represent different time ranges. Click on the arrow at the top left of the map to turn different time ranges on or off.
Baker took photos in many places across the countryside, but his photo locations are often only given as the nearest town.
This map shows photo locations only to the nearest existing community.
Each point represents a different photo, which are listed by number.
All information for this page is from:
Waiser, Bill, ed. Everett Baker’s Saskatchewan: Portraits of an Era. Fifth House Ltd., Calgary, Alberta, 2007.