The post-war years 1947-1986.(Historical Society of Alberta )

After being inactive during World War Two, the Historical Society of Alberta resumed activities in 1947. Since that time, annual meetings have been held on a regular basis. At first, the activities after 1947 initially continued in much the same vein as in the pre-war years, particularly with respect to historic sites in the province and lobbying the provincial government on matters of historical interest.

The Society was quite loosely organized. The members elected to the executive met from to time when business required. The committee structure was not much developed. The only committee of significance prior to 1954 was the Historic Sites Committee which was most important to the Society's aims. A Program Committee for drawing up a list of speakers for monthly meetings, and a Nominating Committee for the nomination of those to be elected to the executive, existed more or less informally.

During the 1950s, the HSA began to develop a tighter administrative structure and organization as the Society grew. A significant event in 1953 was the inauguration of the Alberta Historical Review as a quarterly publication. This publication was funded for a short time by the provincial Department of Economic Affairs. It quickly became the major activity of the Society.

A problem which led to the group's better organization was the desire to involve people throughout the province. In 1948, "district conveners" were appointed from various centres in the province. By 1952 there had been twelve persons informally appointed to take charge of district committees for the purpose of gathering historical source material. These conveners, enthusiastic but with little impact on the Society, were located at Fort Macleod, High River, Medicine Hat, Calgary, Drumheller, Red Deer, Wetaskiwin, Camrose, Vegreville, Jasper, Peace River, Grand Prairie, and St. Paul.

In 1954, the Society began to consider the question of organizing branches beyond Edmonton, where its activities still were centred. In 1955, a "Special Committee on Re-Organization" was struck, with the purpose of finding some way to establish province-wide participation in the Society. In 1958, a Calgary Branch was established, and this forced discussion of the nature of the Society's organization. Finally, in October, 1959, by-laws were adopted defining the membership, government, and structure of the Society and its branches.

The official recognition of the Calgary Branch of the HSA resulted in 1960 in the "First Annual Provincial Meeting" of the Society. The official minute book from 1907 to 1959 was transferred to the custody of the provincial organization, and branches were established in Calgary and Edmonton in accordance with an administrative structure generally laid out by the provincial Society's by-laws.

In 1960, a Lethbridge branch of the Society was established. Nine years later, the three branches in Edmonton, Calgary, and Lethbridge were renamed the Amisk Waskahegan Chapter, Chinook Country Chapter, and Whoop-up Country Chapter respectively. From 1960, the branches or chapters received financial subsidies from the central provincial organization in the form of "rebates." In 1995, the Central ...