Uncovering your own past through digital archives

Krenare Recaj

MA graduate | History

student wearing cap and gown poses while seated on a bench When students conduct research, they expect to encounter a wide range of documents, theories and perspectives to support their critical inquiry, but what they probably don’t expect to encounter is an historical image of themselves.

This is what happened to Krenare Recaj, who graduated in spring 2021 with her MA in History. Looking through the online archives of Pier 21 Museum of Immigration in 2019, she stumbled upon a photo of herself, her sisters, and a stranger. The photo was labelled, “Photograph of Kosovar refugees at CFB Borden, 1999,” but no other information was provided.When students conduct research, they expect to encounter a wide range of documents, theories and perspectives to support their critical inquiry, but what they probably don’t expect to encounter is an historical image of themselves.

While Krenare’s mother was unaware that the photo even existed, she remembered the events surrounding the photograph, and was able to provide context: it had been taken at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, not Borden, and the booklets held up by Krenare and her sisters in the photo contained their fingerprints. Krenare’s mother then located a box within her home with the exact fingerprint booklets that served to identify the young girls as refugees.