The Royal Saskatchewan Museum, the provincial government and residents of Stanley Mission are working to preserve items from the Holy Trinity Anglican Church.
Pieces of paper and some hand tools were found under the floor of the building last summer when renovation work was being done on the historic structure.
Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sports spokesperson Janette Hamilton says one item was a piece of the British newspaper The Times of London.
“Dated Monday, September 25, 1854 and then another piece of paper, a much smaller piece that is titled ‘Key to the Cree Syllabic System’ and that has a chart with English letters and Cree syllabics,” she says.
Hamilton says the papers and tools were apparently left behind accidentally by a worker during the construction period.
They will eventually be part of a museum display which will be located in the church once the renovation work is completed.
The renovation will include painting the inside and outside of the church and preserving the stained glass windows which were transported from England.
The documents must also be cleaned and mounted to meet provincial museum standards.
The work on the church can only be done during the summer and is expected to take another two years.