Time stood still when
Arthur Adair Brooke’s
watercolours were offered to
a small community museum in
Salmon Arm, British Columbia.
The Salmon Arm Museum was
being offered a priceless
gift.
   Part of a body of work, a
significant collection

created by a member of
Canada’s pioneering
community, was making its way
back “home” from the United
States. The collection of
paintings span a period of
time, documenting rural life
in the Mt. Ida District of
“the Valley” near Salmon Arm,
and show baby Ruth growing up

in a farming community. The
record is precious.
   It is evident that the
painter poured his heart out
as he captured his little
girl on paper creating a
narrative in watercolour
form. Described by artists
and archivists as a
remarkable treasure, the

collection is a significant
record of time and place, a
commentary on social history,
and a virtual window into the
early settlement history of
western Canada.
   The Story of Ruth begins
October 5, 1921. The gate
swings shut at Asterfield, a
farm and residence of Annie