Jeff O’Brien carefully opens a Village of Saskatoon record book from the year 1903, the pages browned with age and filled with a severe cursive.

The City of Saskatoon archivist handles the book delicately in the city archives’ main storage area, which he calls a space within a space. For security reasons, it’s a place members of the public rarely get to enter, except on a tour. If something goes missing, it’s gone and there’s no replacing it, he says.