‘Pieces of his history: Winnipeg woman returns long-lost photo album to original owner

A Winnipeg woman helped solve a mystery and reunite family photos found in her home with the rightful owners. Daniel Halmarson reports.

A Winnipeg woman has finally solved a mystery that baffled her family for decades – and returned a treasure trove of memories from a bygone era to its rightful owner.

Tanya Busch’s father bought a home in Point Douglas back in 1987. A few years later, he discovered a photo album between some ceiling tiles while renovating the basement.

The sepia-toned pictures of a young boy, a beekeeper, and others didn’t have any identifiers on them and the family was left wondering just who the people were.

“We kept the album in our family safe,” Tanya Busch told CTV News. “We pulled it out as a conversation topic and occasionally tried to find out who was in there.”

Busch’s father passed away earlier this year, and she said the loss served as the catalyst she needed to find the album’s rightful owner.

“It was something we had shared together – this fascination about the history of our home,” she explained. “I wanted to bring everything full circle in honour of my dad and the fact he loved this house so much.”

She turned to the Winnipeg Reddit community for help and within a couple of days, she finally had the answer.

“One helpful Redditor was able to find a wedding announcement for Mr. Edward Swiecicki,” she said.

On Monday, Busch visited Swiecicki at his home in Winnipeg and handed the album over to him.

“I was a little bit nervous but very excited to connect him with pieces of his history,” Busch said.

Ed Swiecicki was only a child when the photos were taken outside of the Point Douglas home he grew up in, and thinks the photos were likely taken in the early-to-mid 1940’s.

“Like anywhere else, you know, there’s good things and bad things, but it was good to live there,” the now 89-year-old recalled.

He said the beekeeper featured in the album is his father, who kept the insects as a hobby.

“He kept bees in the old country – in Poland,” Swiecicki explained. “It was having bees that enabled him to scratch together enough money to come to Canada.”

Swiecicki said he couldn’t remember the last time he had seen the photos but is thankful Busch was able to reunite him with memories from a bygone era.

“She certainly had an adventure [finding me] and I guess she likes people and genealogy.”

Busch said she’s just happy the photo album is back where it belongs.

“I think it’s just something really special to make connections with people,” she said. “And it almost feels like they’re family now because we did grow up in the exact same house… just 50 years apart.”