"The epic quality of the pioneer experience ... found its natural expression in the
auto-biography and the reminiscence. The raconteur, the teller of tales, whether tall or trustworthy, has always been a distinctive figure in frontier society ... a respected, even revered figure ... the most popular of all historians. Hence the dominance of the reminiscence as the most important element in prairie historiography ..."
 

Lewis Thomas
Saskatchewan Provincial Archivist, 1953