In December 1907 William Baikie left Denman Island to return to his ancestral home in the Orkney Islands for a visit. The outbound trip is documented in the postcards he sent back to his wife Lena on Denman Island, which were saved by his young daughter Winnie and added to her postcard collection. Winnie Baikie’s collection of around 100 postcards from the first two decades of the 20th century is in the Denman Archives.

Some of William’s cards were post marked on the train he took across Canada. At that time there was a post office on the train. As with many postcards of the time, the greetings were perfunctory, until he reaches the Orkneys where he becomes effusive, saying that he is “having the time of his life”. It is not known how long he stayed as there are no cards from the return trip.