IN PHOTOS The exhibition features images and stories from Calgary's “wild west” criminal history.

A new exhibition opens this week exploring the stories of hundreds of historic mugs, allowing Calgarians to explore a century of policing, outlaws and crime in the Wild West.

The “Rogue Gallery” exhibit opens to the public Friday at the YouthLink Calgary Police Information Center in the city's northeast.

The most anticipated part of the exhibit is Calgary's #1 Mug Art Book, which has a collection of approximately 2,700 people. This book was the first published in 1913.

(Mike Symington/CBC)

(Mike Symington/CBC)

(Mike Symington/CBC)

In 2018, YouthLink purchased the book. It was expected to take only two years to restore and preserve, but the process actually took five years.

“And it's the result of 100 years of misuse, abuse, smoke damage, water damage. And (the book) is something that's been heavily used and handled. The pages would have been turned,” said Stephanie Woodridge, YouthLink's historical collections manager.

“Over 100 years, it really adds up.”

He believes it is the most valuable piece of their entire collection.

(Mike Symington/CBC)

(Mike Symington/CBC)

The wear and tear of the book is that policemen carry photographs with them to identify people.

“This ushers Calgary police into a new era of crime detection,” said Tara Robinson, executive director of the YouthLink Calgary Police Outreach Centre.

He said the name of the exhibit — “Robbers' Gallery” — is a historical reference, as a 1913 newspaper article referenced a Calgary mug shot book of the same name.

(Mike Symington/CBC)

Additionally, the exhibit acts as a timeline of Calgary's laws and police force.

“This exhibit shows how the Calgary Police Service has come a long way over the last 100 years,” Calgary Police Acting Chief Cathy McLellan told reporters.

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“Some examples include the first permanent full-time policewoman hired by the Calgary Police Service in 1946. Today there are 491 of them.”

MacLellan, the first woman to be promoted to the rank of superintendent and deputy chief of the Calgary Police Service, helped open the exhibit Thursday.

(Mike Symington/CBC)

(Mike Symington/CBC)

To learn the details behind the historic outlaws and their mug shots, Woodridge says the YouthLink research team went through fingerprint cards to find names.

The researchers then matched the names to the mug pictures using unique identification numbers.

“For every person we could put it on a mug, we would get more information,” he said.

“Then we would search the newspaper to find out the circumstances of the incident. What happened in court? What did the judge say? What did the policemen who brought the person say? There are so many stories in them. historical newspapers.”

(Mike Symington/CBC)

“We have such a colorful history in Calgary. We see a lot of things like the wild west in the movies, but this happened here,” Woodridge said. “It's very important that Calgarians know this.”

(Mike Symington/CBC)

His favorite part of the book, he said, was the study of eviction orders, an outdated court practice that no longer exists in Calgary.

“People are told, get out, that's your punishment,” he said. “If we think about today… you can't tell people to leave the city. But you know that justice was served in 1913, 1914, 1915.”