Allen Godby was born on April 2, 1889 in Frogmore, Ontario and moved to Edmonton in 1912. In 1913, he took a job as a steam engineer at a mine in Lovett, western Alberta. He stayed there until 1917 when health concerns drove him to take a job in a mine power house in Mountain Park, western Alberta. He married Elsie Godby (née Walker, born on April 24, 1898) in 1924 and followed work to Coal Valley and Luscar, eventually retiring in Edmonton. The couple had a son, Ensley (Lee), and a daughter, Beulah.

Allen was an avid amateur photographer and was often asked by friends and co-workers to photograph excursions, special events, and groups. Allen died in Edmonton on September 6, 1976 and Elsie died in Edmonton on June 18, 1984.

The fonds consists of photographs and negatives taken in or near Coal Branch, Jasper, Banff, Luscar, Mountain Park, Lovett, and Yellowhead County with some photos taken in Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, and British Columbia.

The photos have a wide breadth of subject material including mining (including mine fires, rescue horses, miners, specific mines, equipment, and infrastructure), sports (including baseball, curling, tennis, soccer, and track), leisure activities (including music, parties, and performances), women, outdoor activities (including picnics, hunting, camping, ice skating, horseback riding, and snow-shoeing), landscapes, and people in a wide age range.

Images of Allen and Elsie Godby also appear in the Charles Lee fonds (PR0618).

For more information on the Coal Branch, see the Coal Branch Historical Preservation Society fonds (PR0276), the Cadomin Coal Company fonds (PR0997), the Bill Davies fonds (PR2331), the Nicholas Melnyk fonds (PR1303), and the Andrew A. den Otter fonds (PR3371).