Collection PR-2358 - Canadian Pacific Railway Company collection

The collection consists of records created by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in the process of carrying out activities which include the registration of its ships, the promotion of its travel and tourist facilities, and the operation of its mechanical department.

Although the records were created by the CPR, most had been in the custody of (and were donated by) individuals who were unrelated to the CPR. The records were assembled into a collection by BC Archives.

Types of records include correspondence, photographs, technical drawings (blueprints of equipment), and legal and government records in support of the registration of ships and other vessels.

The collection includes of 18 “Registration of Shipping” dossiers containing documents dating from ca. 1897 to 1938 regarding the registration of vessels related to the Canadian Pacific Railway Company (some refer to the CPR’s British Columbia Lake and River Service). The records relate to vessels built for, operated by, and sold or scrapped by the CPR. Arranged by ship name, they include vessels sailing coastal and inland B.C. waters, most of which were registered at the Port of Vancouver. The records include but are not limited to: correspondence, builder’s certificates, certificate of survey (under the Merchant Shipping Act 1854], applications for registry, declarations of ownership, declarations of the transfer of registry from one port to another, declarations of assets, bills of sale, and notice of name proposed for a British ship. The BC Archives accession file describes these records as the CPR’s copies; however, this provenance is doubtful. The correspondence is addressed to a government office (the Registration of Shipping office, Customs and Excise Department) and is stamped as received incoming letters. It appears the provenance is the government office and not the CPR. The records were acquired by the writer and editor Edward L. Affleck, were in his custody for an unknown length of time, and donated to BC Archives by him in 1989.

The collection also consists of an album of 53 black and white photographs, ca. 1920-1930, which includes images of CPR lodges, camp facilities and cabins, tea houses, chalets and nature scenes. The photos indicate they were taken by the Brigden (or Brigdens) studio. Accompanying indexing numbers appear to be those applied by Brigden. The album contains the notation: “Property of Canadian Pacific Railway– Please return to General Passenger Department, Vancouver, B.C.

Other records include: 51 blueprints primarily from the CPR mechanical department; photographs of interiors and exteriors of CPR trains, and of various public relations and tourist-related locations in BC and Yukon; photocopies of CPR loans, agreements and contract documents; a CPR railway ticket, Pincher Creek to Victoria; and a record of payments to people made for section two of the Trunk Road for the month of May 1885.