Fonds PR-0867 - A.G. Harvey fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

A.G. Harvey fonds

General material designation

  • textual record
  • cartographic material
  • graphic material
  • multiple media

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  • Source of title proper: Title based on the contents of the fonds.

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

PR-0867

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Statement of scale (cartographic)

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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • 1906-1950 (Creation)
    Creator
    Harvey, Athelstan George

Physical description area

Physical description

4.37 m of textual records, 1 map, 426 photographs

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Name of creator

(1884-1950)

Biographical history

Athelstan George Harvey was born in Great Ellingham, Suffolk, England in 1884. He immigrated to Eastern Canada in 1892, then made his way to the United Sates where he worked for a time as a book and stationery salesman in Michigan. He graduated in law from the University of Michigan and in 1909 moved to Vancouver. He was admitted to the B.C. Bar Association the following year.
Harvey became involved in local government almost as soon as he arrived in the city. He was elected to the Point Grey municipal council in 1909 and in 1913 was appointed Reeve. He was a member of council when Point Grey amalgamated with Vancouver in 1929, and afterwards served as Alderman on the Vancouver City Council. An early advocate of controlled development and town planning, Harvey was instrumental in establishing the Greater Vancouver Water Board and the Greater Vancouver Health Commission. Despite his long and distinguished career in civic politics, Harvey is perhaps best remembered as an historian. After a brief fling at writing mystery novels and short stories in the 1920s, he turned his talents to researching the history of prominent people and places in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. His major work was a biography of the botanist, David Douglas. Entitled Douglas of the Fir (Harvard University Press, 1947), the book was internationally acclaimed. He also wrote authoritative essays on Mt. Robson, Amor de Cosmos, David Stuart and others for such journals as the Washington Historical Quarterly and the BC Historical Quarterly. Other articles by Harvey appeared regularly in the Vancouver Province and the Vancouver Sun. In 1945, having retired from his law practice and local government, Harvey began a major study on the origins of British Columbia place names and an index of British Columbia post offices. A.G. Harvey died in Vancouver in January 1950.

Custodial history

Scope and content

The fonds consists of notes and correspondence pertaining to Athelstan George Harvey's career as Reeve of Point Grey and as a Vancouver City Alderman, including draft bills, reports, clippings, manuscripts, notes, map, correspondence and photographs. It also includes his British Columbia place name research and files.

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General note

Archives code(s): MS-1925; MS-3370; CMW36

General note

Accession number(s): 74A-155; 74A-459; MS-3370; 198310-016; 198202-056

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