The item is a copy of "Me and my family", reminiscences of childhood and adult life in Victoria, Vancouver and the Gulf Islands by Mildred Irene Seymour, a Sidney teacher. Mrs. Seymour narrates many of her experiences as a teacher (teaching degree in Music) at Fanny Bay, Gabriola Island, Chemainus and Vancouver, describes her work with choirs and recounts her vacation travels through British Columbia, Canada and the western United States.

The item is a reel of educational film. Shows the drying, planing, grading and sorting of lumber, the manufacture of shingles, hog fuel (a sawmill by-product), use of the Ross carrier lumber loader, and lumber being loaded onto ships. Mainly shot at the sawmill of the Victoria Lumber and Manufacturing Co. Ltd. at Chemainus, BC.

This series consists of correspondence, petitions, accounts, statements of population, and reports relating to land of Indigenous peoples in British Columbia from the Department of the Provincial Secretary.

This series consists of of a lot register for the following Vancouver Island land districts: Chemainus, Folio 1-20, Comiaken, Folio 2140, Helmcken, Folio 41-60, Dunsmuir, Folio 60, Bright, Folio 89, Malahat, Folio 130, Somenos, Folio 150, and Cowichan Lake, Folio 180. Entries in the register are dated 1898-1942.

The registers list lots within the land districts by lot numbers, recording the alienation of land from the Crown (by purchase, pre-emption, lease, etc.). Information may include the name of the purchaser, dates and numbers of certificates issued (including Crown Grants), dates and amounts of payments, and reference numbers to correspondence files and field books. The volume contains an index to land districts by folio (page) number, and also an alphabetical name index.

Two Provincial Police Court record books showing name of prosecutor, name of defendant, nature of the charge, costs, name of arresting office, name of gaol or lockup, order or conviction, amount of fine, name of presiding magistrate or justice and "remarks", 1912-1927 and 1938-1944.

The item is a release print of an industrial film from 1956-1957. It shows the construction of the Georgia Gas Turbine Generating Station on Bare Point at Chemainus. Footage includes press conference with BC Power Commission general manager Lee Briggs, construction of power plant, cantilever tanker dock and fuel tank farm by Sandwell and Company Ltd., design of turbines in New York and transport operation, arrival of tanker "Oregon Standard" with first load of fuel. There is also a sequence on Vancouver Island communities and industries regarding their demand for electricity.

Item consists of a promotional video on the British Columbia Pavilion at Expo '70, which emphasized the province's forest industry. This presentation follows some special Douglas Fir trees (192 feet long) as they are moved by water from Chemainus to Vancouver and shipped to Japan for use in the construction of the pavilion.

CALL NUMBER: T1885:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): George R. Copley : a Vancouver Island logger (part 1) PERIOD COVERED: 1901-1960 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Copley born in Nanaimo in 1881. Began logging at Chemainus in 1901 for Victoria Lumber and Manufacturing Company. Matt Hemmingson as Superintendent. Logging and loading equipment, ca. 1901. Supervising Chinese workers. Logging camp conditions. Meals. Hauling methods. TRACK 2: Logging railway methods. Details on hauling equipment. Anecdote about explosives. Quit logging in 1907. River driving on the Cowichan River. Work in a small 'haywire' outfit. Problems with fleas and bedbugs. Anecdote about bear hunting. Identification of various photographs.

CALL NUMBER: T1885:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): George R. Copley : a Vancouver Island logger (part 2) PERIOD COVERED: 1901-1960 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Continuation of the identification of photographs. The importance of the blacksmith in a logging camp. The mill at Chemainus, ca. 1902. Hand falling described. Copley describes his farm wood lot. (End of interview)

RECORDED: [location unknown], [196-] SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Rosamond Anketell-Jones recalls early days at Thetis Island, Kuper Island and Chemainus. Her parents were married in 1892 in Manitoba and returned to British Columbia in 1894. She relate;s stories of her father's [Henry Edwards Donald] and mother's [Sitwell] families. Early settlers are mentioned; including the Butchell, Hunter, and the Roberts family. Reverend Roberts was an Anglican; missionary sent to Kuper Island, possibly by the New England Company, around 1880. His family had a farm and church/school building on the island. Mrs. Anketell-Jones recalls the Kuper Island Indian; Reserve; Indian families; details of the village and rancheries. Her family lived in Chemainus circa 1900, and she describes the town, individuals, the lumbering industry, Horsebay Hotel and the Butchell family. [TRACK 2: blank.]

The sub-series consists of oral history interviews about the history of the Cowichan Valley area of Vancouver Island, including Chemainus, Cobble Hill, Cowichan, Duncan, and Shawnigan.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1973-08-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Billy Thomas recalls growing up in the Chemainus area around the 1870's. His father came into the Cowichan district about 1862. Mr. Thomas describes early Chemainus; the mill; schooling; rail;way; water transportation; roads; clearing land; and cattle farming. [TRACK 2: blank.]

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1973-04-15 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mrs. Robinson describes her working life in Winnipeg; her move to Chemainus and her work for the Victoria Lumber and Manufacturing Company in 1915; the mill site; working conditions; unions; strikes; H.R. MacMillan's employment at the mill; her newspaper work for the Chemainus Herald; "Sticks Allison"; and Victoria Drummond. [TRACK 2: blank.]

Journals (4 vols.) describing his voyage from England around Cape Horn to Vancouver Island (last entry made at 9 deg. S. lat.), Jan - April 1863, his life at Chemainus and a visit to Victoria, Jan 1-14, 1869, his departure from Victoria and return to England via San Francisco and New York and the first part of his lengthy visit in England, Nov 1876 -June 1877 (vol. 1); his activities in England, Jul 1877 - Aug 1878, including visits to the Channel Islands and France and his return to Vancouver Island via Halifax and the U.S., Aug - Nov 1878 (vols. 2-3); his work on the CPR in the Fraser Canyon Jul 1882 - Oct. 1883 and his work as a constable at Chemainus, Oct - Nov 1884 (vol. 3). Vol. 4 contains humorous accounts by others of a visit by Mainguy to Leamington, 1878, his stay in Halifax, 1878, and a trip from Drynoch to Spences Bridge, Christmas, 1882.

Thirty-five letters inward from Charles Edward Searle (tutor, Pembroke College, Cambridge University, England) to Thomas George Askew; nine letter books, 1884-1928, of Henry and John Hulbert, Sardis; 14 ledgers of Hulbert family farm, Sardis. (John Hulbert was the grandson of T.G. Askew, who built the first lumber mill at Chemainus.)

Presented from the estate of John Hulbert, Koksilah by David R. Williams, Duncan, 1975.

Finding aid: file list.

The Cowichan, Saltspring and Chemainus Agricultural Society was established in 1868. By 1910, the Society was known as the Cowichan Agricultural Society. It became the Cowichan Agricultural Society and Farmers' Institute before it disbanded in 1956.

Records include: minutes, 1868-1875, 1909-1960; account books; correspondence,1927-1959; and papers relating to property and exhibitions.