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Vancouver (B.C.) File
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Are we at the crossroads? : reminiscences of Gerald Ross Hunter

The file consists of a typescript copy of the reminiscences of Gerald Ross Hunter titled "Are we at the crossroads?" Mr. Hunter was born in England, emigrated to Wynyard, Saskatchewan, moved to British Columbia in 1937 where he and his wife operated a motel on Kingsway in Vancouver, and then lived in the Fraser Valley and in Victoria.

British Columbia : of their doings their by one of them

The item is a large, illustrated volume titled "British Columbia: of their doings there by one of them" by Frederick D. Williams. The volume contains a manuscript account of a journey from London, England to Vancouver B.C. and back between August 28 and October 6, 1897. Williams landed in New York and travelled by train through Chicago and Spokane to Nelson where he and his party took the Kootenay Lake steamer to Kaslo and the train to Sandon and then on up to Nakusp and Revelstoke, Kamloops and Vancouver.

The volume has been illustrated by glued in photographs, magazine prints, maps, menus, passenger lists and programs.

Business records

The file contains an agreement for employment between Simpson, Roberts and Company of Liverpool and Edgar Osman Cornish of Vancouver, 9 May 1912; an application for a loan by John Wallace of Butedale and Marion Hunter of Liverpool 1914 and correspondence regarding the loan. Files also contains transcript copies.

Captain Thomas Gilchrist papers

Captain Thomas Gilchrist (1904-1981), seaman and writer, wrote articles, short stories, radio plays, television plays and documentaries from the late 1940s to the late 1970s. The collection includes examples of his work as well as clippings and biographical information about his life and writing career. Captain Thomas Gilchrist was born in Scotland and spent most of his life at sea. He apprenticed as a cadet at fifteen and qualified as a Master Mariner by twenty-five. During the interwar years he sailed with various shipping lines in many parts of the world; he also commanded a rescue boat off the coast of China during the Nan King Rebellion of 1925. During World War II he served with the United States merchant fleet in support of military campaigns in the South Pacific. In 1946 he moved to Vancouver and mastered deep sea vessels for Vancouver-based shipping companies. In Vancouver, Captain Gilchrist married and eventually retired from the sea. Since the 1930s he had been writing about his sea-going adventures as a hobby. Then, in the late 1940s, he succeeded in placing short stories in mariner's periodicals and adventure magazines that published in Canada, Britain, Australia and the U.S.A. In the early 1950s he began writing radio dramas for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Vancouver. Radio soon became a full time outlet for his writing interests and led him to retire from the sea in 1953. During the 1950s his plays appeared on the CBC radio's "Vancouver Theatre", "Pacific Playhouse" and "CBC Wednesday Night". He also wrote the series "Tales of the Seven Seas", "Tales of Fiddler's Green" and "Marine Investigator". "Marine Investigator" was set in Vancouver and based upon the cases of fictitious private detective Don Grey who specialized in harbour related crimes. It was perhaps his most successful series, running from 1953 to 1958. In the late 1950s he wrote several television plays that were broadcast on CBUT (CBC Vancouver) as well as a three-part documentary about Vancouver harbour entitled "Port Watch". During the 1960s Captain Thomas Gilchrist's writing tapered off, although he wrote his longest work in the mid-60s, a novel, which he never submitted for publication. Instead, he returned to sea and resumed captaining ships until he suffered a stroke that prevented him from future deep sea work. In 1969 he skippered the "Monte Cristo", a replica of an 18th century ship, on its inaugural voyage along the B.C. and U.S. Pacific Coast, but that was his last major voyage. Although shore-bound, he continued to take an interest in marine affairs, including attempts to revive Canada's merchant marine. Failing health necessitated a move to a nursing home in 1977; there, he wrote a few unpublished pieces before he passed away in 1981.

While this collection is small, it presents a cross section of Captain Gilchrist's writing, including short stories, radio and television dramas, non-fiction articles, the draft of his novel, notes and lists. It also includes newspaper clippings and publicity material that contain biographical information. It provides a broad base for the study of Captain Gilchrist's career as a writer and, to a lesser extent, as a seaman, and for the study of Canadian broadcasting, popular culture and other subjects.

The Captain Thomas Gilchrist papers have been described to the item level. As there was no original order to the files, they have been grouped for convenience into the following basic categories: short stories; radio and television plays; novel; and miscellaneous. A rough chronological order was applied. Short stories by Gilchrist that were part of commercial magazines were photocopied and placed in individual files; the magazines were returned to the donor. Photographs from the collection have been segregated and are awaiting re-housing by Preservation Services (07/02/00).

Related records include audio recordings of seven episodes of the Marine Investigator series and other radio plays in the John Emerson Collection (Tape Accession 4356) and the Don Mowatt Collection (Tape Accession 4303). In addition, Concordia University's Broadcast Studies Centre has preserved over 100 Gilchrist radio scripts that it acquired from CBC Vancouver in 1976. These are indexed by microfiche NW 016.8222/F499, Canadian National Theatre on the Air.

The collection represents only a small portion of Captain Gilchrist's work; according to his wife, Wynne, he cleared out most of his papers shortly before his death. She subsequently donated the remaining records to the B.C. Archives and Records Service in August 1992.

Gilchrist, Thomas, 1904-1981

Glass slides : smallpox

The file consists of 25 b&w glass slides showing smallpox patients at Vancouver General hospital, taken during the epidemic of 1932. The photographs are nude shots of various patients, male and female, both adult and children, who either survived or died of smallpox. Patients have been identified by initials only in order to provide some privacy. The photographs were taken over several days and show the progress of the disease in several individuals.

Grand Jury report on various public facilities

The file contains a report of a Grand Jury from May 1906. The report is submitted by Henry Pim to Chief Justice Hunter and reports on an inspection of various facilities including City Jail and Police Court, offices, the Chinese hospital, the new General Hospital, the Alexandra Orphanage, the new Industrial School at Greer's Beach and the bridges over False Creek.

British Columbia. Supreme Court (Vancouver)

Hermon letters

The file contains letters kept by Ernest Bolton Hermon, surveyor including one from R.E. Gosnell, Vancouver, dated Aug. 5, 1925, describing his introduction to Vancouver life on his arrival in 1888 and some of the early surveyors in the province (ca. 1888-1898). Covering letter from Hermon to A.S. Musgrave, 1934.

Hudson's Bay Company Vancouver

Guest book of visitors to an exhibition "The World of Emily Carr" from the Newcombe Collection of the Provincial Archives of British Columbia that was held in the Vancouver Hudson's Bay Company store during August 1962

Hudson's Bay Company. Vancouver

Memoirs

Memoirs, including reminiscences of childhood in Vancouver, businesses, transportation, his careers in car sales, acting, radio drama and real estate.

Musicians' Mutual Protective Union. Local 145 (Vancouver, B.C.).

A letter to members of the British Columbia Legislature relating to performance of music in licensed premises, copy of an excerpt from the "International Musician", January, 1928, relating to immigrants being allowed to work in the US entertainment industry and galley proofs of revision of the constitution and by-laws of local no. 145.

Musicians' Mutual Protective Union. Local 145 (Vancouver, B.C.)

Oak Street bridge : footage

The file consists of three reels of unedited film footage, either Kodachrome originals or a workprint. The footage documents the need for, and construction of, the Oak Street Bridge between Vancouver and Richmond. Includes sequences showing traffic problems at and around the old Lulu Island bridges (Fraser Street Bridge and Marpole Bridge); traffic to Vancouver International Airport (plus "air traffic"); Richmond Lumber Yard and rush hour traffic; horse racing at Lansdowne Park; the Peace Arch; Fraser River bridges and tugboats; opening ceremonies for the new bridge (with Premier W.A.C. Bennett and Highways Minister Phil Gaglardi); views from a tugboat towing a log boom on the Fraser River; construction, painting and finishing on the Oak Street Bridge.

Petition

The file contains a photocopy of a petition from residents of Village of Granville and vicinity requesting incorporation under the name "The City of Vancouver".

British Columbia. Legislative Assembly

Photographic View Album by R. Maynard, Artist

File consists of one album containing 62 albumen photographic prints mounted on 31 pages. Images depict landscape views that document the coast and interior of British Columbia, as well as Banff, Alberta. Each page contains a title and photographer’s name, but no date. Photographs were likely produced during photographic tours that Richard and Hannah Maynard conducted to document the construction of the transcontinental railway, including the Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.) during the early-to-late 1880s. Images include views of railroad stations, bridge and trestle construction, pathways and routes, field portraits, and settlements including Songhees, Victoria, Esquimalt, Nanaimo, Vancouver, New Westminster, Kamloops, and Banff, Alberta. Landscape views include the Salmon, Harrison, Fraser, Thompson, Columbia, “Illcillewait” and Bow Rivers; Stoney Creek; Devil Lake Creek; Summit Lake; Eagle Pass; Syndicate Peak; “Mount Caroulle”; Kicking Horse Pass; Mount Stephen; Mount Castle; Mount Edith; the Cascade Mountains; Tunnel Mountain; Devil Lake Canon; and the Three Sisters. Several geographical formations such as “Lady Franklin Rock, Fraser River” are identified as well as a number of parks, including Harrison River Hot Springs and Hot Springs at the National Park (Banff). There is one image identified as the coal mining district of Anthracite, Banff. The Maynards commercially sold their C.P.R.-related photographic views to the public. They were available for order or purchase at Mrs. R. Maynard’s Photographic Gallery and other commercial operations in Victoria and elsewhere in BC.

Maynard, Richard

Reminiscences of Mary Isabella Rogers

The file consists of a photocopy of Mary Isabella Roger's reminiscences of her journey to Victoria from England in 1885, and visits to Vancouver from Victoria including one made to see the arrival of the first transcontinental train.

Report of the committee on homeless men

The file consists of a letter to J.E. Vaz of the Jewish Federation in Montreal, written by J. Howard T. Falk, Executive Director of the Vancouver Council of Social Agencies, dated August 1, 1932. The letter includes an 8 page report of the committee on homeless men dated July 1932. The report, which includes a survey of Vancouver agencies providing assistance to homeless men, also makes recommendations in the area of local and national policy. This report was one of many copies sent to cities and agencies across Canada to encourage support for the recommendations contained within and to ask that these agencies take their suggestions directly to the Prime Minister of Canada.

Victoria, Nanaimo, Vancouver / J.T. Walbran

The file consists of several typed pages and an excerpt of a handwritten letter by J.T. Walbran to an unknown correspondent with the initials WPQ. The letter indicates that "before leaving the Quadra, Mr. Keefer asked [Walbran] to give...a short account of the early history of Victoria, Nanaimo [and] Vancouver to embody in a report of his on the seaports of this coast which he has been asked to prepare by his Department at Ottawa."