Showing 158 results

Archival description
Only top-level descriptions Collection
Print preview View:

Dr. John Bindernagel Research Collection into the Sasquatch

  • PR-2410
  • Collection
  • 1968-2012

The collection consists of material created and collected by Dr. John Bindernagel as part of his research into the Sasquatch. A large part of the material is not original, but was collected by or given to him throughout the course of his career.

The collection consists of original and copies of photos, eyewitness drawings, historical articles relating to Sasquatch sightings, plaster casts of tracks, television and radio interviews featuring Bindernagel, as well as interviews made by Bindernagel.

Bindernagel, John Albert

Herald Street collection

  • GR-1069
  • Collection
  • [ca. 1849 to 1970]

The collection consists of records created ca. 1849 to 1970 by the Dept. of Lands and Works and related departments, including pre-Confederation government bodies.

Medals, Tokens and Numismatic Collection

  • PR-2365
  • Collection
  • 221 BCE – 2004, predominant 1845-2004

There are 4 main types of material in the collection: medals and awards of merit, tokens, numismatic paper, and numismatic coins. The category of “medals” also includes occasional items of jewelry, commemorative objects of various types and militaria, while the category of numismatic paper includes banknotes, tickets, ration books, scrip, coupons, passbooks and paper. Tokens were issued by a wide range of businesses including dairies, bakeries, and transportation companies.

Most of the material relates to British Columbia. There are occasional items (particularly paper and coinage) from other countries.

PR-2365 also includes the H.J. Sceats collection of Chinese, Japanese and Korean coinage (a gift to the B.C. Archives in 1937), and a collection of Roman and ancient British coins from an unknown source.

PR-2365 also includes 12.5 cm of associated textual material such as souvenir coin holders, cases, brochures, and letters of donation. These have been labelled with the same item number as the object to which they relate, and may be found in container 001967-0026.
The objects have been arranged by category of material (medals, tokens, numismatic paper and numismatic coins), with a few exceptions. Each object has a unique item number. Note that the item numbers in each container are not necessarily inclusive.

All items were re-housed and described as part of a volunteer project which concluded in 2017.

Provincial Archives of British Columbia

Riverview Hospital historical collection

  • Collection
  • 1872-2008

This series consists of a variety of records created by various provincial mental health institutions from 1872 to 2008. Records relate to the administration and operation of Riverview Hospital and related mental health facilities at the Essondale site in Coquitlam, as well as other facilities across the province. These mental health institutions include: Victoria Asylum, New Westminster Provincial Asylum (later Public Hospital for the Insane or Provincial Hospital for the Insane), Home for the Aged Coquitlam (later Valleyview), Home for the Aged Terrace (later Skeenaview), Home for the Aged Vernon (later Dellview), Crease Clinic, Colony Farm, Colquitz, Woodlands School, Tranquille and other medical facilities.

The names and administrative structure of these institutions changed over time. Mental health functions were originally part of the Provincial Secretary’s mandate; they were transferred to Mental Health Services when it was created in 1950.

These government records were collected by the Riverview Historical Society and include a wide variety of subject matter and media. This includes subjects such as: early development of the Essondale lands and Colony Farm; the construction and expansion of the facility; admissions, transfers, and discharges of patients; administration of patient care; administration of therapy programs; patient and staff recreation; staff and nurse training; operation of the audiovisual department; library services; research into new medical and therapeutic practices; research by staff regarding mental health practices at Riverview and further afield; community involvement; volunteer activity; policy development; the redevelopment of the Riverview lands; general administration; and, administration of other services at the site such as postal, food, laundry, banking, transportation and safety services.

The collection has been arranged into the following series based on record types:

GR-3924 - record books
GR-3925 - operational records
GR-3926 - newsletters
GR-3927 - photographs and other graphic material
GR-3928 - films and videos

Classified as 20000-20 in Operational Records Classification System (ORCS) schedule 144007.

British Columbia. Dept. of the Provincial Secretary

Archives discrete item collection

  • F1
  • Collection
  • [ca. 1849]-2017

The collection consists of single items, reports, photocopies, photographs and other small collections donated and loaned to the BC Archives which document all aspects of the political, economic, social and cultural history of the province. There are private records produced by individuals, businesses and organizations and acquired by the Archives over many years from all areas of the Province and varying widely in subject matter. They consist of account books and journals, letters and diaries of gold seekers, pioneers, missionaries, and school teachers, literary manuscripts, photographs, the papers of natural historians and students and the personal and family papers of notable settlers and residents of the province.
There are also some provincial and federal government records which either came to the Archives as single items or files or were removed from other series.

British Columbia Archives

Archives visual records collection

  • F5
  • Collection
  • [ca. 1850-1990]

The Archives photo collection (also known as the General file or genfile) consists of photographs collected by the Archives from around 1908 until the 1990s. The photographs were primarily collected because of their subject matter and little or no information was gathered as to their provenance and type. A single volume, arranged numerically by a classification code, appears to indicate that the first 14,000 or so photographs acquired were arranged by subject groupings.

By 1934, the annual report of the Provincial Library and Archives department noted that the "collection of photographs and prints in the Archives, which is estimated to consist of at least 14,000 items, is rapidly outgrowing the old filing system, and sooner or later the entire collection must be recatalogued and rearranged." In 1935 the new system of applying individual catalogue numbers known as "HP" or "Historic Photograph" numbers had begun. In 1940 the Provincial Archivist reported that half the photographs had been recatalogued. The cataloguing consisted of entering the photographs into registers in HP number order; the first number assigned was HP101 or HP000101. This system of item level numbering continued into the 1990s with over 100,000 photographs entered into the HP accession registers. While most of these photographs continued to be acquired because of their subject matter, selected photographs that formed part of original record groups, were also catalogued with an HP number.

The "original" photographs acquired in this way consist mainly of photographic prints in a variety of sizes and formats, but also include original negatives (both glass and flexible). In many cases, the Archives borrowed and copied photographs from individuals and other institutions. In these cases the "original" is a copy print made by the Archives at the time.

The prints are stored in HP number order in several runs: main run of several hundred boxes, one run of Maynard photographs, two runs of oversized photographic prints and one run of large oversized prints stored in map cabinets. Original negatives are stored by type (glass, nitrate, acetate, polyester etc.), usually by HP number. These original records are often know as "HP originals".

Copy prints were made of many of the prints and are arranged by subject in several runs. Portrait/family files are arranged in alphabetical order; topographic (place name) files are arranged alphabetically by place name and then by subject within the place; and a small set of subject files (including ships) are arranged alphabetically by subject. There are a variety of indexes and lists of files available in the Archives to help determine which general file copy print files are available on request.

Copy negatives (arranged by negative number or photo lab number) were made from many of the prints and original negatives. These records were used for reproductions and are stored in a large negative cabinet.

British Columbia Archives

Sisters of St. Ann Archives collection

  • SSA
  • Collection
  • 1850 - 2021

The collection consists of records related to the creation and function of the Sisters of St. Ann in St. Joseph's Province, which covers the geographic area of British Columbia, the Yukon, Alaska, Oregon and Washington State. The SSA Archives acquired records created by the Sisters and the Corporation, as well as associated bodies such as parent-teacher organizations or alumnae societies for the schools they were involved in. The collection is currently arranged into 53 fonds, with the records created by The Sisters in one main fonds (PR-2415) which is comprised of approximately 140 series. The additional fonds are records created by external related bodies, such as the St. Joseph's Hospital School of Nursing Alumnae, Providence Farm in Duncan, and the Friends of St. Ann's Academy.

The Sisters of St. Ann were involved in education and healthcare throughout British Columbia as well as in the Yukon and Alaska, and the records in this collection represent those activities, as well as the place of the congregation in the broader Catholic landscape of Western Canada. Records reflect the Sisters' presence in parochial and residential schools as well as hospitals, but also their relationship to their motherhouse in Lachine, Quebec, and the reporting structures of a congregation of women religious. There are many series that are related to a specific institution where the Sisters worked, but additional information about that institution will be held in administrative series such as the Provincial Bursar records or the Provincial Superior records.

The records in this collection are on numerous formats, including textual, photographic, audio and visual recordings, artworks, published library materials, objects, and digital records.

The Sisters of Saint Ann

Maynard family collection

  • PR-1259
  • Collection
  • [ca. 1862]-1937

Collection consists of records created by members of the Maynard family, primarily Hannah Hatherly Maynard and Richard Maynard. Hannah, Richard, and their son, Albert Hatherly Maynard, were professional photographers based in Victoria. Records include photograph albums, a portion of the photographic portfolio of Hannah and Richard Maynard, a studio register with over 5,000 customer entries for portrait orders fulfilled by Mrs. R. Maynard's Photographic Gallery, and a small number of textual business records. Within this collection, the works of other photographers and photographic studios may be found. Images depict studio portraits, family gatherings, field photographs for Department of Indian Affairs tours of inspection of Indigenous communities, construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.), documentary photographs of the natural history collection of the Provincial Museum (now Royal BC Museum), and Hannah's experimental artistic works such as tableau vivants, photocollages, composites, montages, photo-sculptures, and double- and multiple-exposure studio portraits.

Records within this collection have been arranged into series that roughly correspond to Maynard Collection numbers that were assigned according to themes by either one of the Maynard family members or early BC Archives staff.

Maynard (family)

BC Indian Language Project Collection

  • PR-2413
  • Collection
  • 1974 - 1976

The collection consists of an assortment of different articles written by both Dorothy Kennedy and/or Randy Bouchard as part of the BC Indian Language Project.

The articles are all photocopies of articles and are likely available in other repositories.

Immigrant women interview collection

  • PR-1797
  • Collection
  • 1985

The collection consists of interviews with women who immigrated to B.C. pertaining to their experiences.

Farr, Carolyn M.

Joint Reserve Commission collection

  • Collection
  • 1869, 1876-1910; predominant 1876-1878

The collection consists of records generated by the Joint Reserve Commission, predominantly from 1876-1878. The
collection includes correspondence inward and outward, memoranda, and reports. Many of the records were sent from Commissioners to representatives of the Canadian and British Columbia governments, such as the Provincial Secretary and the Department of Indian Affairs.

Joint Reserve Commission

BC Archives fire insurance plan collection

  • PR-2268
  • Collection
  • 1885-1970

The BC Archives fire insurance plan collection consists of plans of British Columbia communities acquired from various sources over the years. The plans have been arranged alphabetically by community by Archives staff. While most of the plans are large format, coloured sheets, there are also black and white photographic negatives (with diazo fiche copies for reference) and 35 mm colour slides for many of them. The photographic negatives and colour slides are not necessarily duplicates of the printed sheets in the BC Archives collection. A detailed list, arranged by community, gives details for holdings in each format. Fire insurance plans were published by various companies including the Sanborn company, the Charles E. Goad company, the Underwriters' Survey Bureau Limited, the Canadian Underwriters' Association and the British Columbia Underwriters Association. Fire Insurance plans and atlases are large-scale (high resolution) urban maps which grew out of the need of fire insurance underwriters to understand the physical characteristics of a structure to be insured. These maps show with detail colour drawings and symbols, the character of the outside and inside construction of buildings, passages, probable fire cut-offs, fire walls, openings in walls, height and occupancy or use of individual buildings or groups of buildings. Street widths, street addresses, property lines, water pipes or mains, fire hydrants and fire alarm boxes are also located on the maps. Although fire insurance plans stopped being produced in the 1970's and have long outlived their primary function, they continue to act as important source material.

Richmond Art Centre oral history collection

  • PR-1902
  • Collection
  • 1973-1976 [Copied 1985]

The collection consists of oral history interviews pertaining to the history of Richmond, Lulu Island and Steveston, focusing mainly on the fishing industry.
The Richmond Arts Centre oral history collection was produced by the Richmond Arts Centre of Richmond, B.C. The collection consists of recorded interviews with present and former residents of Richmond, and focuses on early settlement, community life, the fishing industry at Steveston and the lower Fraser River, and the experience of Japanese residents who were evacuated during WWII. The Collection is made up of two sets of tapes that were loaned to the Provincial Archives of British Columbia for copying in 1973 and 1976 respectively. The first set was produced in 1972-1973 and consists of 16 interviews recorded on 19 tapes. The second set of tapes, recorded in 1976, consists of interviews with 71 residents.

Richmond Arts Centre

Sunny Trails Nudist Club collection

  • PR-1856
  • Collection
  • [ca. 1953]

The collection consists of radio broadcasts pertaining to the Sunny Trails Nudist Club in Surrey, B.C.

Connett, Ray, collector

Clarke, Irwin & Company collection relating to Emily Carr

  • PR-2408
  • Collection
  • 1930-1979

The majority of the records in PR-2408 were created by Clarke Irwin & Company during the course of business activities. At some point they were separated out from the remainder of the company records by Irene and William (Bill) Clarke Junior before the company went into receivership in 1983 and was bought out by another company. Other material, such as newspaper clippings and reviews, were accumulated by the Clarkes out of their friendship and interest to Emily Carr.

The collection consists of correspondence, draft manuscripts, brochures, newspaper clippings, two photographs, and other textual material that was created or collected by William H. Clarke and his family. The records date from 1930 to about 1979.

Clarke, Irwin & Company Limited

Cumberland Museum oral history collection

  • PR-1857
  • Collection
  • 1974-1985

The collection consists of oral history interviews with Cumberland residents pertaining to coal mining and community life in Cumberland and area.
The collection contains two sets of audio recordings. The first set, T4260:0001-0023, are audio reel recordings entitled "Cumberland History Project" and are a collection of oral history interviews recorded by students of Cumberland Intermediate School in 1974 and 1975. The focus of the interviews is early Cumberland and the local coal mining industry. The second set, T4260:0024-0026 are three cassette tapes recorded from 1979 to 1985 by Cumberland Museum curator, Dale Reeves, and researchers Sandra Clarke and Dale Lovick. These tapes are also oral history interviews about the Cumberland area and the coal mining industry.

Cumberland Museum

Coal Tyee history project collection

  • PR-1789
  • Collection
  • 1978-1984

The collection consists of interviews pertaining to the history of coal mining on Vancouver Island.

Coal Tyee Society

Speech from the Throne

  • GR-3346
  • Collection
  • 1872-1876; 1905; 1960-2023

The collection consists of an incomplete set of copies of the Speech from the Throne, created between 1872 and 2023. The collection was made by the BC Archives using copies of the speeches, including red-ribbon copies, drawn together from various government office sources.

The Speech from the Throne is given by the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia who addresses the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia at its opening and/or closing sessions. The speech outlines the executive government's plans at the start of each session of the Legislative Assembly and reviews the accomplishments of the government at the end of each session.

British Columbia. Lieutenant Governor

Hudson's Bay Company and James Douglas correspondence collection

  • PR-2206
  • Collection
  • 1841-1858

The collection consists of six letters by James Douglas to James Yale or Donald Manson, three agreements between the Hudson 's Bay Company and four employees, and a bill of lading for the Hudson's Bay Company ship Cadboro.

Douglas, James, Sir, 1803-1877

B.C. music collection

  • PR-2250
  • Collection
  • [194-]-1988

The collection comprises about 1830 published sound recordings, mainly of music composed, arranged, and performed by British Columbia and Western Canadian musicians, or which was recorded in the province or released by British Columbia companies. A wide variety of musical genres are represented, including classical and orchestral music, country and western, electronic music, folk and folk-rock, jazz, pop, rock, new wave and punk. The recordings span the years from the early 1940s to 1988. The collection reflects the emergence of Vancouver-based record companies such as Aragon, Mushroom, and Nettwerk. The West coast musical scene of the 1980s -- which coincided with the collection's creation -- is particularly well documented.

Provincial Archives of British Columbia

Archives moving images collection

  • F3
  • Collection
  • [ca. 1925-1990]

Collection consists of moving images collected or acquired by the BC Archives from a wide variety of donors. Subjects include the entire range of British Columbia history and cover most geographic areas of the province. They include commercially produced industrial and promotional films as well as amateur productions.

British Columbia Archives

A.H. Maynard collection

  • PR-1258
  • Collection
  • [between 1896 and 1932]

The collection consists of four discreet collections of photographs, the bulk of which are lantern slides. The majority of the fonds consists of several sets of lantern slides, the bulk of which contain photographic subject matter dating from 1868 to 1930. The photograph collections are attributed to Albert Hatherly Maynard, son of early pioneer photographer Richard Maynard (1832-1907). Within lantern slide collections, slides from creators of other distinct lantern slide collections (likely Charles Frederick Newcombe and William A. Newcombe), appear to be included. A small number of flexible negatives are also included in one of the accessions.

A large number of lantern slides depict scenes of the Fraser River gold rush era of the 1860s, in the regions of Yale to Barkerville, Quesnel and Cottonwood in the interior of British Columbia. Many of the reproductions of photographs featured in the lantern slides in this collection are attributed early pioneer photographer’s works including those created by Richard Maynard during the 1860s and A.H. Maynard’s works produced in the 1920s. It also includes the photographic works of other early B.C. photographers including Frederick Dally (1838-1914), likely Louis A. Blanc who documented similar subjects as the Maynards particularly Barkerville, the Cariboo and the Cariboo Roads in British Columbia during the period before and after the Fraser River gold rush of the 1860s. A small number of photographic works by Frederick Dundas Todd (1858-1926) and F. [Dewitt] Reed are also contained within several of the slide collections.

Accessions 198203-025 and 198203-065 consist of slide compilations that depict a visual narrative of the history of Barkerville, the Cariboo Road and Cariboo region in the B.C. interior during the period of the 1868 Fraser River gold rush era and sixty years later in the 1920s. The bulk of the scenes of the gold mining resource industry, as well as views of transportation roads and routes along the journey to the goldfields. To a lesser extent views of other resources industries (forestry, agriculture, fishing and farming/ranching) are depicted against the nature and lands of the B.C. interior. Mining towns within the Lighting Creek and Williams Creek Districts, including Barkerville (before and after the fire of 1868), Richfield and Cameronton are represented, as well as other scenes representing the following views of gold mining operations: claims sites, posed group portraits and likenesses of miners, equipment and the production activity of early mining technology of associated mining companies, businesses and partnerships in the area. Photographs of mining claims and claims sites and the miners and labourers involved at Mucho Oro, Aurora Gold, Minnehah, Never Sweat; The Rankin Company (Grouse Creek), Ne’er do Weel (Grouse Creek) and the Canadian Grouse Company (Grouse Creek) are included in the sequences. Imagery along and of the Cariboo Road(s) are described as depicting various views, scenes and activities including: freight and trade transportation, transportation methods and transportation routes (ox pack teams, gold escorts; steamer “Reliance” and Fraser River crossings; travelers); views along the Cariboo Road(s) that include the geological terrain of the Fraser River (its river banks and surrounding forested and arid landscapes) at various points along the route to the goldfields including the Fraser Canyon and Lady Franklin Rock; examples of civil engineering as such as bridges; homes and ranches as well as accommodations such as roadhouses and hotels (70, 83, 108 and 150 Mile Houses, Pioneer Hotel, Van Winkel Hotel at Stanley, Colonial Hotel at Soda Creek and the Hastings Hotel) and businesses (Masonic Hall at Barkerville) in colonial service towns and mining communities and settlements. Indigenous communities do not appear to be identified in lantern slide captions, though the geographical regions documented in slides reflect many traditional Indigenous territories in which the Fraser River gold rush traversed and was situated. It appears that traditional Indigenous fishing methods are present in some views, likely in those of the Fraser River. Several photographs of geological specimens (gold nuggets) are included within the set. There appear to be very limited images of regional wildlife. There are a small number of group photographs reflecting the diverse population of gold miners, pioneers and travelers of the Interior B.C. (“Crew of SS "Nechacco"), including women and children. The views from the 1920s, appear to reflect A. H. Maynard’s trips to Barkerville, the Cariboo Road(s) and the Cariboo region. Finally, there are several views described as from the period in between 1868 and the 1920s. These slides depict views including those of the Fraser Valley region by F. Dundas Todd, a surveying team in “East Kootenay” and a few images described as the Okanagan.

A smaller collection of lantern slides (accession 198203-066) feature a random mix of Fraser River gold rush era views, military subjects, theatrical entertainment and other topics. Many slides appear to be images reproduced from works of art, books and other published materials. Documentation of theatrical productions include images of scenes and portraits from Shakespearean plays (Macbeth, Othello, A Winter’s Tale), as well as Anne Hathaway's cottage. It also includes documentation of the destruction of religious institutions during World War I, primarily in Ypres. Some of these slides indicate “mounted by Edgar Fleming, Victoria, B.C.”

Another collection of photographs (accession 198201-068) consist of 107 black and white flexible film negatives depicting Canadian and American views taken between the period of May and June 1914. These include views include of Bowmanville, Toronto and Niagara, Ontario in May 1914; Rochester and New York, New York in May and June, and the "Rio Grande" in Colorado in June of the same year. Photographs of American destinations such as San Francisco, Philadelphia, Atlantic City including Freemount Park, Salt Lake and [Ogden], Denver and Washington, DC are here. Several locations on Vancouver Island identified as Victoria, Saanich and Mill Bay also housed in this group of photographs. This unit also includes film negatives described as “C.P.R.y [Railway] 1914”. 25 copy prints were made from these negatives due to deterioration of original film negatives.16 images of Bowmanville and Toronto in May 1914 and 9 images of Vancouver Island including Victoria, Saanich and Mill Bay are available.

Maynard, Albert Hatherly

Hudson W. Blake oral history collection

  • PR-1919
  • Collection
  • 1961-1974

The collection consists of radio broadcasts, mainly pertaining to the history of B.C., and reminiscences of Victoria and the Canadian navy at Esquimalt.

Blake, Hudson W.

Peter A. Knox audio collection

  • PR-2314
  • Collection
  • 1959-1967

The collection comprises sound recordings of Kwakiutl songs and ceremonies, 1959-1967. These tapes are copies of recordings accumulated by Peter A. Knox of Fort Rupert, from a variety of sources (including Mungo Martin and the CBC). The material includes recordings of Mungo Martin, Emma Hunt, Helen Hunt and Frank Savey; a potlatch for Peter Hunt; a funeral ceremony for David Martin (d. 1959); and a potlatch for David Martin.

Knox, Peter A.

Columbia River Treaty lectures collection

  • PR-2256
  • Collection
  • 1974

The collection consists of audio recordings of thirteen talks on the topic "Perspectives on the Columbia River Treaty", presented at Simon Fraser University from January to April 1974, presumably as part of a course. The speakers include federal and provincial politicians, B.C. Hydro officials, treaty advisors and officials, and Canadian and American academics.

Douglas S. Wilson collection

  • PR-2232
  • Collection
  • 1947-1990

The collection mainly consists of copies of several short films by Oscar and Dorothy Burritt. The Burritts were film enthusiasts and amateur filmmakers who lived in Vancouver until 1947. Oscar C. Burritt also worked as a professional cinematographer and director. In later years he worked for CBC Television in Toronto. Both the Burritts were active in the film society movement, including the Vancouver Branch of the National Film Society and the Toronto Film Society.

The collection includes footage of Vancouver events and places, as well the amateur or experimental works "And--", "Bats Out of Hell", "Residue 2", "Suite Two: A Memo to Oscar", and "Three There". The collection also includes Douglas Wilson's 1981 oral history interview with Leon C. Shelly, who discusses his career as a film producer in Vancouver and Toronto. It also includes a photograph of a portrait of Dorothy Burritt, painted in 1947 by Peter Bortkus.

Wilson, Douglas S.

Results 1 to 30 of 158