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Social Credit Party (British Columbia)
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Notes and correspondence

Series consists of notes and correspondence pertaining to Skillings' career as insurance agent (1951-1971), Victoria City alderman (1947-1952), M.L.A. (1963-1972) and cabinet minister (1968-1972). includes newspaper clippings, certificates and personal memorabilia.

Robert Strachan personal and political papers

Series consists of personal and political material. His personal effects include correspondence with his family in Scotland and memorabilia of Strachan's boyhood (such as badges and certificates earned as a corporal in the 211st Glasgow Company of the Boys' Brigade), and family photographs. Most of Strachan's papers concern his political career, as member of the legislative assembly, and as Leader of the Opposition, and government minister.

These papers were originally arranged by topic and subject, and, as far as possible such arrangement has been maintained. Thus notes and correspondence pertaining to Strachan's constituency have been separated from papers dealing with provincial topics, such as the Columbia River power project. Similarly, papers dealing with the CCF/NDP caucus are distinct from the extensive correspondence that resulted from unrest within the New Democratic Party during the various leadership challenges of the 1960s.

Professional Papers

The series consists of records created or used by Einar Maynard Gunderson between 1940 and 1980. They relate to his time as Minister of Finance for the Social Credit Government; Vice President for Pacific Great Eastern Railway, as well as Trade Minister for the Vancouver Board of Trade. The records include speeches he gave in numerous roles in both Canada and overseas; itineraries, photographs, negatives and ephemera from a trade mission to Japan, and as part of the Canadian Pacific Airlines' inaugural flight to Lima, a large scrap book containing newspaper clippings about the Pacific Great Eastern Railway; and a document with a seal appointing Gunderson to the post of Finance Minister in 1952.

Social Credit leadership convention at New Westminster, April 26, 1952

RECORDED: New Westminster (B.C.), 1952-04-26 SUMMARY: SIDE 1: Nominations of Lyle Wicks, Rev. Ernest Hansell, Solon E. Low, and W.A.C. Bennett. William N. Chant speaks and withdraws, as does Wicks. Low speaks and declines. (00:14:16) SIDE 2: W.A.C. Benn;ett speaks and declines. Rev. Ernest Hansell speaks, praising Bennett and discussing importance of economic sovereignty. Thfree cheers for Hansell. Convention sings, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". Ch;airman affirms Hansell's nomination. (00:16:47);

Provincial election posters and brochures

Series consists of posters, signage, brochures, pamphlets, cards, and other promotional materials from B.C. provincial elections. Represented are the Social Credit (Socred), Progressive Conservative (PC), New Democrat, Green, Western Canada Concept, and Liberal parties as well as independent candidates.

Identified candidates include: David Anderson, Charles Barber, Dave Barrett, Tom Bate, Robert (Sam) Bawlf, Leonard Bawtree, William (Bill) Richards Bennett, Andy Bigg, Robin Blencoe, Robert Bonner, Helen Boyce, Buda Brown, Kevin Bruce, A.J. (Tony) Brummet, Adriane Carr, Frank Carson, Joe Conroy, John Craggs, Hugh Austin Curtis, Walter Davidson, Gordon Dowding, Mike Emes, Thom Ferguson, Gordon Hanson, Frank Hillier, F.C. Christopher Huddlestan, Lyle MacWilliam, Ken Mallinson, Kitty Maracle, Jake Martens, Eric Martin, Alex Matthew, Cliff Michael, Bob Monaghan, Clyde Nunn, Terence Pitt O'Grady, Sheila Page, Les Peterson, Paul A. Phillips, Bert Price, Ron Price, Ian Rendle, Karen Sanford, Cyril Morley Shelford, Allan Arthur Schroeder, Bob Tanner, Forrest Felix Walkem, George Scott Wallace, and Malcolm Wright.

Additional items include posters for provincial Notice of Polls (Vancouver 1949, 1952, and 1956 and Prince Rupert 1975), one federal Notice of Poll for Vancouver 1945, one electoral districts map for 1989 (Item: 24921C), notices of meetings for new World War II veterans, and hospital charges for B.C.H.I.S. benefits.

Hon. Tilly Rolston : copy of radio speech, Feb-1953

Radio speech made a week after the opening of the 1st session of the 23rd B.C. Legislature [03-Feb-1953], Education Minister Tilly Rolston (Social Credit MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey) discusses t;he recent political history of B.C., the results of the June 1952 election, W.A.C. Bennett, and Social Credit policies with regard to school financing, taxes, automobile license fees, hospital insuran;ce, the economy, natural resources, parks, highways, tourism, freight rates, inequalities faced by women, etc.;

John Douglas Tisdalle records as MLA

Series consists of: correspondence as Member of the Legislative Assembly, 1953-1972; briefly annotated bound copies of British Columbia Government Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure; committee files and collected briefs; speeches and notes; scrapbooks of newspaper clippings re sessional coverage, politics; personal and Social Credit files.

Premier's records

  • GR-1414
  • Series
  • 1953-1972

This series contains official correspondence, reports, briefs to cabinet, articles and messages, etc. accumulated during W.A.C. Bennett's tenure as premier. It includes files on Dominion-provincial relations, civil defence, centennial celebrations, railways and major business corporations. Also includes copies of congratulatory letters sent to senior citizens by Bennett's successor, Premier David Barrett. Photographs transferred to Visual Records Division; maps, plans, and printed material transferred to Library and Maps Section.

GR-1414 consists of a large number of records created and accumulated during the tenure of Premier William Andrew Cecil (W.A.C.) Bennett [1952-1972]. The records originally comprised the Central Registry of the Premier's Office. Included are letters from private individuals and business corporations, inter-departmental memoranda, copies of the premier's articles and messages, briefs to cabinet and other reports submitted for the premier's consideration. This unit also includes documents pertaining to Dominion-Provincial relations, as well as correspondence from federal politicians and foreign diplomats.

The records, which comprise this unit, were transferred to the Provincial Archives from the Premier's Office in November 1982. Ten years earlier-following the defeat of Mr. Bennett's Social Credit government-the records had been consigned to a vault in the basement of the Parliament Buildings. Sometime later they were placed in cardboard boxes and removed to a builders' shed in the Parliament Buildings precinct. There they remained, apparently untended, until 1982 when they came to the attention of the Archives.

When the records were transferred to the Archives a number of file folders were found to be empty. In most cases, the empty folders concerned cabinet ministers and the work of various government departments. Similarly, contemporary file lists [see Box 131, File 11] indicate that a number of folders were missing from the original series of files. No files marked "Anonymous," for example, were among the boxes received by the Archives, despite the fact that files containing anonymous letters inward were maintained over the years by the Premier's Office. Nor were any "Confidential" files included with the transfer, although they were part of the Premier's filing system. These files may have been removed when W.A.C. Bennett left office in 1972, or they may have been removed sometime after 1976 when W.R. Bennett became premier. [In her interview (taped in 1978) Mrs. Mylrea noted that Premier Bennett asked her to "go through" the correspondence files on 31 August 1972, the day after his party's electoral defeat. Mrs. Mylrea spent the next two weeks reviewing "every piece of paper in those files." "I did not find one thing that nobody else could have looked at" she related, "there was nothing that anybody need be afraid that anybody could see, opposition or otherwise." Nevertheless, some of the files were removed and were taken by Mr. Bennett to his Kelowna home. [SMID 3236:1-2, pp.16-17]

Researchers should also note the absence of W.A.C. Bennett's constituency files in this collection. According to the premier's secretary, records dealing with the South Okanagan riding were maintained separately in the premier's Kelowna office. After his death in February, 1979, the Bennett family donated the records to the Simon Fraser University archives. [SMID 3236:1-1, p.17]

Despite the absence of certain files, GR-1414 is a remarkably rich collection of executive records. The evolution of the Social Credit Party can be detected in many of the memos and reports in the collection; public attitudes towards government policies can be seen in much of the correspondence inward, while the province's economic growth can be discerned in files devoted to industrial development or to particular companies. Federal-provincial relations are also well documented, as are the activities of local chambers of commerce and sundry community groups throughout the province. Indeed, as a source of documentation for British Columbia in the 1950s and 1960s, GR-1414 is unrivalled.

British Columbia. Premier

William Neelands Chant papers

Speeches; correspondence, official and personal; invitations; diverse government reports, memoranda, and briefs; correspondence, speeches, handbooks and papers concerning Social Credit Party organization and campaigns, and monetary policy. Material transferred to Map Collection, Visual Records and the BC Archives Library. During his career William Neelands Chant was a businessman, farmer, MLA (Alberta and B.C.), Minister of Agriculture (Alta.), and the Minister of Public Works (B.C.). The records include speeches; correspondence, official and personal; invitations; diverse government reports, memoranda, and briefs; correspondence, speeches, handbooks and papers concerning Social Credit Party organization and campaigns, and monetary policy. Books, photographs and maps transferred to other units. See list at the end of the finding aid. Material transferred to BC Archives Library (check library catalogue for call numbers): British Columbia. The Law Courts, Victoria, British Columbia [Leather bound copy] British Columbia. Education Building, UBC, Vancouver, B.C. Draft Canadian Constitutional Charter British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, First Annual Report Power Means Progress. British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. Standing Order (adopted February 20, 1930) Queen's Printer, 1955 H.E. Nichols, A Handbook of Social Credit, Edmonton Reading Reference to Social Credit: A Bibliography, compiled by Michael Sinclair, 1963 American Historical Documents from official Archives [portfolio] British Columbia. Centennial Edition. 1964 T.J. Irwin, The Pageantry of Parliament. [Pamphlet, no date] Major C.H. Douglas, "Social Credit Principles". Speech, 1924 Material transferred to Visual Records accession 198006-033 includes: 4 photo albums, with numerous loose photographs 4 boxes (approximately 20 slides each) 35 mm color transparencies metal plate of photo of W.N. Chant Envelope containing 11 loose photos of Chant Cuts of photos of Chant Album "To the Government of the Province of British Columbia" advertising work of Townley, Matheson & Partners, Dexter Bush and Associates Ltd., Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, architects and engineers Material transferred to Map Collection: Map. Columbia River Basin in British Columbia, showing principal water powers. Map registration number 14009B. Map. British Columbia. Electoral districts. Redistribution 1966. Duplicate of this map available. See CM/A1128. Map. Plan of part of the Municipality of Richmond, showing suggested land reclamation scheme on Sturgeon Bank. Map registration number 13829B.

Chant, William Neelands, 1895-1976

British Columbia Social Credit Party fonds

  • PR-2309
  • Fonds
  • 1956-1993; predominantly 1986-1991

The fonds consists of records created by the British Columbia Social Credit Party between 1956 and 1993.

The records include Social Credit newspapers and brochures, manuals and history files, correspondence, budget and election material. The records also include member files arranged by the name of Social Credit candidates which contain biographical information and photographs.

In addition there are records relating to leadership conventions and provincial elections which include photographs, audio and video records, posters and metal election buttons, especially relating to the Social Credit leaders Bill Bennett, Bill Vander Zalm and Rita Johnston.

There are photographs in many forms including prints, negatives, slides and contact sheets of Social Credit events, training sessions and campaigns.

Social Credit Party (British Columbia)

Social Credit - Bob Bowman

SUMMARY: Bob Bowman speaks in support of re-electing the Social Credit Party in the upcoming B.C. provincial election (no date given). Bowman says that taxes in B.C. are the lowest in Canada overall, and that ;Premier Bennett has kept hydro rates down. SIDE 1: Five cuts. SIDE 2: Three cuts.;

C.D. Orchard : [reminiscences]

CALL NUMBER: T1887:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): C.D. Orchard : forestry in British Columbia, 1920-1958 (part 1) PERIOD COVERED: 1893-1925 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Orchard born 1893 in Wakefield, N.B. Became a teacher in N.B. Comments on the development of forestry education. Entered forestry at UNB. In Canadian Armed Forces, 1914-19. Returned to forestry at UNB. Obtained job in BCFS in 1920. Met forester Charles S. Cowan and Chief Forester M.A. Grainger. Orchard's introduction to the Forest Branch. Early survey and cruising methods. Field work in Vernon. Working conditions in the Forest Branch. Cruise of the Kelowna watershed, 1920. Work along the Nass River, 1921. TRACK 2: More on cruising in the Nass River area, 1921022. Forest Branch work. Indians in the Nass country. Aiyansh. Comments on timber sales and forest management. Orchard put in charge of all forest surveys. Timber cruising methods. The development of forestry education. CALL NUMBER: T1887:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): C.D. Orchard : forestry in British Columbia, 1920-1958 (part 2) PERIOD COVERED: 1912-1961 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: History of the B.C. Forest Branch: H.R. MacMillan, the first Chief Forester, 1912; early personnel; early forest inventories in B.C.; early organization of the Forest Service. Orchard becomes; District Forester in Cranbrook in 1924. Conditions in Cranbrook. Assistant District Forester in Nelson, 1925. Comments on Chief Forester P.Z. Caverhill. Forestry conditions in B.C., 1910-40. Early timber leases. Comments on the Fulton Commission, 1909-10. Comments on Martin A. Grainger, secretary to the commission and later Chief Forester. Letter from H.R. MacMillan about Grainger and A.W. Ross, Minister of Lands. The Nelson Forest District in the mid-1920s. TRACK 2: More on the forest district especially about forest fires. Orchard becomes District Forester in Prince George, 1927. Transportation in the Prince George district. A forester's problems: fires and accounts. Attempted political interference in the Forest Branch. Patronage in the Public Service. Conditions in Prince George. Internal Forest Branch matters. Orchard moved to Victoria office, 1930. Patronage appointments of some staff. Orchard's duties. CALL NUMBER: T1887:0003 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): C.D. Orchard : forestry in British Columbia, 1920-1958 (part 3) PERIOD COVERED: 1912-1958 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Forest Branch finances: Forest Protection Fund and annual allotments. Changes in Forest Branch function: forest protection before 1940 and forest management afterwards. Problems of the Depression. Staff shortages. Forest Branch equipment. Fire pumps. Orchard become head of Forest Service research, 1932. More on Depression problems. Chief Forester P.Z. Caverhill dies, 1935. E.C. Manning becomes Chief Forester and Orchard Deputy Chief Forester, January 1936. Comments on Caverhill and Manning. Manning a promoter of parks. Parks turned over to Forest Branch in 1939. Parks to Recreation and Conservation in 1957. More on Manning. Manning dies in an air crash and Orchard becomes Chief Forester, 1941. Problems presented by WW II. The new job. TRACK 2: Problems of WW II. Forest industry profiteering. Labour problems. The perception of management problems in the early 1940s. The idea of sustained yield develops in the 1940s. Experiments in small log production. Role of Bob Filberg in these experiments. Political pressures on the Forest Service. Socreds susceptible to industry pressure. More on sustained yield. Orchard's memorandum on sustained yield, 1942. Private debate on forest management, 1942-43. Gordon Sloan appointed Royal Commissioner to look into forest management, 1943. The Sloan Commission. CALL NUMBER: T1887:0004 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): C.D. Orchard : forestry in British Columbia, 1920-1958 (part 4) PERIOD COVERED: 1943-1958 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Sloan Commission hearings, 1943-45. Orchard becomes Deputy Minister of Forests, 1945. Orchard continues as Chief Forester. Problems of wartime. Sloan's report in 1945 supports sustained yield. Evolution of the Forest Management License concept. E.T. Kenney becomes Minister of Lands and Forests, 1944. Comments on Kenney. Amendments to the Forest Act, 1946 and 1947. Disagreements with J.V. Fisher, Deputy Minister of Finance. Opposition to FMLs. Problems with the license system. Negotiations for early FMLs. TRACK 2: Forest management experiences elsewhere. Orchard's faith in the forest management system. The second Sloan Commission, 1955-56. Forest Service takes returning WW II veterans. Comments on UBC Faculty of Forestry. Ranger school at Green Timbers. Construction of ranger school. Comments on Fred Mulholland. Progress in the forest industry. Integration in the forest industry and reasons for it. Post-war production trends. Defense of forest management policies. Forest Service roads. CALL NUMBER: T1887:0005 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): C.D. Orchard : forestry in British Columbia, 1920-1958 (part 5) PERIOD COVERED: 1912-[no date] RECORDED: [location unknown], 1961 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Forestry work under the Silvicultural Fund. Fund ended in 1956. The second Sloan Commission into forestry, 1955-56. The Socred takeover, 1952. Orchard's opinions of the Socred government. The Sommers case from Orchard's point of view. Summary of the accomplishments of the Forest Service from 1912. (End of interview)

Correspondence to the Leader of the Opposition

Series consists of correspondence from electors to Leader of the Opposition concerning grievances (e.g. pensions, workmen's compensation, etc.), injustices, and bureaucratic inconveniences. Files include replies and relevant correspondence from government officials. Some correspondence answered by Strachan's successor, Tom Berger.

The fires of progress

SUMMARY: A radio documentary in which political scientist Walter Young examines the political phenomenon of British Columbia's Social Credit government. The program draws on interviews with Premier W.A.C. Bennett, members of his cabinet, MLA's, party workers, and voters, as well as commentary from political science professor Donald Smiley and psychiatrist Dr. James Tyhurst.

Labour member from Fernie

SUMMARY: A CBC radio documentary on Labour MLA Thomas Uphill of Fernie, B.C., who sat in the B.C. Legislature from 1920 to 1960. The program includes ancdotes about and recollections of Uphill from Bert Herridge, W.A.C. Bennett, Robert Strachan, Wesley Black, Sarah Ann (Nan) Uphill, Randolf Harding, Frank Calder, and others. Includes discussion of Uphill's early years, his early union days in Fernie, his public service (as alderman, mayor and MLA), provincial election campaigns, his effectiveness as an MLA, style of politics, helpfulness to new MLAs, practical jokes in the Legislature, and his last years.

The fires of progress

SUMMARY: A radio documentary in which political scientist Walter Young examines the political phenomenon of British Columbia's Social Credit government. The program draws on interviews with Premier W.A.C. Bennett, members of his cabinet, MLA's, party workers, and voters, as well as commentary from political science professor Donald Smiley and psychiatrist Dr. James Tyhurst.

Ray Williston interview : [Young, 1965]

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): R.G. Williston : Social Credit cabinet minister PERIOD COVERED: 1953-1965 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965 SUMMARY: Runs for Social Credit in 1953. Did not study Social Credit monetary theory. Reasons for success of Social Credit. Social Credit League. Role of government in economic planning and control. Criticism of the Social Credit government.

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