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This series consists of district and municipal school inspectors' reports. Records include correspondence inward and outward primarily between inspectorate No. 2, and the Assistant Superintendent of Education (1916); and reports on teachers filed by inspectors' names (1940-1946).

Reports for 1916 were prepared for the Superintendent of Education, Alexander Robinson; reports for the period 1940-1946 were submitted to the Chief Inspector of Schools, Dr. H.B. King. Also included are reports from the Inspector of High Schools, the Inspector of Technical Education, and the Director of the Home Economics branch for the years 1941-1946. The reports for the 1940s deal with schools throughout the province and so provide a detailed record of the state of public education at that time.

Generally, the reports contain evaluations of school buildings, equipment and grounds, along with assessments of the organization and management of individual classes within the schools. The reports also included evaluations of the teachers working in the various schools.

The reports were originally filed under the names of the school inspectors, an arrangement which has been maintained here. However, to facilitate research on particular schools and communities, an effort has been made to identify the boundaries of the different school inspectorates.

Prior to 1946 and the advent of well-defined school districts, boundaries of the various inspectorates were sometimes imprecise; the inspectorates varied in size and did not always coincide with municipal, rural, or even regional areas. The inspector of schools in Agassiz, for example, also reported on schools at Alert Bay; similarly, the inspector responsible for Port Moody also looked after schools in Saanich and Powell River. Researchers are, accordingly, advised to use this collection with GR-01492 (Directories of School Inspectorates, 1937 - 1946).

The Elementary Agricultural Education Branch was established in 1915 to promote nature study and rural science in the public schools of British Columbia. The director of the branch was John Wesley Gibson (1874-1954) who, with a team of district supervisors, established one of the most successful school gardening programmes in the country. As well as developing school gardens, the branch was also involved with patriotic fund raising projects, home garden clubs and agricultural fairs.

The series consists of records created by the branch between 1916 and 1929. It includes correspondence and reports from District Supervisors of Agricultural Instruction, submitted to Superintendent of Elementary Agricultural Education, J.W. Gibson. Included with the correspondence are the supervisors' monthly reports, giving the names of schools inspected, comments on school projects and details of events pertaining to horticulture and agriculture. It also includes memoranda and letters from applicants seeking positions as instructors.

The correspondence was filed alphabetically under the names of the school district supervisors. During the period 1916 1929 the branch supervisors and districts were as follows:

During the period 1916-1929 the branch supervisors and districts were as follows:
W.J. Austin, Kelowna/Vernon
J.E. Britton, Armstrong/Kelowna
W.M. Fleming, Duncan and Cowichan
W.H. Grant, Salmon Arm
H.A. Hallwright, Victoria and Saanich
S.H. Hopkins, Courtenay-Comox
T.H. Jones, Armstrong and Enderby, Penticton
A.M. McDermott, New Westminster
J.B. Munro, Armstrong/Enderby
J.C. Ready, Chilliwack
V.B. Robinson, Vernon/Penticton/Summerland
J.M. Shales, Murrayville [Langley area]
E.L. Small, Cloverdale [Langley and Surrey]
G.V. Van Talisk, Penticton
F.J. Welland, Cloverdale

Researchers should also consult the branch reports which were published annually in the Public Schools Reports.

This series consists of correspondence, circulars, and other records from the Director of Elementary Agricultural Education (J.W. Gibson). Records include correspondence regarding Gibsons' appointment, home and school gardens, and students' wartime agricultural work. Also included are minutes of meetings of Provincial Committee on Food Production, Conservation and Control; correspondence regarding Returned Soldiers' Aid Commission (1915-1916); and register of summer school pupils (1914-1923). There are also circulars describing soil conditions, landscaping, and general appearance of school grounds in primarily rural schools, 1915. Scale drawings on circulars show school buildings, outbuildings, wells, paths, position of trees, rocks, flagpoles etc. on school playgrounds.

This series consists of 33 volumes of register of Schools, school trustees and teachers. Records include registers showing the location of rural and assisted schools (1 vol.), names of trustees of rural and assisted school districts, 1917-1946 (29 vols.) and names of teachers in provincial public schools, 1918-1921 (3 vols.).

Volume 1 is a register of rural and assisted schools, ca 1918-1946. The schools are listed alphabetically and the location of each school is described. For example: "JACKSON BAY - a post office on Lewis Channel - Topaz Harbour route of Union Steamship Company from Vancouver;"

Volumes 2-30 are registers showing the names of school trustees of rural and assisted schools. The registers are arranged by year, beginning in 1917/1918 (vol. 2) through 1945/1946 (vol.30). Each register is organized alphabetically by name of school.

Volumes 31-33 are entitled "Teachers' Index Books." These registers are arranged alphabetically by name of teacher. The registers also show where each teacher was posted and the teacher's residence or postal address.

The Teachers' Indexes for 1918-1920 (vols. 31 and 32) list teachers in all categories of public schools City, Rural Municipality, Rural and Assisted. The Index volume for 1920-1921, however, only shows teachers who taught in Graded City Schools and in Rural Municipality Schools; teachers at small country schools (i.e. rural and assisted schools) are not listed in Vol. 33.

This series consists of Department of Education experience and tenure forms for teachers. Forms referring to experience and tenure of teachers and qualifications from rural and municipal districts, 1943-1944, and from cities, 1944-1945. Files cover rural schools, city schools, Vancouver, and the Matsqui - Sumas - Abbotsford Educational Area.

The series consists of 627 b&w photographs taken or acquired by the Dept. of Education between 1944 and 1963. The photographs are of schools across B.C. and are arranged by the school district number at the time, or name of community. The photographs were taken by the the Division of Visual Education as well as by commercial photographers, School Boards and construction companies. There is some accompanying material consisting of plans, correspondence and pamphlets noted in the file list.

The series consists of notebooks maintained by senior clerks in the Education Department's Central Office, showing financial grants to schools (3 v. 1917-1944). The series also includes a notebook [probably kept by S.J. Willis, Superintendent of Education] containing memoranda re: school programmes, applications for employment, membership of curriculum revision committees, school inspectors, school buildings grants and education financing, 1931-1945. As well, this notebook contains typescripts by S.J. Willis on "Accredited High School," "Teacher Training (1934)," "School Finance" and "High School Curriculum & High School Correspondence Courses".

The series consists of a register of teachers' certificates and examinations from 1880 to 1888. It states the type of certificate granted, course taken and marks obtained. There is an index on the inside front cover.

The series consists of miscellaneous documents gathered together by the Dept. of Education library:
(1) Report, Frontier College - Promoting Citizenship Among Migratory Workers in British Columbia, 1951 (includes photographs)
(2) Receipts, by schools, for B.C. Centennial Commemorative Project, 1958
(3) Centennial Commission Provincial Survey Federal - Provincial Youth Travel Program, 1966
(4) "The History Makers," seventeen films presented to the Hon Leslie Peterson, Minister of Education by the National Film Board of Canada, 1966
(5) Malaspina College - Opening and notes re. background of name, 1969
(6) Speech materials for minister, 1954-1968.

The series consists of papers of the Educational activities subcommittee of the Canadian Confederation Centennial Committee of BC created by the Dept. of Education between 1964 and 1967.

This series consists of Department of Education records. Records include contracts and bonds with text-book companies; and bequests, including a trust deed between Alumni Association of the University of British Columbia and Toronto General Trusts Corporation regarding Norah Elizabeth Coy and between Canadian Teachers' Federation and Mary Louise McLennan. Also includes a copy of Memories, 1923-1930 (Stratford, Ontario, 1941) by M.L. McLennan.

This series consists of Department of Education newspaper clipping books, 1903-1919; 1920-1931; and 1932-1938.

Bulletins of the Provincial Summer School of Education describing faculty, courses available and procedures.

This series consists of the Chief Inspector's Circular containing suggestions for improvement of instruction from many sources.

This series contains a circular entitled "Departmental Circular for Inspectors, Directors, and other Officials."

This series contains a report on the work of Frontier College in British Columbia for 1953. Frontier College was a voluntary organization designed to promote citizenship and education among migratory workers in isolated camps and settlements. The College was founded in 1900 and incorporated in 1919. Instructors were recruited from Canadian universities to work as labourers-teachers in the summer months. Instructors usually worked as paid labourers by day and conducted classes in the evenings. The majority of the students were recently arrived immigrants. The report is illustrated with black and white photographs of railway labourers and workers at Kitimat and Kemano. Photographs and biographical sketches of instructors are also included.

This series contains a typescript of speech given to the British Columbia Library Association convention by Minister of Education, Dr. G.M. Weir on 13 May 1946. Weir's speech, given in Nanaimo, provided a general review of the government's educational policies and priorities.

"Peace River School Directory, May-June 1934." A bound, typescript volume compiled by School Inspector William Plenderleith. It was compiled to assist J.L. Watson, Department of Education Registrar, in making appointments to schools in the Peace River Educational Administrative Area. The volume includes photographs and descriptions of sixty-four schools, with notes and general comments on settlers and the countryside in the various school districts. Plenderleith also provided information on boarding facilities for teachers and suggestions as to the most suitable type of teachers for individual schools. Several of the photographs feature pupils and interior views of the mainly rural, one-room schools.

The series consists of records created by the Dept. of Education in 1939. It includes correspondence, inward and outward, of all branches and formed the department's Central Registry. Records include correspondence re text books, curricula, appointments, and special education programs. School inspectors' reports and files re individual rural schools also included. The series also includes eight maps and plans and one photograph of the gymnasium of Brooks School at Powell River under construction.

Maps and plans transferred to the map collection, map accession M867053, registration numbers 22550C-22551C, 22552A-22553A

The series consists of Associate Deputy Minister A.E. Sole's subject files arranged alphabetically by file title. The records include correspondence and reports dealing with schools, colleges, teachers, curricula, libraries, and various other education-related topics.

The series consists of records created by the Dept. of Education between 1915 and 1924. The records include teachers' "Reports on Instruction Given in Rural Science," submitted to J.W. Gibson, director of Elementary Agricultural Instruction. The reports show name of teacher, teacher's length of service at the school, qualifications in rural science, and previous experience with school gardening. The reports also contain information re: syllabuses, textbooks, equipment, etc., as well as monthly calendars of gardening activities of various schools.

The reports are filed alphabetically by teachers' names. Researchers should consult the Public Schools Reports for these years to determine the names of teachers at particular schools.

The series includes records relating to three inquiries into various educational matters, and include correspondence, transcripts of evidence and reports on:
Commission on the Board of School Trustees of Vancouver, 1913
Commission Re Board of School Trustees of the City of Nelson, 1912
Commission to investigate the charges brought by Miss [Agnes] Gertrude Donovan of Victoria against the Department of Education, 1903-1908

The series consists of the records of the provincial coordinator of the Young Voyageurs Program. The records relate to the participation of BC high school students in the federal government of Canada’s Young Voyageurs Program. This federal-provincial program started in the 1960s to provide an opportunity for groups of students to travel to another part of Canada. These records, documenting various student exchange trips from BC to other provinces between 1961-1976, were created and maintained by the Ministry of Education, Student Services Program. Records include subject files documenting the program’s administration and operation; program reports; student reaction sheets and reports of the Young Voyageur groups; and a card file listing all Young Voyageurs groups to participate in British Columbia’s program, the geographic area they represented, and the number of students that attended.

The series is arranged alphabetically and some files have an alpha-numeric file code. The records consist of correspondence, subject files, reports, bulletins and published material. The records were transferred to the BC Archives without a records schedule.