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Series includes correspondence, diaries, personal and business records of R.H.B. Ker, including papers of his grandfather, Robert Ker, and father, David Russell Ker.

The records consist chiefly of correspondence arranged by Ker alphabetically by subject. In addition, R.H.B. Ker preserved some of the papers of his grandfather, Robert Ker, who served as Auditor General in the colonial Government of Vancouver Island and British Columbia, and his father David Russell Ker, who was president of Brackman and Ker Milling Company Limited, and who retained some of the records of this company. These records are contained in boxes 25, and 30-33.

Series consists of Colonial Office correspondence relating to the Colony of Vancouver Island. Correspondence is arranged chronologically in bound volumes.

Reminiscences: diaries and notebooks, 1846-1858, 1862-1896 (22 vols.); sketchbook and diary, August - October 1859; account books; printed notice re night school, 1877; papers accumulated as collector of road taxes, including correspondence, minute books, Victoria road district, 1861-1874, assessment rolls, Victoria, Esquimalt, Metchosin and Sooke road districts, various tenders, reports, bills; correspondence with Dept. of Militia and Defence as Paymaster, no 11 Military district, 1874-1879.

Finding aid: file list.

Series consists of handwritten journals covering briefly Roberts time as a youth in Ireland, his work as a missionary in Upper Canada at the “Six Nations Indians’ parsonage,” Cayuga Mission, and his missionary work on Kuper Island. The predominant portion of his journals cover his years on Kuper Island (1890-1904). Topics focus on agricultural concerns and his relationship with the New England Company. The journals summarize the daily affairs on Kuper Island. In brief journal entries, Roberts documents the indigenous experience of colonial settlement and economy, noting the waves of disease, the annual travel for fishing and canning, and the struggle to maintain cultural practices such as the potlatch.

This series consists of correspondence pertaining to the settlement of Vancouver Island and despatches from the Governor of Vancouver Island to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. (CO 305/1 to CO 305/2).

Series consists of Power of attorney to George Simpson and Duncan Finlayson, 1847 and 1849; report on Champlain and St. Lawrence Railroad Company (printed), 1850.

Four memoriam cards (1847-1891), one wedding announcement (1892) and eight Christmas and New Year greeting cards, all acquired by the Leeming family. Photographs transferred to Visual Records accession 199205-007.

This series contains reports and despatches between the Senior Naval Officer (Esquimalt, B.C.) & the Secretary of the Admiralty, Whitehall (London, Eng.). The correspondence includes letters from colonial governors and despatches from Deputy Adjutant General (B.C. militia district). The records also include lists of naval stores storekeepers' accounts, sketch maps of naval reserves and stations, and printed reports.

This series consists of published charts produced by the Hydrographic Office of the British Admiralty.

Although the Admiralty Charts were designed to serve as navigational aids, they frequently contain extensive cultural and topographic information. Of particular interest to researchers engaged in First Nations studies is the appearance on early charts of First Nations villages and longhouses. Since the charts were usually based on new surveys, they provide invaluable information on the birth and development of nineteenth century BC coastal communities. Indeed, the charts often serve as the only available cartographic record of early settlements, and may depict such features as Hudson's Bay Company forts; prominent buildings and bridges; farms and field layouts; and railways, roads, and trails.

A guide to the symbols and abbreviations used on the charts is available in Chart X,II (CM/B2423 1911). The chart list identifies for each chart the edition date, as well as the date of the latest large and small corrections. Although the use of the terms edition and large and small corrections changed over time, the practice during much of the period in question appears to have been as follows. A new edition of a chart was generally produced only when the chart was thoroughly revised in content and style. When a chart received changes that were not so extensive as to require the preparation of new edition but were too extensive to be described in the Admiralty Notice to Mariners, the words "large corrections" together with the date of correction were entered near the bottom centre of the chart. When a chart was updated with changes that either appeared in the Notice to Mariners or were considered of no relevance to safe navigation, the words "small corrections" and the date of correction were entered in the bottom left corner of the chart. The number of the Notice in which small corrections were announced was sometimes also entered. Small corrections could be entered on the charts by hand, either at the hydrographic office itself or at the various agencies that sold the charts. Finally, since this series brings together items from diverse sources including other archival record units, it includes a variety of charts annotated by the charts' original users. Items containing significant annotations are identified in the chart list, but researchers are warned that in many cases it will be impossible to identify the persons responsible for the annotations.

Papers of J.S. Helmcken and members of his family, including correspondence, 1848-1920, account books, 1871-1903, deeds, contracts, certificates, 1825-1890, medical notebooks, case books and account books, 1845-1890, notes and papers concerning the Beacon Hill Park Bowling Club, 1898-1914, rough notes and drafts for articles in newspapers, speeches, and reminiscences. Account books pertaining to the estate of Arthur Thomas Bushby, 1875-1901. Papers of Harry Dallas Helmcken, 1866-1894, and William Ralph Higgins, 1890-1903. J.S. Helmcken's confederation diary and reminiscences are also on microfilm. John Sebastian Helmcken was born in Spitalfields, London on 5 June 1824, the fourth child and eldest son of Claus Helmcken and Catherine Mittler. After attending St. George's German and English school from 1828 to 1839 Helmcken apprenticed himself to Dr. W.H. Graves as a chemist and druggist. On 2 October 1844, Helmcken registered as a student at Guy's Hospital, London, and in March 1848 was admitted as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons. Two months later he was serving as surgeon aboard the Malacca until, on 12 October 1849, he received an appointment from the Hudson's Bay Company as surgeon and clerk for a five year term. Helmcken arrived at Esquimalt on 24 March 1850 and was first posted to Fort Rupert before being ordered to return to Fort Victoria in December 1850. On 27 December 1852 he married Cecilia Douglas, eldest daughter of Governor James Douglas. In 1856 Helmcken was elected to represent Esquimalt and Victoria District in the Legislative Assembly of Vancouver Island and served as Speaker of the Assembly until union with British Columbia in 1866. Governor Musgrave appointed Helmcken to the Executive Council of British Columbia in December 1869 while he was also serving as a member of the Legislative Council of B.C., and in the summer of 1870 he travelled to Ottawa as one of three confederation delegates from the colony. With the entry of British Columbia into Confederation in 1871, Helmcken retired from active politics. Helmcken also served as president of the Board of Directors of the Royal Hospital, remained physician to Victoria's jail until 1910, and contributed numerous articles on the early history of Vancouver Island in his later life. Dr. Helmcken died on 1 September 1920. The records include the papers of J.S. Helmcken and members of his family: correspondence, 1848-1920, account books, 1871-1903, deeds, contracts, certificates, 1825-1890, medical notebooks, casebooks and account books, 1845-1890, notes and papers concerning the Beacon Hill Park Bowling Club, 1898-1914, rough notes and drafts for articles in newspapers, speeches and reminiscences. There are also account books pertaining to the estate of Arthur Thomas Bushby, 1875-1901, and papers of Harry Dallas Helmcken, 1866-1894, and William Ralph Higgins, 1890-1903. J.S. Helmcken's Confederation diary and reminiscences are also on microfilm [A00810]. An index to the records is available as part of the hard copy finding aid kept in the reference room.

Series consists of mission and school records.

The series is arranged into five sub-series:
● Codex historicus, visitation books, and registers
● BC Missions and Residential Schools
● Settler Missions and Schools
● Oversize items, photograph albums, scrapbooks, and audio-visual
● Cartographic

The fonds consists of correspondence, account books and other financial and business records of the Trutch family created between 1849 and 1907. Also included in the papers of Joseph William Trutch are records related to his various government positions. The fonds has been arranged into five sous fonds containing the records of: Trutch's mother, Charlotte Hannah (Barnes) Trutch, Joseph William Trutch, his wife, Julia Elizabeth (Hyde) Trutch, his brother John, and John's wife, Zoe Trutch. The Joseph William Trutch sous fonds is the most extensive. Some of these records were previously catalogued at the item level in the Old Catalogue, primarily using classification A/E/OR3, and as MS-0412 O'Reilly family, MS-0248 O'Reilly family, and MS-1184 and MS-2081, Sir Joseph William Trutch. In 2001, these records, which were in different collections, were rearranged into fonds in preparation for a microfilming project. Records that belonged to the Trutch family fonds, were separated from those belonging to the O'Reilly family fonds, Edgar Dewdney fonds, Weir family fonds, and the William Curtis Ward fonds, and are now described separately. Provenance: Letters from MS-0248, purchased from J.K. Nesbitt, Victoria, 1974. Records from MS-0412 transferred from Point Ellice Historic House, Victoria, 1975. Other records, previously part of the Old Catalogue, were received at various times from various donors. The majority of the Old Catalogue records were received from John Windham O'Reilly in 1964. Finding aid: item and reel list.

Vancouver Island: Entry Books of Correspondence, 1849-1867, (C.O. 410, vols. 1-2). This unit consists of letter-book copies of despatches from the Secretary of State for the Colonies (i.e. the Colonial .Secretary) to the governors of Vancouver Island. Subject indexes appear at the end of the volumes. Original duplicate copies of these records are catalogued as C/AA/10.2/1. Other copies, but of inferior quality, may be found on microfilm reel B00004 (1).

Series consists of 36 diaries handwritten by Robert James Roberts. Roberts began to keep a diary as a young man attending grammar school in England. He consistently kept a daily diary through his life. His diaries were generally leather bound, chapbook size. As a diarist Roberts' entries predominantly concerned daily events. His writing documents his time in Upper Canada where he worked as a Church of England missionary at the "Cayuga Indian Mission." The predominant portion of the diaries document his life on the West Coast. They provide a tableau of life on Kuper Island. Roberts' diaries capture a profile of the Lamalchi and Penelekut First Nations during their late 19th century experience of colonial settlement on the West Coast of Canada. in the 1890s Roberts began to include Pitman’s shorthand into his records. He also kept a small portion of his earlier diaries in a shorthand known as Odell. Approximately 10 - 15% of the diaries are written in Pitman's shorthand. Roberts was not part of the Oblates residential school located on Kuper Island and it is mentioned infrequently in his diaries.

Official papers, including his commission, warrant and instructions as Governor of Vancouver Island; correspondence inward (1851); a list of passengers from England on the "Harpooner" (1849); will (1894). Richard Blanshard was born on 19 October 1817. He received his education from Christ Church, where he matriculated in 1835 and went on to receive his B.A. in 1840 and M.A. in 1844 from Queen's College, Oxford. He also studied law at Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar on 22 November 1844. Interested in pursuing a career in the colonial service, Blanshard accepted his commission for the position of Governor of Vancouver Island in July 1949. Blanshard finally arrived in Victoria in March 1850. Delays in the completion of a governor's residence, a misunderstanding between Blanshard and the Hudson's Bay Company over a promised land grant, and the high cost of living were all factors that contributed to a rift between Blanshard, who had not been provided a salary, and James Douglas, chief factor for the Hudson's Bay Company in Victoria. Blanshard quickly became an opponent of the Company and with the failure of the new colony to develop as Blanshard and the Company had anticipated, the governor quickly grew disillusioned, and suffering from chronic ill health, tendered his resignation to the Secretary of State for the Colonies,* Blanshard arrived in England in May 1852. He gave evidence to the Select Committee on the Hudson's Bay Company on 15 June 1857, and a week later attended a lecture on Vancouver Island by Captain W. Colquhoun Grant presented by the Royal Geographical Society. He inherited a substantial fortune and spent the remainder of his life living between London and his estate in Hampshire. He died in London on 5 June 1894. The collection consists of Blanshard's official papers, including his commission, warrant, and instructions as Governor of Vancouver Island; correspondence inward (1851); a passenger list (1849); and will (1894). For details of his career see W. Kaye Lamb, "The Governorship of Richard Blanshard," British Columbia Historical Quarterly, xiv, nos. 1 and 2 (January - April 1950), 1-40.

The series consists of copies of British Columbia baptism, marriage and death registers created by churches that conducted the ceremonies. Currently only records (baptisms 1849-1899; marriages 1864-1903) of St. Andrews Cathedral, Victoria , are available.

Churches were required to submit their baptismal registers to the Vital Statistics Division in the 1940s so the registers could be microfilmed. Vital Statistics subsequently created an alphabetical index to the microfilmed registers, and a database was created from the index volumes with supplementary information from the microfilmed registers added to the entries. This information is searchable via the BC Archives Genealogy database. The microfilm copies of the original registers may include some additional information or context that was not included in the database.

Each bound volume was created by one church. Each entry corresponds with one ceremony, but may involve multiple individuals. The entries within each volume are ordered chronologically and may be numbered. Every volume varies in the type and presentation of information included and may not be consistent throughout one volume. All entries include the date of the ceremony, name of individual(s) involved in the ceremony, and the name of the priest who conducted the ceremony.

Baptism register entries may also include name of child, date of birth, place of birth, sex of child, name and surname of father, name and maiden name of mother, residence of parents, profession of parents, religion of parents, name and surname of grandparents, religion of grandparents, and name and surname of godparents.

Marriage register entries may also include name and surname of groom, name and maiden name of bride, age of bride, age of groom, name and surname of their parents, name and surname of witnesses present, religion of named individuals, place of birth, and signatures of parties involved.

Death register entries may also include: death dates, cause of death, age at death, location of internment and information about the funeral ceremony.

Indigenous people are included in the registers (as Indians or Sauvages). Some Indigenous names are included. Many baptisms of Indigenous people were in groups and may only consist of a list of the Christian names the priest gave to the baptized individuals. Tribal or community affiliations may be included.

Some entries include the geographical location that the ceremony took place. This location may vary from the location of the church, as some priests travelled quite widely to conduct ceremonies.

Correspondence with Edward Ellice, Lord John Russsell, Sir George Grey, Baron Panmure, John McDonald, and James Booth on colonial affairs, including trade and militia matters affecting British North America and the HBC fur trade; memorandum concerning Vancouver Island Colony.

Photocopies 1849-1857 91 p

Henry Labouchere, first Baron Taunton was born in 1798, obtained his early education at Winchester and received a B.A. from Christ Church, Oxford in 1821. In 1828 he received his M.A. He was first elected as a liberal Member of Parliament in 1826 and served in a variety of posts including Lord of the Admiralty (1832); Master of the Mint, privy councillor, and Vice-President of the Board of Trade (1835); and Undersecretary of War and the Colonies (1839). He was appointed President of the Board of Trade in Lord Melbourne's cabinet, 1939-1841, and served in the same capacity under Lord John Russell's ministry, 1847-1852. He became Secretary of State for the Colonies under Lord Palmerston from 1855-1858 and it is to this period of his career that this collection of papers pertains.

Source: MS Finding Aids

Photocopies presented by the Public Archives of Canada, which holds the originals in MG 24, A58, 1975.

Finding aid.

The series consists of a circular despatches sent to the governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island from the Colonial Office in London. The series includes despatches sent to the Governor Kennedy and a register of despatches sent to Governors Blanshard and Douglas. The despatches listed in the register have not been found.

Manuscripts relating to Indian languages of British Columbia selected by the BC Indian Languages Project. Photocopy ca. 1850-1920 3.2 m The manuscripts in this unit were copied at the Smithsonian Institution by the British Columbia Indian Languages Project. A list of manuscripts is in the printed Catalogue to Manuscripts at the National Anthropological Archives, G.K. Hall, 1975. The Catalogue gives the number of the manuscript assigned by the National Anthropological Archives. The list in the attached finding aid will show the manuscripts copied by the BC Indian Languages Project. Researchers are advised that not all manuscripts relating to British Columbia that are shown in the Catalogue are in this unit.

Series consists of necrologies (nécrologie), which are a record of the death of a Sister and are distinct from an obituary, although the terms are often used interchangeably. A necrology is a liturgical book, its entries arranged according to the calendar and designed for liturgical reading. The necrologies and martyrologies were read out at meal times at the various SSA houses. Necrologies are comprehensive, detailing the Sisters’ early life as well as her life as a religious Sister. These necrologies document the lives of all Sisters of the congregation, not just those from St. Joseph's Province.

In Memoriam are similar to a necrology but can be much more substantial, and often consists of a booklet of information about the deceased, letters to and or about them, and other ephemera.

After 2010, necrologies were sent to the Province Leader electronically.