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Diaries, 1917-1939 (11 volumes), also contains loose material; correspondence, 1913-1968, literary manuscripts; newspaper and magazine articles; reminiscences, 1915-1929 (preliminary and final drafts). Numerous photographs removed to Visual Records. Microfilm of diaries, 1917-1929 [Reel A00232], microfilm of reminiscences (final draft), omitting chapters 1-3 [Reel A00233].

Gift of Mrs. F.W. Hodson, Shawnigan Lake, 1967 and 1974.

Finding aid: reel/file list.

Correspondence, general files and accounts files relating to dyking and drainage districts, improvement districts, flood control and agricultural development in the Fraser Valley, 1917-1974. Minute books of dyking districts; Pitt Meadows, 1895; Nicomen, 1912-1930; South Westminster Dyking District, 1920, 1923, 1928.

The series consists of general office files created by the Provincial Horticulturalist between 1912 and 1922. The files contain correspondence and reports on horticultural matters of provincial significance.

This series consists of records of the Department of Lands and Forests, Lands Service, primarily relating to leases of Crown land for various purposes. Records include cancelled or expired leases for oyster beds (including leases by the Government of Canada), hay meadow, summer resort, stone quarry, mill, coal mining, grazing, agriculture, cattle ranching, and pastoral purposes. This series also includes final agreements for sale and purchase under Soldier's Better Housing Scheme for City of Victoria lots (includes rebate applications and discharge certificates) and licences of occupation.

This series consists of records of the Commission on Agriculture from 1912-1914, including, proceedings, record books, transcripts of evidence, tabulated evidence, statistical data, and returns by the assessors of the Province, showing persons assessed as owners of real property amounting to 5,000 acres or more.

This series contains administrative and subject files relating to natural resource development and environmental policies. Includes correspondence, memoranda, reports, briefs, etc. The records were created by the Environment and Land Use Committee Secretariat, the administrative and support staff assigned to the Committee. The records were created from 1972-1980 and relate to all aspects of business conducted by the Committee, including land use decisions across the province.

The series consists of the diaries of C.F. Cornwall, kept May 1862 - July 1864, November 1866 - June 1869, July 1869 - December 1871, and 1872 - 15 July 1873 (in diary for 1865) recording life at Ashcroft Manor, a sojourn at Wild Horse Creek in the summer of 1865, and in Ottawa as a senator in the spring of 1872. Also includes "The story of the coyote hounds", 1868-1888.

The series consists of transcript and microfilm copies of H.P. Cornwall's diary, from December 10, 1864 to June 13 1865 describing life on the farm at Ashcroft Manor.

Personal papers; subject files consisting of newspaper clippings, notes of interviews, drafts of articles, correspondence, and photographs relating to LeBourdais' interest in the history of the Cariboo district. Louis LeBourdais was born in Clinton in 1888 and died in Quesnel in 1947. He was the son of Adalbert LeBourdais, telegrapher and postmaster at Clinton and Eleanore LeBourdais. Louis LeBourdais also became a telegraph operator. He worked in Kootenay and Okanagan districts for the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Dominion Government Telegraph Service, before settling in Quesnel, apparently in the early years of World War I, as telegrapher for the Dominion Government Telegraph Service. In 1937 he became an insurance agent for the Confederation Life Association. He was elected to the provincial Legislature in 1937 as the liberal member for Cariboo district, and was re-elected in 1941 and 1945. LeBourdais was keenly interested in the history of the Cariboo district and the Central Interior in general. He wrote and sold articles on the past history of the region and on current economic trends to a number of magazines and newspapers, and was a correspondent for the Vancouver Daily Province. His topics included gold mining and the "back to the land" movement. The records were accumulated primarily in connection with LeBourdais' historical interests. Records include: papers and newspaper clippings of general interest, and subject files arranged alphabetically. The subject files consist of newspaper clippings, handwritten and typewritten drafts of articles, notes of interviews, correspondence and photographs. The bulk of the records date from the 1930s and are concerned with old timers, mining, particularly the resurgence of gold quartz mining, and the "back to the land" movement. Some subject files contain photographs. Printed material transferred to the North West Library Collection is identified in the finding aid. Approximately 450 black and white photographs, 75 black and white negatives, and nine glass negatives of various subjects, and approximately two hundred lantern slides of the Cariboo-Barkerville area were transferred to Visual Records accession, 198501-11. Mining maps of the Central Interior of British Columbia have been transferred to map registration numbers: 12916-12928. A list of maps is available at the end of the attached finding aid. Related records in MS-0361.

Correspondence outward (1864, 1868) and inward (1861-1871) of Robert Ker, Colonial Auditor for Vancouver Island, with some of his commissions (1864, 1865, 1868), an indenture (1844), miscellaneous notes; correspondence of R.H.B. Ker and David Russell Kerr with General Crerar, 1944 (two letters), and of D.R. Ker with General Currie, 1917, and H. Joly de Lotbiniere, 1903 (two letters); clippings and photographs which have been transferred to Visual Records accession 198210-007. The Ker family lived in Victoria, B.C. Robert Henry Brackman Ker was an executive with a number of British Columbia business firms, including Ker and Stephenson Ltd. and Brackman-Ker Milling Company. He served on Victoria City Council, as President of the Victoria Chamber of Commerce, and as Aide-de-Camp to the Lieutenant-Governor of B.C. The records include correspondence inward and outward, miscellaneous notes, clippings and photographs. Photographs transferred to Visual Records accession 198210-007. Related records in MS-0793 and Visual Records accession 198208-038, 22 albums. Additional records are also available at the City of Victoria Archives, PR 48. Biographical sketch taken from BCAUL. Source: MS Finding Aids Presented by R.H.B Ker, Victoria, 1971. Finding aid: file list.

The series consists of 214 photographs, mostly glass lantern slides and glass negatives, created or collected by the Dept. of Agriculture sometime between 1900 and 1915.

The lantern slides contain images of fruit trees, orchards, farms, packing boxes, greenhouses, crops and other agricultural activity. A few have descriptive labels which indicate that they were taken in Victoria, Kelowna, Nanaimo and Summerland, and some have photographers identified (D.J. Dwyer, J. Howard A. Chapman and Edgar Fleming). These photographs may have been used for a variety of purposes including public lectures and as illustrations for reports. Some of the slides have been hand coloured. These slides are from accession 198012-018.

The glass negatives from this accession consist of two files. The first file contains 13 negatives identified as being from Atkinson's mushrooms; images of mushrooms and fungi from book on same and appear to have been photographed directly from George F. Atkinson's 1901 books called "Studies of American Fungi". The second file consists of 24 negatives identified as Morris Middleton pruning lecture. Middleton was an assistant horticulturalist for the Dept. of Agriculture and gave pruning workshops and lectures.

The 27 glass negatives from accession 198410-027 show farms and farm buildings, fruit and berry growing as well as fruit packing and pruning classes in Creston, B.C. in 1914 (F.B. Turner photographer) and photos of apple growing medals presented to the Government of British Columbia in 1909.

This series consists of the records of the Commission to Investigate the Affairs of the Fruit and Produce Exchange of British Columbia Ltd., 1909. Records include a supplementary report, correspondence, transcripts of evidence presented at proceedings and exhibits, and some Fruit and Produce Exchange records.

The McKenzie Family collection consists of the business and personal papers of Kenneth McKenzie (1811-1874), his ancestors and descendants, including correspondence, notebooks, diaries, and other papers. It documents over one hundred and fifty years of family history. The collection is divided into those records relating to Vancouver Island (Boxes 1-19) and those relating to Scotland (Boxes 20-25). The Vancouver Island papers contain correspondence and documents pertaining to Lakehill Farm, the settlement of estates, official appointments, and other family matters. They also chronicle the organization and operation of Craigflower Farm and, to a lesser extent, the other farms operated by the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company on Vancouver Island. The Scottish papers document family events, relationships and property from 1779 to 1852. Included is an extensive record of the protracted settlement of the estate of William Blair (Boxes 22-23). William Blair was the father of Janet McKenzie (Blair).

Born in Edinburgh October 5, 1811, the son of Dr. Kenneth McKenzie (1786-1844) and Janet Blair (1784-1820), Kenneth McKenzie was raised and educated in the same city. Later he moved to his father's estate of Rentonhall, Haddingtonshire, East Lothian where he managed the operations. The estate was sold in 1851 and McKenzie, his wife Agnes Russell (1823-1897) and their six children emigrated to Vancouver Island in 1853. McKenzie had been hired by the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company to oversee the establishment and operation of Craigflower Farm near Victoria. In 1866 the family, now with eight children, moved to Lakehill Farm just north of Victoria. Kenneth McKenzie died there April 10, 1874. A comprehensive biography of Kenneth McKenzie by William R. Sampson is in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, X, pp.477-479. A rough genealogy of the McKenzie Family is provided in the hardcopy version of the finding aid.

Numbers appearing at the upper left corner of documents are references to the old catalogue system and should not be used for citation.

Boxes 1-4: Kenneth McKenzie (1811-1874) and family: correspondence inward
Box 5: McKenzie, Kenneth (1846-1906): correspondence inward
Box 6: Kenneth McKenzie (1811-1874) and Kenneth McKenzie (1846-1906): correspondence outward
Box 7: Kenneth McKenzie (1811-1874): notebooks and personal papers
Box 8: McKenzie Family: notebooks, diaries, correspondence and personal papers
Box 9: McKenzie Family: material relating to Lakehill property
Boxes 10-18: Craigflower Farm
Box 19: Puget's Sound Agricultural Company
Boxes 20-25: McKenzie family: material relating to Scotland. N.B. See also box 25 for further material relating to the estate of William Blair, d.1800

This series contains records of emergency aid and damage assistance pertaining to the Fraser River flood of May 1948, pursuant to the Flood Relief Act, 1948. The records consist of subject correspondence files, correspondence with local rehabilitation committees, appraisals of property damage reviewed by the Authority, and accounts of damage to stock, feed, seed, and crops.

Tax assessment rolls for South Westminster, Sumas, Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Matsqui, Chilliwack, Nicomen Island, and Nicomen Dyking Districts, 1898-1976; general expenditure journals, voucher records, receipts, and financial statements, 1917-1974.

This series consists of indexes to records relating to dyking and drainage held by the Inspector Office, Surrey, B.C. Records include subject file lists of correspondence regarding dyking districts and general administration, 1871-1881; index of maps, plans, topographical maps, etc. regarding dykes and dyking rights-of-way; index of engineers' drawings, Fraser Valley Dyking Board. These file lists and indexes were created between 1974 and 1981, but they make reference to records dating from 1871 to 1981.

The series consists of the records of the Sumas Drainage, Dyking and Development District created between 1916 and 1975. The records conain general files, orders-in-council, financial statements, engineering reports, assessments, purchase agreements, minutes, history. In addition there are 73 photographs and maps.

This series contains official correspondence, reports, and related papers of Premier John H. Turner. Records include correspondence pertaining to provincial railway charters (1893-1897), agriculture, and mining; also includes B.C. Agent-General's Report (1895), applications for employment, and miscellaneous letters.

Papers in this series are those of the Honourable John Herbert Turner (1833-1923), premier of British Columbia from 4 March 1895 to 8 August 1898. Since Turner's administration was characterized by rapid industrial development (notably in railways, mining, and agriculture), and by no little political controversy, his official papers are especially valuable.

Most of the reports and correspondence in GR-1197 originated while Turner was the province's chief minister and, as such, they have been included in the archive's collection of Premier's Papers. As will be seen, though, some of the papers pertain to Turner's tenure as Minister of Finance and Agriculture, a portfolio he held from 1887 to 1898.

GR-1197 may be regarded as a supplement to GR-0441 (British Columbia - Premier: 1883-1933), Series II, volumes 2-13, which also contains official correspondence of Premier Turner. Researchers may find that Volume 354 of GR-0441 (Index to Official Correspondence, 1895-1897) will assist them in locating other related records.

Transcripts produced by the Hansard Office of sittings of Select Standing Committees and Special Committees of the BC Legislative Assembly, 1973. Not all committees were recorded since each committee had the choice of whether to accept Hansard's services. Of those that did, some met in camera without transcription services or "on the road" where recording was not feasible.

Included here are the Select Standing Committees on Agriculture, on Forestry and Fisheries, Public Accounts and Printing, Municipal Matters, Social Welfare and Education; and to Special Committees on Coastal Oil Spills and Television Broadcasting.

Accounts, ledgers, memoranda, and correspondence pertaining to Lord Aberdeen's Guisachan ranch (Kelowna, British Columbia) and Coldstream Ranch (Vernon, British Columbia). Includes newspaper cuttings, sketches, and architectural drawings of Coldstream ranch buildings.

Constitution and by-laws; minutes and resolutions of meetings and BCFA conventions; correspondence pertaining to BCFA organization, agricultural matters, the Pacific National Exhibition, freight rates, Fraser Valley floods, and taxes; papers and correspondence concerning expropriation; briefs submitted by individuals and organizations to the Royal Commission on Expropriation (1961); BCF.A. briefs and submissions to federal and provincial governments; reports and convention material of some farm product specialty organizations.

The British Columbia Federation of Agriculture (BCFA) was established in 1936 as the British Columbia Chamber of Agriculture, assuming its present name in 1941. The federation represented local agricultural associations at a provincial level and liaised with public and national organizations on agricultural matters.

The records include the British Columbia Federation of Agriculture's constitution and by-laws, minutes and resolutions, correspondence, and briefs and submissions to the Royal Commission on Expropriation Laws and Procedures (the Clyne Commission). Subjects include the Pacific National Exhibition, freight rates, the Fraser Valley floods, and the expropriation of farmland.

Related records may be found in MS-1545 and MS-0669.

The series consists of records created by or relating to Nelson Seymour Lougheed. Included in this series are a scrapbook of news clippings (MS-2594.1), a certificate appointing Lougheed to Minister of Lands in October 1930, and two photographs. One photograph is a portrait signed by Lougheed and dated 1924. The second photograph is a group photograph in front of the Legislature buildings, and is assumed to be of Lougheed as Minister with his staff.

Nelson Seymour Lougheed (April 16, 1882 – June 6, 1944) was a Conservative politician in British Columbia and served as an MLA from 1928-1933.

The series consists of correspondence, letterbooks, diaries, commissions, notes and memoranda relating to his work with the Hudson's Bay Company and the Puget Sound Agricultural Company at Fort Nisqually, and later, Victoria. Some published materials from the library of the Tolmie family not related to the history of the northwest have been included in the collection.

The series consists of family and business records created by the Richter and Tweddle family, created between ca. 1890 and 1962. It includes records relating to the ranch and orchard business, family and general correspondence as well as correspondence of Richter's daughter, Florence Elizabeth Pendleton, regarding the disposal of the Richter Estate, 1959-1962. Among the business records are two account books, annotated cancelled cheques, packing company receipts and statements for fruit and beef, mail order correspondence, brochures, catalogues, etc., and various legal documents. In addition there are 86 black and white photographs of the Richter and Tweddle family along with friends and local scenery. There are also six published books owned by the Richter family.

Series consists of records that reflect the public life of Scott Wallace during his tenure as leader of the Progressive Conservative party in British Columbia, 1973-1977. The records deal primarily with the public issues with which Wallace was involved and contain very limited references to party administration and activities.

Administrative records of Fairbridge Farm School, a residential training centre for underprivileged British children located near Duncan, B.C. Includes correspondence, reports, newsletters and case files of Fairbridgians (student trainees), 1935-1949. Also includes operational records re: agricultural work on the farm site and records re: English immigrant families who leased farm cottages between 1950 and 1960.

The Fairbridge Farm School was part of a philanthropic scheme aimed at strengthening the British Empire and improving the condition of underprivileged British children. The scheme was conceived by Kingsley Ogilvie Fairbridge (l885-l924), a South African-born reformer who was raised in southern Rhodesia. On first visiting England in 1902 Fairbridge was struck by the over-crowding and poverty in large industrial cities; he was also appalled by the condition of working-class children who lived in unhealthy, unstable homes in city slums. In 1909, having returned to England as a Rhodes scholar, he outlined his plans for saving these children to a group of fellow students at the Oxford University Colonial Club. Fairbridge's plan was to resettle selected British children in the overseas dominions. There, in a rural environment, children would live together in cottages within a village-like setting. Girls would receive training in domestic pursuits, while boys would be trained in manual arts and agriculture. Vocational training was to be supplemented with moral guidance and leavened with recreational pursuits in such a way that the young emigrants would be able to take their places as productive citizens in the host communities. Fairbridge's proposal led to the founding of the "Society for the Furtherance of Child Emigration to the Colonies," afterwards incorporated as the Child Emigration Society [CES]. The society raised £2,000 and in 1913 the first "farm school" was opened in Western Australia. Other training farms (which were supported by grants from the British and Australian governments and by private donations) were later established in the states of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania.

Kingsley Fairbridge had hoped originally to open a farm school in Canada. Ten years after his death - when the CES was reconstituted as Fairbridge Farm Schools (Inc.) - his wish was realized. Encouraged by Canadian enthusiasts, an appeal was launched to help bring the farm school concept to the Dominion. The appeal was led by the Prince of Wales and sufficient funds were raised to purchase a 1,100 acre site at Cowichan Station, near Duncan, on Vancouver Island. The new facility - officially named The Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School - opened in 1935. The first principal of the farm school was Major F. Trew who held the position from April 1935 to May 1936. Trew's successor was Colonel H.T. Logan, a contemporary of Kingsley Fairbridge at Oxford and a former professor of Classics at the University of British Columbia. Logan resigned in June 1945 to join the staff of the Fairbridge Society headquarters in London. He was succeeded as principal of the Prince of Wales farm school by Mr. W.J. Garnett (July 1945 - January 1949) and Major A.H. Plows (February 1949 - January 1951.) The Fairbridge Farm School consisted of fourteen cottages, each capable of accommodating a dozen children and a resident "cottage mother". Other buildings included the principal's residence, staff quarters, a chapel, a hospital, and a school. These facilities - which were adjacent to the school's large dairy farm - were maintained with the help of subscriptions from England and a grant from the British Columbia government. Funds were also raised throughout the province and in 1938 Captain J.C. Dun-Waters donated his 2,000 acre orchard near Vernon to the Fairbridge Society. Named the Fintry Fairbridge Training Farm, the Okanagan property was run in conjunction with the main centre on Vancouver Island.

Over three hundred children passed through Fairbridge Farm School during its first ten years of operation. But after the Second World War a number of problems arose which placed the future of the school in doubt. Among these was the unfavourable dollar/sterling exchange rate, the post-war monetary controls which restricted funds from Britain, and the provincial government's decision to discontinue its operating grant. The whole concept of institutionalized child care was also being questioned in many quarters and after the passing of the 1948 Child Welfare Act in Britain [which made local authorities responsible for child care] there was no longer a need for juvenile resettlement on a large scale. Accordingly, the Fairbridge Society reluctantly decided to wind up its operations in British Columbia. The Fintry estate was sold and in the early 1950s the last of the Fairbridge "trainees" left the Prince of Wales Farm School. For the next ten years the Cowichan Station site was managed on behalf of the Fairbridge Society by the Canada Colonization Association. A subsidiary of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the association leased the farm school cottages to newly-arrived English immigrant families. The arrangement was eventually discontinued and in 1975 the farm school was sold to a Victoria real estate firm. The property is now the site of a residential housing development.

This accession mainly comprises radio commercials promoting British Columbia produce -- fruit, vegetables, eggs, turkey, pork, and dairy products -- and the B.C. Foodstakes. There are also a few recordings that were produced to serve as sound tracks for audio-visual (i.e., slide-tape) presentations.

The series consists of a report collected by the Dept. of Agriculture in 1915. The report was written by Agricultural Surveyor W.H. Cartwright and contains information on the physical features, soil conditions and agricultural possibilities of an area just north of the Peace River Block, recorded between April 1913 and October 1914. The report is illustrated with 22 black and white photographs and is accompanied by meteorological readings and some correspondence between Cartwright and the Deputy Minister of Agriculture.

This series consists of 16 volumes of reports on irrigation districts in the Okanagan valley from1926 and 1927. Volumes include one summary report for the Okanagan and two copies each of detailed reports on the following irrigation districts: Black Mountain, Glenmore, Naramata, Peachland, South East Kelowna, Vernon, and Westbank. The reports include a history of the project, and statistical information. There is also an appendix to the Scotty Creek irrigation district report included in the series.

Volumes 2-8 are signed by Major J.C. Macdonald, Comptroller of Water Rights and are illustrated with b&w photographs and have maps. The duplicate volumes 9-15 contain holographic alterations and are initialed by J.W. Clark, Inspector, Water Rights Branch.

This series consists of the records of the Inter-Departmental Advisory Committee on Agriculture Land Settlement, 1942-1943. Records include correspondence, memoranda and reports of the Chairman of the Land Settlement Board, William Turnbull, relating to his activities as chairman of the Interdepartmental Advisory Committee on Agriculture and Land Settlement established by the Post-War Rehabilitation Council. The Council had the task of planning civil employment and vocational training of veterans of World War II.