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This series consists of land registers for various areas on Vancouver Island and some Gulf Islands. Records cover the following Land Districts: Bright, Cedar, Cranberry, Mountain, Nanoose, Nanaimo, Wellington, Comox, Douglas, Clayoquat, Nootka, Oyster and Chemainus. Records cover the following Islands: Valdes Island, Thetis Island, Kuper [Penelakut] Island, Mayne Island, Prevost Island and Gabriola Island. Earliest entries began in 1855 and all volumes were superseded by 1942 (i.e. no further entries were made after 1942).

The registers list the land in numerical order, usually by Range and Section, but occasionally by lot. There can be up to three methods of land description within one Land District. Information may include the name of purchaser, dates and number of certificate issued (including Crown Grants), dates and amounts of payments, and reference numbers to correspondence files and field books. The volume contains an index to districts by page number, and an alphabetical index to grantees.

This series consists of a Cowichan Land District land register for various lots on Vancouver Island and other islands, including: Galiano Island, Mayne Island and Pender Island. The entries are arranged numerically by lots within local areas, i.e. individual islands. Records date from 1891 onwards and the volume was superseded in 1929 (i.e. no further entries were made after 1929).

This volume is a continuation of an unknown previous register and records the alienation of land from the Crown (by purchase, pre-emption, lease etc.). Information may include the name of the purchaser, dates and numbers of certificates issued (including Crown Grants), dates and amounts of payments, and reference numbers to correspondence files and field books. The volume contains an alphabetical name index.

This series consists of a Cowichan Land District land register, Sections I- 21 (including Saturna Island) on Vancouver Island. The earliest entries date from 1872 and the register was superseded in 1929 (i.e. no further entries were made after 1929). The register lists the sections in numerical order and record the alienation of land from the Crown (by purchase, pre-emption, lease, etc.). Information may include the name of the purchaser, dates and numbers of certificates issue (including Crown Grants), dates and amounts of payments, and reference numbers to correspondence files and field books. The volume contains an alphabetical name index.

This series consists of a Cowichan Land District land register for Range 1, Section 1 to Range 10, Section 10 of the Sahtlam District of Cowichan on Vancouver Island. Earliest entries from 1873 and the volume was superseded in 1929 (i.e. no further entries were added after 1929). The register lists the land in numerical order and records the alienation of land from the Crown (by purchase, pre-emption, lease, etc.). Information may include the name of the purchaser, dates and numbers of certificates issued (including Crown Grants), dates and amounts of payments, and reference numbers to correspondence files and field books. The volume includes an alphabetical name index starting on page 81.

This series consists of a Cowichan Land District land register for Sections 1- 24 on Vancouver Island. Earliest entries from 1871 and the volume was superseded by 1929 (i.e. no further entries were made after 1929). The register lists the sections in numerical order, and records the alienation of land from the Crown (by purchase, pre-emption, lease, etc.). Information may include the name of the purchaser, dates and numbers of certificates issued (including Crown Grants), dates and amounts of payments, and reference numbers to correspondence files and field books. The volume contains an alphabetical index.

The series consists of photocopies of three letters and a written "sketch" sent to friends and a brother in England. Hargreaves arrived in Victoria from England on July 2, 1862. The letter of Sept. 1, 1862 describes his first attempt to reach the Cariboo, from which he turned back, his work as a survey assistant in the Cowichan district, and his reaction to the articles written by Donald Fraser, the London TIMES correspondent. The second letter, Jan. 9, 1865, describes a trip to Cariboo in 1863 and the third item is a "sketch of a trip I made in the winter of 1875" describing a CPR exploratory survey in the Chilcotin. The final item, a letter of Feb 6, 1878, continues the account of his survey work in 1875, describing work in the Salmon (Kimsquit) River Valley at the head of Dean Channel, and in the Kemano River.

"Memoirs". Genealogical account of the Burkitt family and reminiscences of author's boyhood in London, England; account of author's apprenticeship at Salvation Army's Hadleigh training farm and of his emigration to Vancouver Island in 1911. Reminiscences of his career as farmer, dairyman, and horticulturist at Westholme (1911-1914), Saltspring Island (1919-1949), and Sooke (1950s). MS includes account of Burkitt's tenure as director of Saltspring and Gulf Islands Agricultural Association (1921-ca. 1938) and work with Canadian Corps of Commissionaires in Victoria (ca. 1960-1977). Also, reminiscences of author's military service (1914-1918) first as member of 67th Battalion (Western Scots) and later as pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. Xerox photos of author and family also included.

Adoption case files from 1937-1938, 1944-1948.

The fonds consists of Colvin's correspondence, mainly pertaining to the history of Saltspring Island and its ferry service. It also includes a typescript consisting of notes by Colvin on people and events mentioned in a 1897 record book and of his own reminiscences of Cowichan School.

The file includes "Notes on the Cowichan School Rural District from and old account book from 1897": a typescript consisting of notes by Mr. Colvin on people and events mentioned in a 1897 record book and of his own reminiscences of Cowichan School.

Minute books, 1932-1947 and 1948-1955.

The item is an autograph book kept by Patrick Webb, while he was a trainee at Prince of Wales Fairbridge Farm School (Cowichan Station, B.C.) and at the Fintry Fairbridge Training Farm near Vernon B.C.

The Cowichan, Saltspring and Chemainus Agricultural Society was established in 1868. By 1910, the Society was known as the Cowichan Agricultural Society. It became the Cowichan Agricultural Society and Farmers' Institute before it disbanded in 1956.

Records include: minutes, 1868-1875, 1909-1960; account books; correspondence,1927-1959; and papers relating to property and exhibitions.

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.

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.

Records include material pertaining to three prominent Victoria families: the W.E. Olivers, the W.C. Wards, and the E.P. Gillespies The bulk of the textual records were produced by W.E. Oliver and are related to his career at the University of Edinburgh and his real estate investments on Vancouver Island, including the Cowichan Lake Hotel. W.E. Oliver's papers contain material regarding his friend Warburton Pike, author and adventurer. Oliver handled Pike's estate when he died. Also included is the correspondence of Oliver's future son-in-law, Erroll P. Gillespie, a soldier serving in World War I. His letters provide a good picture of a Canadian soldier's life in training camp and on active service in Europe. There are also letters from his brothers, Sholto and Ronald, from the trenches, hospitals and prisoner of war camps of World War I. The collection also includes Nina Woolliams' research notes on the Douglas Lake Ranch, which was owned by W.E. Oliver's father-in-law, W.C. Ward.

William Edgar Oliver immigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1895. He had been at Edinburgh University, 1883-1890, and studied for the Scottish bar. His university papers provide information about his education and numerous extracurricular activities. He wrote stories and articles on politics for a local newspaper while he was in university and was active in many societies. When he arrived in Victoria in 1895 he entered into a law partnership with Gordon Hunter and Lyman Poore Duff. In 1896 he married Mary Eleanor Ward, daughter of the manager of the Bank of British Columbia, William C. Ward. They had one daughter, Beatrice Lydia Catharine Oliver (known as Catherine). She handled Oliver's business affairs after his death. Catherine married Erroll Pilkington Gillespie in 1921.

W.E. Oliver was active in local government. He was the first Reeve of the Municipality of Oak Bay for the years 1906-1908 and made an unsuccessful bid to be mayor of Victoria in 1911. He continued to serve in municipal affairs as Reeve in 1912, 1914 and 1915. Oliver had a wide range of investments, including real estate in the city of Victoria and surrounding municipalities and shares in a variety of companies. He also owned land in the Lake Cowichan area. He was part of the syndicate that developed Golf Links Park subdivision on Newport Avenue in Oak Bay and was involved in developing other subdivisions as well. His real estate and other investments are well documented through indentures, conveyances, financing, mortgages, balance sheets, share certificates, and other relevant papers.

The item consists of brief notes titled "Second public school in Cowichan district". The notes were made by Annie Monk on her experiences as a teacher on Mayne Island in the fall of 1883, and at Quamichan from January 1884 to 1886.

The series consists of correspondence, legal documents, assay certificates, assessment notices and sketches regarding the Sterling silver mine located on the Koksilah River.

The sub-series consists of oral history interviews about the history of the Cowichan Valley area of Vancouver Island, including Chemainus, Cobble Hill, Cowichan, Duncan, and Shawnigan.

The series contains transcripts of correspondence and letters of agreement with North Cowichan School District re Lomas' appointment as teacher, 1864 and 1880, and his salary; copies of the attendance register and notes re school fees, 1870-1871; and correspondence with the Bishop of Columbia and others re his salary as Indian Catechist.

Correspondence handled by the Registrar of the County Court, the District Registrar of the Supreme Court, the Clerk of the Peace, and the Government Agent. These positions were held by Stephen H. Hoskins in 1938-1939 and by S.B. Hamilton 1939-1944.

The file contains ten manuscript articles by Cowichan district pioneer and historian, John Evans, on the early history of the district. Topics include histories of North Cowichan, agriculture, pioneering, schools, the stone church; work "bees" and picnics; lists of pioneers; and a biography of Mrs. Nell Bell.

Probate/estate files.

Lists of persons claiming to vote in the electoral districts of Cariboo, Cowichan and Yale, 1886.

This series contains records of the Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Works, Cowichan District. One volume contains Certificate of Pre-emption records (duplicates), Cowichan District, 14 Aug 1885 - 20 Mar 1888 (nos. 101- 197).

This series consists of one volume entitled "Mr. Morley's Old Book Land Records - List of Squatters on Railway Lands p. 51". The volume is a register of land pre-emptions, certificates of improvement, purchases and transfers, 1867-1879. Entries include a date, pre-emption or certificate number, district name, personal or corporate name, number of acres, range and section or "unsurveyed" and name of land recorder, John. Morley. The districts include Comiaken, Somenos, Quamichan, Cowichan, Shawnigan, and Salt Spring Island, Portland Island, Thetis Island, Pender Island, Mayne Island and Saturna Island. Entries on pages 51-54 list squatters on Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway land, 1877-1884 indicating the date, name, district (includes above plus Chemainus), section and number of acres. There is also a single sheet letter from Chad Wallader Blayney, June 13, 1876, requesting land.