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This series contains contracts from the Department of Highways for bridges, culverts, roads, ferries, and ferry terminals. The series includes specifications and some plans.

This series contains correspondence relating to the ferry at Hope, B.C.

This series contains correspondence, circulars, committee minutes, and project files regarding traffic, road signals and signs, lighting, speed limits, safety, railway crossings, bridges and ferry terminals.

This series contains miscellaneous records of the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works. The records consist of correspondence, receipts, accounts, petitions relating to pre-emptions, ferries, roads, public works, leases, and tax assessments. Includes (1) Metchosin District assessment roll, 1863; (2) pre-emption correspondence with William G. Cox and Peter O'Reilly, 1865, 1869; (3) receipt book for rental of crown lands, including waterfrontage and timber cutting, 1868-1869; (4) indenture for ferry charter at Omineca, 1872; (5) accounts relating to roads and bridges 1872-1873; (6) an 1880 petition re the graving dock; (7) report on Thompson River Bridge, 1876, 1882; (8) an 1892 pre-emption of Allison, Carefoot and Cameron in Yale District; (9) copy of a letter re road to Montgomery Landing, Kootenay District, 1896.

The collection consists of the records gathered by Earl Marsh, who intended to preserve the history of the British Columbia Coast Steamship Service (BCCSS) and the maritime history of British Columbia generally. He primarily collected records from BCCSS employees and their family members, as well as libraries and archives.

The collection also consists of the employment records of Earl Marsh, personal correspondence pertaining to his collecting activities, and records Marsh probably used in his position as accountant for the BCCSS.

Marsh accumulated the bulk of his collection between 1964 and 1973, during the last years in which the BCCSS provided passenger services. The records themselves were created between 1868 and 1999, with the majority created between 1922 and 1975. Records in the collection pertain primarily to the province of British Columbia, Washington State, and the state of Alaska.

The main subject of Earl Marsh’s collection is the BCCSS. Marsh was interested in the practical operations of the organization and its regional context, so his collection includes records about the BCCSS’s privately-owned competitors, other branches of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company engaged in shipping, and the establishment of government ferry services in British Columbia.

Operational records of the BCCSS provide insight into the lives of crew members who worked on ships, the financial state of the company, the design and construction of ships and shipping infrastructure, coastal weather and tide patterns, and significant shipwrecks.

As an employee of the BCCSS, Marsh had a special interest in crew members. The records reveal the job duties, union contracts, and company guidelines that shaped the lives of the workers. In addition, Marsh’s collection contains a small selection of records about the Chinese Canadian crew members of BCCSS ships. Many of these workers were employed at the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act and experienced systematic discrimination by their employer.

Marsh was also particularly fascinated by the passenger services offered by the BCCSS on their line of 32 “Princess” steamships. Prior to the First World War, Princess ships represented the height of elegance and efficiency in coastal transportation. Marsh gathered numerous photographs, menus, deck plans, and newspaper clippings that convey some of the glamour of passenger travel aboard these ships.

The records originated with different creators. The majority of the records were created by the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, which was eventually taken over by the BCCSS, the BCCSS, and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. Some records were created by other branches of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, such as the British Columbia Lake and River Service.

Documentary forms include scrapbooks about the BCCSS, subject files, scrapbooks about other shipping companies, original BCCSS volumes such as log and time books, ephemera and photographic negatives, files of personal records, and rolls of technical drawings. Records were originally arranged in groupings according to their subject (often indicated in a folder title) and documentary form. Within some subject groupings, Marsh arranged files alphabetically.

The subjects of BCCSS-related scrapbooks include the numerous ships in the Princess line, staff members, and other aspects of the organization's history. Among many other material types, the scrapbooks contain news clippings, original company correspondence and financial records, photographs, and technical drawings. Marsh arranged these scrapbooks in rough alphabetical order.

Marsh maintained subject files on numerous ships in the Princess line, BCCSS staff members and history, and the history of other shipping companies, including the Puget Sound Navigation Company and Black Ball Ferries Limited. He kept his files on BCCSS ships in rough alphabetical order.

Marsh’s scrapbooks about non-BCCSS companies cover other branches of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and organizations based in Washington State and the state of Alaska. These scrapbooks were not maintained in any discernible order.

Marsh maintained log books and time books from the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company and BCCSS; however, few complete sets of log books and time books exist for various ships. He also collected road maps and ephemera such as post cards, along with photographs, negatives, and slides, in random order in shoeboxes.

Marsh included his own personal correspondence and employment records in the collection. These materials were originally received in labelled files.

Marsh kept technical drawings in large rolls. Often, a roll featured upwards of 20 drawings of a single ship.

The archivist arranged the collection in six series that reflect Marsh’s original order:

MS-3254 - Scrapbooks, Canadian Pacific Railway Company records, and subject files
MS-3255 - Ship log books
MS-3256 - Time books
MS-3257 - Personal correspondence, employment records, and journal
MS-3258 - Photographs, road maps, and ephemera
MS-3259 - Technical drawings, map, and construction specifications for BCCSS ship Princess Louise II

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 fonds consists of the Harbour Navigation Company's photographs, which include one album and several loose photos and postcards. These images depict the Wigwam Inn and Belcarra Park (both on Indian Arm), and social activities at those locations, as well as the company's vessels, captains and personnel. Vessels shown include the "Fort Langley", the "Harbour Princess", the "Hollyburn" and the "Scenic". Several photos were taken by the Dominion Photo Company, and some by the Royal Canadian Air Force. The photographs were collected by Joan Hughes from the Harbour Navigation Company and former staff members.

Records of the Commission.

By order-in-council dated 20 August 1992 the Inquiry into Safety of Loading Procedures within the British Columbia Ferries was established to inquire into and report on the safety of loading procedures for vessels within the British Columbia Ferry Corporation fleet; to inquire and report on the incidents at the British Columbia Ferry Corporation Nanaimo Ferry Terminal on or about 13 August 1992 insofar as these incidents disclose flaws or faults in the loading procedure from the safety standpoint; and to recommend improvements to the loading procedures, or the maintenance of current practices, from the safety standpoint. Its report was submitted on 11 September 1992.

Fonds consists of proceedings, exhibits (including a videotape presentation and photographs), a commission registrar's file, an administrative file, a general correspondence file, and a copy of the final report.

This series consists of a ledger and general record book, 1859-1871. The creator of the volume is not clear, but was likely the Government Agent who worked in or around Lytton. The volume was used for several purposes overtime. It includes the following types of information: list of pre-emptions for Lytton City; mining licences, free miner's certificates, liquor licences, trading licences, garden plots and ground rentals from the Lytton area (Fraser Canyon to Kamloops); records of miners and storekeepers occupying Crown land as garden plots and residences throughout the Fraser Canyon area; copies of bridge toll agreements and ferry operation contracts for places on the Fraser River, Thompson River, Nicola River, Savonna's ferry, Anderson River and Bridge River.

Log books of Forest Service launches including those of the MV Catherine Graham, Department of Highways Denman Island ferry, prior to her transfer to the Forest Service in 1973.

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.

The series consists of contract sets for diverse public works: buildings, bridges, roads and road works, ferries and ferry facilities, etc. The contract sets, usually signed by the contractor and the minister, often include the notices to contractors as they appeared in The British Columbia Gazette, tender forms, schedules of quantities, specifications, contracts, insurance policies, correspondence, and plans.

The series consists of records of the British Columbia Steamship Company created and received between 1975-1990 in British Columbia. This crown corporation's files document the restoration and management of daily passenger and vehicle service between Victoria and Seattle. The passenger ferry service ceased in 1974 but was restarted in 1975 in order to support and develop Victoria’s tourist industry. Some of the records, such as two years of pilot log books, document activities of the Princess Marguerite vessel, purchased from the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1975. The records consist of the general manager’s correspondence, mainly from E. L. Lien and Barry D. Margetts. The series also contains correspondence between the Minister of Transportation and Highways and the general managers, managing director, and president of the Steamship Company. The series also includes Board of Directors' records, intergovernmental correspondence between BC and Washington State regarding the ferry service, development of the piers, advertising and promotional materials, marketing plans, and records relating to the privatisation of the corporation.

The series is arranged alphabetically by subject. The records include correspondence, meeting materials, circulars, memoranda, registers, pilot log books, certificates, licenses, lease agreements, and financial records. The records are scheduled under ARCS (Administrative Records Classification System) schedule 100001.

Series consists of correspondence between members of the public and the Ministry of Transportation between the years 1993-2003. The majority of the correspondence consists of letters from the public sent to the Minister of Transportation. The letters deal with various forms of transportation including automobiles, ferries, marine, railroads, transit, pedestrian and cycling. The subjects include the condition and maintenance of transportation infrastructure including highways, roads, sidewalks, bridges and ports and sidewalks. Some of the letters relate to transportation issues that also fall under the jurisdiction of municipalities and the Federal Government.

When the ministry received these letters, the Correspondence Branch assigned a unique number to each letter in the ministry’s correspondence tracking database called Cliff. The branch would then research the issue, request information from ministry staff and draft a response. The draft response was then forwarded to the minister’s office who would review the letter and either sign it or return it to the branch for further revisions.

The files contain the letter from the public, notes and registration forms by the ministry, draft replies and a copy of the final response. Some letters were sent to the ministry with attachments such as reports, photographs, and videos.

The letters are arranged numerically by the Cliff number or by another number. The letters from 1993-1998 are arranged annually by a sequential number that begins at 1 at the beginning of each year.

There are gaps in the records. Some file folders were transferred to the archives empty. Between 1993 and 1997 the ministry often “batched” letters that are similar in nature. This is especially true for things such as petitions. During this same time they would also create separate files for letters that the ministry did not respond to. The file titles for these were labelled as “no response” or “FYI” in the file titles.

The records were classified by the ministry under 280-30 in the Administrative Records Classification System (ARCS).

The records were originally created by the following two ministries:

Ministry of Transportation and Highways (1993-2001)
Ministry of Transportation (2001-2006)