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Item consists of a petition to authorities in London prepared for Cowichan Tribe regarding Cowichan possession of their land. The petition cites and quotes at length the royal proclamation of King George III of 1763 recognizing title to the land. The petition was likely prepared by Arthur O'Meara and Charles Tate.

The item is a volume titled land office blotter. Blotters were used to record detailed trading activity. Only one page has been used. The page describes two financial transactions with the Hudson's Bay Company.

The first transaction relates to 200 pound sterling received from James Cooper, Master of the Hudson's Bay Company ship Columbia, as a deposit on a land purchase in September 1849.

The next relates to the trade of 535 blankets on the 6th of May, 1850. The blankets were paid to several Indigenous groups "for purchase of their lands as per details in Register of Land Purchases", also known as the Douglas Treaties. The names, transcribed directly from the blotter, are: Tee-chamitsa, Kosampsom, Swenghung, Chilcowitch, Whyomilth, Checonein, Kakyaakan, Chewhaytsun, and Soak.

This record was likely created by James Douglas, as it appears to be written in his handwriting [see Wilson Duff, "The Fort Victoria Treaties", BC Studies No. 3 (Fall 1969): 8].

File consists of one album containing 62 albumen photographic prints mounted on 31 pages. Images depict landscape views that document the coast and interior of British Columbia, as well as Banff, Alberta. Each page contains a title and photographer’s name, but no date. Photographs were likely produced during photographic tours that Richard and Hannah Maynard conducted to document the construction of the transcontinental railway, including the Canadian Pacific Railway (C.P.R.) during the early-to-late 1880s. Images include views of railroad stations, bridge and trestle construction, pathways and routes, field portraits, and settlements including Songhees, Victoria, Esquimalt, Nanaimo, Vancouver, New Westminster, Kamloops, and Banff, Alberta. Landscape views include the Salmon, Harrison, Fraser, Thompson, Columbia, “Illcillewait” and Bow Rivers; Stoney Creek; Devil Lake Creek; Summit Lake; Eagle Pass; Syndicate Peak; “Mount Caroulle”; Kicking Horse Pass; Mount Stephen; Mount Castle; Mount Edith; the Cascade Mountains; Tunnel Mountain; Devil Lake Canon; and the Three Sisters. Several geographical formations such as “Lady Franklin Rock, Fraser River” are identified as well as a number of parks, including Harrison River Hot Springs and Hot Springs at the National Park (Banff). There is one image identified as the coal mining district of Anthracite, Banff. The Maynards commercially sold their C.P.R.-related photographic views to the public. They were available for order or purchase at Mrs. R. Maynard’s Photographic Gallery and other commercial operations in Victoria and elsewhere in BC.

Item consists of one handwritten document addressed to the Superintendent General of Indian Affairs (I.W. Powell) and signed by members of Songhees First Nation. It is dated February 7, 1881. The signatories are: Chish; Koo-lai-mult; Koo-lai-sa lue; Hul tsai mult; Quoss l sits; Whe-nook; Lipp; Sala-hala-noo; Louis (Noo-noo-wha-nuk); Ai-Whin; Ka-wai-tsim; Qua-mi-ai; Hoo-tihwi-ai; Shoto-hoom; Henry (Sauk); Tomaikh; Tse-al-ton; Tchillack; Hltahulto; Tshenal klum; Teeai[t or l]ou; Se-ol-sut; Shil-uh (Jimmy); Yallelth; Dick (Hai-tsa-kanum).

The record consists of a presentation album made on or around April 4, 1911 by an unknown creator. The album has a cedar bark cover and contains 18 black and white photographs mounted on paper. There are no captions or page numbers but there is a hand lettered title page which provides the album title.

The series consists of three documents relating to MS-0772 Register of land purchases from Indians. The agreements recorded in the register are referred to as the Vancouver Island treaties (formerly known as the Douglas or Fort Victoria treaties). In February 2017 a conference was held at the Songhees Wellness Centre, inviting Indigenous and non-Indigenous islanders to discuss the treaties, their history, and their present-day impact.

The conference commissioned the first translations of two of the treaties into Lekwungen by Songhees Elder Dr. Elmer George, and a cultural interpretation of the treaties in SENĆOŦEN by STOLȻEŁ, Tsartlip Elder John Elliot Sr. The Lekwungen translations are of the če’q’nein nəč’elŋxʷ- kʷ’ats’ayč iʔ xpeʔ kʷəliq̌a (Chekonein treaty) and the Teechamitsa treaty.

Dr. Elmer George and John Elliot Sr. were awarded the Meritorious Service Award by the Governor General of Canada in recognition of this work.