Series consists of 104 photographs by Albert Hatherly Maynard documenting the natural history collection at the Provincial Museum (now the Royal BC Museum) in Victoria, British Columbia between 1886 and the 1920s. Images document 19th- and 20th-century bird and mammal specimen preparation and display, the museum's natural history gallery and exhibit design, diorama fabrication, a collection of British Columbia wildlife, collection housing, and exhibit areas of the first three locations of the Provincial Museum: the Provincial Secretary’s office (1886-1889), the former Law Court (1889-1898), and the East Wing (1898-1968) of the Legislative buildings.

By the 1890s, Maynard was working as a taxidermist for the Provincial Museum and was involved with the Natural History Society of British Columbia, an auxiliary and independent organization that aided the growth of the museum’s natural history collection in the 1890s to early 1900s.

The fonds consists of project files created by Jean Jacques André Consultants Ltd., and André & Associates Interpretation & Design Ltd., a Victoria-based company. Headed by Jean Jacques André (1932-2021) and his wife, Joan André, and later his daughter, Bianca Message, the family company planned and designed exhibits for museums, historical organizations, and cultural and visitor centres across North America and around the world. The fonds cover the period 1967 to 2014.

SUMMARY: Excerpts from radio programs broadcast in British Columbia, 1933-1970, compiled as a soundtrack for the Royal BC Museum exhibit "Communications Day".

SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): A tour of the Provincial Museum RECORDED: [location unknown], 1963 SUMMARY: Dr. G. Clifford Carl walks around the Provincial Museum and describes some of the exhibits.

Stock shots. Shows a group of school children touring the Cowichan Valley Forest Museum. Includes classroom scenes, the museum's railroad, and shots of old logging machinery.

Stock shots. Footage of museum displays and artifacts, including switcher and shay locomotives, various cars and crummies, etc. Dignitaries at opening ceremonies.

News item. Director of the Maritime Museum has asked for financial assistance from the provincial government so museum can be kept at its present site. Some excellent close-ups of exhibits.

News item. Footage includes brief introduction by head of Provincial Museum's archaeology department. Film is called "The 12,000 Year Gap: Archaeology in British Columbia." Shots of sandstone petroglyphs, Indian middens, engravings and photos of ancient Indian dress for hunting and tribal rights, and Indian basket work. Ethnology expert at museum explains meaning of that word. Indian beadwork. Explanation of maritime fur trade. Indian cooking utensils, weapons, totem pole designs. Disease among the Indians and population decline. Study of Indian facial structure and expressions. Model of totem pole village in museum. Snowshoes, Indian shawls and blankets, Chieftain's head dress, implements. Attempts by to ban the potlatches. Ceremonial garb, Indian dwellings, and burial effigies. Good photography but very little sound.

This painting is a preparatory sketch for the mural above the Living Land, Living Sea exhibition, which opened at the Provincial Museum (now the Royal BC Museum) in 1972. The panoramic mural depicts a tropical landscape, or British Columbia 15,000 years ago, looking from a forest across a sandy beach to the ocean. This sketch informs the forest on the far right of the mural. The sketch and mural are attributed to one of the museum’s technicians, Carol Christianson.

SUMMARY: Bill Herbert reports on the opening of the new British Columbia Provincial Museum in Victoria. Speech by Premier W.A.C. Bennett: origins of the museum, acknowledgements to various institutions, people;, etc. Bill Herbert interviews BCPM director Clifford Carl. They discuss the architecture of the museum building and the Heritage Court complex, then tour the museum, describing and discussing: the relief map of B.C.; the "rain curtain"; the Nootka whaling sculpture; the totem poles by the escalators; natural history exhibits on the second floor --dioramas, climactic regions [to be developed], specifically "the dry interior"; classrooms. Says it will take "several years to fill our exhibit space". Third floor: "Man in B.C." Conclusion by Herbert. Sound of the carillon playing.

The series consists of project files created by André & Associates Interpretation & Design, a Victoria-based design company between 1967 and 2014. Headed by Jean Jacques André (1932-2021), and his wife, Joan André, and later his daughter, Bianca Message, the family business planned and designed exhibits for museums, historical organizations, and cultural and visitor centres in Canada, the United States, and abroad. Examples include Craigdarroch Castle, the BATA Museum, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Oregon Historical Centre, the National Atomic Testing Museum, as well as the Royal BC Museum (the records for the latter organization are still with the donor)

The series consists of files for numerous projects, and include correspondence, design planning, elevations, concept drawings, photographs, request for proposals, and background reference material, amongst others. Most of the files are for completed projects, but there are also files for projects that did not come to fruition. The series comprises four accessions that were donated to the BC Archives between 2018 and 2023.

News item. The museum's new First Peoples Gallery on Northwest Coast Indians opens. Some good close-ups of totem poles and petroglyphs. The museum director is briefly interviewed about exhibit.

News item. Footage showing exhibits of various tools, machines and household equipment as used in the 19th century. Reporter talks about west coast geological formations in front of an exhibit which explains them. Close-up shots of Cornish water wheel. Also, interior exhibits of ship "Discovery", Grand Hotel and Livery.

SUMMARY: [No content information available.] Probably duplicates the content of T1778:0001.

The item is a reel of documentary film. It depicts the museum train visiting points in Canada -- mainly Ontario and Quebec. Includes footage of historical artifacts, dramatizations of 19th-century train travel, illustrations and photographs, concluding with shots of modern locomotives and railway equipment.

This artwork appears to depict a pocket watch with a map of British Columbia rather than a clock. It was commissioned as the cover art for the book, The Ring of Time: the story of the British Columbia Provincial Museum.

This painting is a mural depicting the Thompson River Valley. It was created for a exhibition at the Provincial Museum (now the Royal BC Museum) and The sketch is attributed to one of the museum’s technicians, Carol Christianson.

This artwork depicts three white bears, or Kermode bears, in a forest. It was commissioned as the cover art for the book, White Bears and Other Curiosities: the first 100 years of the Royal British Columbia Museum.