AuthentiCity

Beer in Vancouver

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Sue Bigelow | Leave a comment

Vancouver Craft Beer Week is here. Let’s take a look at some of the breweries, brands and beer drinkers represented in the Archives.

Early in the city’s history, breweries were established in several locations, usually taking advantage of the numerous creeks running throughout. Some breweries, such as Stanley Park, Red Cross and Royal breweries, were located near Burrard Inlet. [1]

The Columbia Brewery at Cedar Cove, at the north side of Powell Street at Wall Street and Victoria Drive., ca. 1892. Photographer William Stark. Reference code AM54-S4-: Bu P127

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Posted in Digitization, Holdings

Tagged beer, Brewery Creek, Vancovuer Brewery

Discovering the City’s Water Application Records

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Leslie Mobbs | Leave a comment

Archivists, when they hear researchers say that they have “discovered” records in the archives–sometimes described as the “dusty archives” to our chagrin–are likely to respond by saying: “How do you think they got there in the first place!”

The truth is archivists and researchers often work collaboratively in understanding the research value of records. As archivists we seek out and appraise records based on our mandate and on appraisal criteria which include the content of the records and where and how they were created and used, the order and completeness of the records, their condition, as well as aspects relating to their authenticity, reliability and intrinsic value.

Patrick Gunn consulting the water application record books in the Archives Reading Room, April 12, 2012

Researchers, however, bring their unique questions to the archives and the records they consult and, in working with researchers, archivists can learn a lot about the records we have acquired, organized and preserved and even how records relate to and add value to one another. Continue reading →

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Posted in Holdings, People

Tagged house history, Vancouver Waterworks Company

Something sweet in the Archives

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Cindy McLellan | Leave a comment

First in a series about the B.C. Sugar records

Panorama of Vancouver’s Port showing the B.C. Sugar Refinery in 1927. Item # 2011-092.806, Reference Code pending

We are pleased to announce the donation of the B.C. Sugar fonds! The records of B.C. Sugar are a valuable contribution to our holdings and one of our most significant acquisitions. Founded in 1890 and still operating today, the company is only four years younger than the City of Vancouver itself. Over 300 boxes of records (including roughly 5500 photographs and 500 architectural plans and drawings, as well as moving images and artworks) document the beginnings of the business, follow it through two world wars, and provide insight into social and economic changes both locally and globally. For a brief history of sugar companies in Canada check out the Canadian Sugar Institute.

The Archives would like to thank Lantic Inc. for donating the records and for generously providing some financial support for processing them. As the records are processed in stages over the next couple of years, we will let you know when they are made available for research, and will share highlights from the fonds as exciting discoveries are made. We are starting with the core business records. Continue reading →

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Posted in Holdings

Tagged BC Sugar

Raising funds for Titanic survivors

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Sue Bigelow | Leave a comment

In recent coverage of the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic there were, unsurprisingly, few Vancouver stories. Vancouver citizens in 1912 were moved by the disaster and attended a Titanic memorial service and fundraiser 100 years ago today.

After the sinking, the British and Foreign Sailors’ Society sponsored fundraising services in many port cities around the world to support the widows and orphans of seamen who lost their lives. We have a program for the one held in Vancouver.

Public memorial service, page 1. Reference code AM1519-: PAM 1912-25

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Posted in Holdings

Tagged pamphlets, Titanic

Our New Online Search

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Heather Gordon | 4 Comments

The City of Vancouver Archives has a new online search! We’re excited about it for a number of reasons:

It allows us to show you the relationships between records and between records and their creators
Browsing by subject, place or creator is much easier
You can view and download larger digital objects, so you can study more detail
Search result URLs are permalinks

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Posted in Digital Archives, Holdings, Reading Room

Tagged ICA-AtoM

The Royal Cigarette Butt

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Sue Bigelow | Leave a comment

Not officially part of our holdings—you won’t find it in our database—the Royal Cigarette Butt was acquired by the first City Archivist, Major Matthews, and we cannot part with it.

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Posted in General

Tagged cigarette, King George VI, royal tour

Historypin update

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Sue Bigelow | Leave a comment

We’ve written about our partnership with Historypin before, and the work of many of our volunteers to prepare images for pinning.

Masthead for our Historypin channel

Historypin has just rolled out customized channels. We’ve created a channel where you can find all our pinned content as well as a story feed. In the lower left corner you can find Historypin repeats, which are modern replicas of our images taken using the Historypin Smartphone App and overlaid on the older image. This one was contributed by jkeller – thanks!

We now have 523 images pinned to the Historypin map. We’d love to have you contribute stories about our images, or use them to create a Historypin Tour or Collection.

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Posted in General, Holdings

Tagged Historypin, map, photographs

Spotlight on volunteers – Racan Souiedan

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Cindy McLellan | Leave a comment

Racan Souiedan volunteered with the Archives for several months in 2011. He left us to focus on writing his masters thesis, titled, “‘The Duties of Neutrality’: The Impact of the American Civil War on British Columbia and Vancouver Island, 1861-1865.” In addition Racan is kept busy with his duties as a Teaching Assistant at the University of Victoria and teaching history and English literature at a private school. Canadian social history has been a constant theme in Racan’s academic career. As a student at SFU, where he completed a BA in history with a minor in political science, he enjoyed researching in archives for his own research and that of the professors he was working with.

Racan with catalogue card drawer ‘A’

The career of archivist has drawn many historians over the years. Racan chose to explore this potential career path through volunteering at the Archives. Several projects benefited from his help and we hope they have helped him decide if archival work is in his future. Continue reading →

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Posted in General, Holdings, People

Tagged ICA-AtoM, pamphlets, Volunteers

Spotlight on volunteers – Kira Baker

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Cindy McLellan | Leave a comment

Kira Baker holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Simon Fraser University, where she completed a Joint Major in Arts and Social Sciences in History and Women’s Studies.

In addition to her academic interests, Kira has dedicated many hours to volunteering with many different organizations and causes that interest her. From the Wildlife Rescue Association of BC to the Dogwood Initiative and the Environmental Youth Alliance, Kira has given her time to do all sort of things: from getting up early in order to band bird’s legs, to participating in and organizing public relations initiatives.

Over the years these volunteer positions have lead to paid work experiences, but Kira has continued to find time to give back to her community. The Archives has been privileged to have had Kira one day a week since July 2011. Before pursuing another degree or two or making other big career decisions, she decided to volunteer in a place that is in line with her love of history and at the same time gain some experience somewhat related to her degree from SFU.

Kira rehoused and numbered many photographs in the B.C. Sugar fonds; this image depicts the women who worked in the company’s Cube Department over the years. Item # 2011-092.476

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Posted in General, Holdings, People

Tagged B.C. Sugar, photographs, Volunteers

Cocktails in Vancouver History

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Sue Bigelow | Leave a comment

The Tales of the Cocktail tour is back in Vancouver for its second year. We found a few archival images that illustrate Vancouver’s cocktail history.

Cocktails in some form have been served in Vancouver since the very early days. Sam Brighouse, one of the Three Greenhorns, is in the “Stanley Park Hotel” bar below. We can’t tell what they are serving, but the price of “2 bits” is attractive. (This photo was staged as a joke).