1 Friends of the BC Archives Newsletter November 2017 Vol. 17, No. 1 In this Issue: Ø New FBCA Board Members, 2 Ø Upcoming Events, 3 Ø Introductions: New Staff at the BC Archives, 4 Ø Recent Events, 5-6 Retiring FBCA Board Members At our annual general meeting this past October we acknowledged with appreciation the service of five directors who retired from our Board: Marie Elliott, Patricia Roy, Ron Welwood, Sue Baptie, and Patricia Dirks. • Marie Elliot is one of our founding members. Her name is on our inaugural constitution, when our society was incorporated seventeen years ago, on 20 September 2000. She was vice-president in the first year of the FBCA and president from 2003-2005. Thereafter, Marie was a director and the society’s secretary (and thanks to the meticulous minutes that Marie kept over the years, we can document the tenure of our other directors). • Dr. Patricia Roy, Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria, joined the FBCA Board in 2003. In 2010, Pat was elected president and she later served as a director-at-large from 2012 to 2017. • Ron Welwood, who resides in Nelson, BC, was elected for the first time at the AGM in 2006 and for the next decade was our ‘external’ director – a Board member who does not reside in Greater Victoria. For many years, he was the editor of British Columbia History, the journal of the BC Historical Federation. • Sue Baptie, former chief archivist for the City of Vancouver, became a member of the FBCA Board in 2006. She brought valuable professional experience to our Board. • Dr. Patricia Dirks, a retired historian, joined the board in 2010 and was an exemplary leader as president and past president. Collectively, our retiring directors contributed sixty years of service to the FBCA and we thank them for their service to the documentary heritage of British Columbia. 1 2 New FBCA Board Members At our October 2017 annual general meeting, we elected five new directors to the FBCA Board. • Kathleen Kyle Barlee holds a Master of Archival and Information Studies degree, which she earned at The University of British Columbia. She was the project coordinator of the Central Okanagan [Archival] Records Survey and the South Okanagan Similkameen Records Survey. Both projects were sponsored by Okanagan College. She was the owner of an archives and records management consulting service and, as a consultant, helped the BC Records Management Branch get underway. She is the co-author of a history of the British Columbia Fruit Growers’ Association and former administrator of Canada West, a popular local history magazine. She is also a past president of the Archives Association of British Columbia. • Dr. Jenny Clayton completed a PhD in History at the University of Victoria. For her doctoral dissertation, she explored the history of parks and outdoor recreation in twentieth century British Columbia, a project that involved archival research, oral history interviews, and hiking trips. Jenny is currently a member of the History Department at Camosun College, and has also taught courses on BC history, Canadian, and environmental history at the University of Victoria and Vancouver Island University. She helped create a website on Victoria’s Chinatown and is writing a book on the history of British Columbia’s Lieutenant Governors. • Aimee Greenaway is a 6th generation Nanaimo resident and grew up in the former coal mining town of Extension. She graduated from Vancouver Island University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and a Bachelor of Education degree. She has worked as a historian at the BC Forest Discovery Centre (formerly the BC Forest Museum) near Duncan and wrote a column on logging history for the Cowichan Valley Citizen. She is now the interpretation curator at the Nanaimo Museum, a position that draws on her knowledge of archival material in the Nanaimo Community Archives. • Denton Pendergast is the principal of Rocket Science Design. Over a forty-year career, he has developed a range of visual communication skills, including traditional corporate and institutional advertising, book design, and display design. He has developed material for the Friends of the Royal British Columbia Museum; and he conceived, designed, and curates a wonderfully informative website that is devoted to the history of Victoria harbour: victoriaharbourhistory.com • Dwight Skeates has worked as corporate archivist for Sears Canada in Toronto, where he managed the collections and provided access to the fonds of Sears, Simpsons Ltd., and the T. Eaton Company. He has also served as archivist and docent at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Mount Hope, Ontario; and the American Airlines C. R. Smith Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. He has a Master of Archival Studies degree and has completed additional courses through the Canadian Conservation Institute. He is a member of the Association of Canadian Archivists and the Archives Association of British Columbia. 2 3 This Week In History Every year, the Royal BC Museum and Archives partners with CHEK TV news to present This Week in History, a series of short clips highlighting BC’s history through the lens of our collections. Over the years, Archivists have presented episodes on subjects ranging from First World War correspondence, colonial documents, and prominent British Columbians, to audio-visual collections such as the Webster! series. You can view all the episodes, including the latest season, here: cheknews.ca/vancouver-island-history/ - Genevieve Weber, Archivist, RBCM&A Terry Reksten Memorial Fund Update In September, the FBCA Board concluded and formalized an agreement with respect to the Terry Reksten Memorial Fund. Previously, there had an informal agreement regarding the administration of grants from the fund. Now, an agreement is in place that formally establishes a grants committee to evaluate applications. The committee will consist of a member or nominee of the Reksten Family, a representative of the Archives Association of British Columbia, and a representative of the Friends (to be named by the FBCA president each year.) Our next task is to formalize and update the criteria or rubrics for applications to the fund. Upcoming FBCA Events November 19th Finding Conflict in the Archive: Researching The Great Land Grab on Vancouver Island In 1887, the Dominion of Canada granted the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway Company (E&N) nearly two million acres on southern Vancouver Island – a final payment for completion of the rail line. Although this “Great Land Grab” is often understood as a one-time event, it generated decades of conflict. Kelly Black, adjunct professor in the Department of History at Vancouver Island University and FBCA vice president, will describe his archival research and findings related to the E&N grant, conducted for his recently completed PhD dissertation. He will explain how the archival record both reveals and conceals conflict over land, conflict that continues to have consequences for the present day. Look for details of our January to May, 2018 talks on our website over the coming weeks: FriendsOfBCArchives.wordpress.com/upcoming-events 3 4 Introductions: New Staff at the BC Archives Katey Watson, Archivist Hello Friends! I started as an archivist at the BC Archives in September 2017 and my focus will be on providing reference service, supporting research for exhibitions and displays, as well as assisting with outreach activities. I began my career in Ontario, volunteering at the Markham Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum in 2010. At first I was unsure whether I wanted to pursue museums or archives. After volunteering, I realized that my passion lay with the content made available through archival records. My first culture job was at the Markham Museum as a summer student and I went on to earn my master’s degree in archives and records management at the University of Toronto. After graduating, I worked on a short-term project with the Toronto Star Archives where a large team of archivists described the Star’s archival photograph collection. My first permanent position was at the Girl Guides of Canada (Ontario Council) and I was their first staff archivist. I was responsible for developing procedures for the archives, as well as developing and implementing a records management plan. After seeing the archivist position posted at the BC Archives, I knew I had to apply. I am very excited to be a part of the BC Archives team where I am able to work with such a diversity of records, assist researchers with their queries, and engage the public with archival materials. I look forward to meeting you all, either in the reference room or at the next Friends event! - Katey Watson Lauren Buttle, Paper Conservator The Royal BC Museum and Archives is excited to announce the arrival of our newest team member, Paper Conservator Lauren Buttle. Lauren will be working with the archives preservation team and will help care for our paper based collections. Lauren has a master’s degree in art conservation from Queen’s University where she focused on paper conservation. Lauren has experience working with collections in various archives, libraries and art galleries. In 2016, Lauren was awarded the Kress Foundation Fellowship which took her to Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, where she worked in the Glucksman Conservation Lab with the library’s Egyptian papyrus collection. Welcome, Lauren! - Ember Lundgren, Preservation Manager, RBCM&A 4 5 Recent FBCA Events Sometimes, things do not always turn out as we anticipate, despite our best intentions and well- organized plans. In our case, our guest speakers for October (Dennis Duffy) and November (Greg Evans) were sidelined because of unexpected events. We hope to reschedule their presentations for 2018. In the interim, our RBCM&A liaison archivist, Genevieve Weber, volunteered to give a talk for our October meeting, and our vice-president, Kelly Black, offered to give a presentation at short notice for our November meeting.