Summaries of Talks and Field Trips - 1970 to 1975
Glimpses of the Past through description, related books and internet connections
1975
The Hudson’s Bay Company in Early BC
[January 22, 1975 (VCM) G. P. V. Akrigg]
The HBC monopoly of trade in what is now BC, left a strong imprint on future settlement and business practices in the colony and later province of British Columbia. (see G. P. V. & Helen Akrigg’s British Columbia Chronicles: 1778-1846, Discovery Press, 1975; and British Columbia Chronicles: 1846-1871, Discovery Press, 1977)
The defence of Vancouver Harbour 1838-1945
[February 26, 1975 (VCM) Peter N. Moogk]
Gun emplacements and other types of installations, were set up in Vancouver before and during WWII. (see Peter N. Moogk’s Vancouver defended: history of the men and guns of the Lower mainland defences: 1859-1949, Antonson Pub. 1978)
Slide and Picture Show
[March 26, 1975 (AGM at VCM) Jack Roff]
Stanley Park Pavilion
[April 6, 1975 (Incorporation Day – Stanley Park Pavilion) Chuck Davis]
(see http://www.seestanleypark.com/gardens/page7agardens.htm)
Vancouver in the 1890’s
[April 23, 1975 (VCM) Norbert Macdonald]
Stanley Park picnic and walk
[July 5, 1975 (Field Trip)]
see http://www.seestanleypark.com/gardens/page7agardens.htm)
Bus Tour to BC Mining Museum, Britannia Beach
[July 26, 1975 (Field Trip)]
(see entry for May 24, 1962)
Boat Tour of Vancouver Harbour
[August 23, 1975 (Field Trip)]
Panel Discussion on Architectural Preservation
[September 23, 1975 (VCM) Netta Stern, Cole Harris, Arthur Cowie, Helen Boyce, Nancy Oliver]
Irving House, New Westminster
[October 25, 1975 (Field Trip)]
Captain John Irving was involved in coastal shipping. Irving House is a Victorian mansion on New Westminster’s Royal Avenue. (see http://www.nwpr.bc.ca/parks%20web%20page/irving%20hse.html)
Fashions from the 1890’s
[November 26, 1975 (VCM) Ivan Sayers]
Although the sumptuous fashions may have been uncomfortable and even unhealthy, they represented a time when women displayed “good taste” with bountiful material. They were certainly not given to street demonstrations, as with the suffragettes of the time. (see http://www.costumes.org/classes/uafcostumeshop/thr355/lorraine3.htm)
1974
Heraldry in Vancouver – Ancient Symbolism in the New World
[January 23, 1974 (VCM) Robert Watt]
(see Robert Watt’s Symbols of splendour: heraldry in British Columbia, 1778-1983: an exhibition at the Robson Square Media Centre, Vancouver, 23-26 September 1983, BC and Yukon chapter of the Heraldry Society of Canada, 1983)
California Bungalows and the Architecture of Vancouver
[February 27, 1974 (VCM) Deryck Holdworth]
(see http://www.discovervancouver.com/GVB/notable-buildings.asp)
Vancouver Radio in the 1920’s
[March 27, 1974 (VCM) Vic Waters]
(see The Greater Vancouver Book, 424-26)
New Finds in the City Archives
[April 24, 1974 (VCM) R. Lynn Ogden]
By Boat on the Lower Fraser
[May 11, 1974 (Field trip)]
The South Arm has been slowly developing as a port-industrial artery. The North Arm, with its limited depth, has the bulk of the region’s sawmilling concentrated along its banks. Fresh water (as opposed to salt water) offers the tremendous advantage of torredo-free log storage.
Union Steamships: Lifeline of the Coast
[September 24, 1974 (VCM) Gerald Rushton]
(see Gerald Rushton’s Whistle up the Inlet, LDC, 1977; The Encyclopedia of British Columbia, 726-27)
The Hudson’s Bay Brigade Trail
[October 23, 1974 (VCM) Harvie Walker]
The HBC fur trade trail was used to transport furs or supplies overland by horses when water transportation could not be used. As many as 300 horses could be used on one brigade. (see http://www.ghosttownsusa.com/bttales17.htm)
Charles Marega, Sculptor
[November 27, 1974 (VCM) Doreen Imredy]
Italy born Charles Marega (1871-1939) studied in Europe before coming to Vancouver where he sculpted the bust of David Oppenheimer, the Harding Memorial, the Joe Fortes Memorial in Alexandria Park, Captain George Vancouver at City Hall and the lions of the Lions gate bridge amongst others. (see The Encyclopedia of British Columbia, 448; see also http://www.discovervancouver.com/GVB/charles-marega.asp)
1973
David Thompson in British Columbia
[January 24, 1973 (VCM) Victor Hopwood]
(see October 2, 1951 entry; Victor Hopwood’s David Thompson: Travels in Western North America, 1784-1812, Macmillan, 1971)
New Westminster’s Fascinating Past
[February 28, 1973 (VCM) Alan Woodland]
(see December 8, 1953, October 20, 1993 entries)
Some Early Traders and Explorers
[March 28, 1973 (VCM) Tomas Bartroli]
(see December 4, 1941, October 22, 1962, May 22, 1985 and September 28, 1988 entries)
The Forgotten Pioneers, The Hawaiian Settlers in B.C.
[April 25, 1973 (VCM) Michael Halleran]
Hawaiians first came to British Columbia in 1787 with the fur trade and hundreds more followed, some choosing to settle in the Pacific Northwest. Many descendants remain today. (see Tom Koppel’s Kanaka, the untold story of Hawaiian pioneers in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest, Whitecap Books, 1995; Jean Barman & Bruce M. Watson’s Leaving Paradise: Indigenous Hawaiians in the Pacific Northwest, 1787-1898, University of Hawaii Press, 2006)
Host for BC Historical Association
[May 24-27, 1973 (UBC)]
Port Coquitlam Museum, Maillardville
[June 30, 1973 (Field Trip)]
(see October 28, 1968 entry)
Mrs. Moody and her letters
[September 26, 1973 (VCM) Jackie Gresko]
Mrs. Moody, the wife of Col. Richard Clement Moody, lived at both New Westminster and Victoria. (see January 25, 1978 and February 22, 1984 entries)
Andrew Roddan and the Thirties
[October 24, 1973 (VCM) Samuel Roddan]
The Rev. Andrew’s life in the 1930s evolved around the First United Church. During that time, he advocated for the homeless. (see Andrew Roddan’s Canada’s untouchables: the story of the man without a home, Clark and Stuart, 1932; and Vancouver’s hoboes, Subway Books, 2005)
The Bulwers of Hatzic – Some Undiscovered Photographs of the 1890’s
[November 28, 1973 (VCM) James Draper]
Mr. Bulwer came to Hatzic about 1887 and later built a large home on the bench land above the Fraser River. After the Bulwers left, Mr. William Manson, a conservative member during the McBride government, resided there.
1972
Indo-Pakistanis in Vancouver
[January 26, 1972 (VCM) K. S. Sandhu]
In 1904, 45 Indo-Canadians came to Vancouver to work and settle and since then large numbers have come in from various points in the former British Empire.
(see The Greater Vancouver Book, 314-15)
Boosters, Bad Times and Bankers – The Making of South Vancouver
[February 23, 1972 (VCM) Prof. Edward Gibson]
The city of South Vancouver, along with that of Point Grey, was incorporated into the city of Vancouver in 1929. (see February 24, 1971 entry; Alfred Henry Lewis’ South Vancouver, past and present; an historical sketch of the municipality from the earliest days and its incorporation to the present, 1920, together with short biographical sketches of some of its leading business and public men, Western Pub. Bureau, 1920)
Slide show of past field trips
[March 22, 1972 (AGM in VCM)]
Railway Stations in Vancouver
[April 26, 1972 (VCM) Ronald Meyers]
(see The Greater Vancouver Book, 444-49)
Heritage Village, Burnaby
[August 5, 1972 (Field Trip)]
(see February 27, 1991 entry
The Origin of the Pacific Cable – An Item on the Canadian Pacific Railway’s “Hidden Agenda”
[September 27, 1972 (VCM) Gerald Savory]
Proposed in 1887 and opened in 1902, the first Pacific telegraph cable between Canada and New Zealand opened. However, the popular assumption that the Pacific Cable was built by imperial patriots for further imperial communications is in question. (see MA thesis, University of Washington; R. Bruce Scotts’ Gentlemen on Imperial service: a story of the Trans-Pacific Telecommunications Cable told in their own words by those who served, Sono Nis Press, 1994; George Johnson’s The all red line. Then annals and aims of the Pacific cable project, J. Hope & Sons, 1903)
The Naturalists Discover British Columbia
[October 25, 1972 (VCM) G. P. V. Akrigg]
David Douglas, Archibald Menzies, Simon Fraser Tolmie, and John K. Lord are a few of the many earl naturalists who visited British Columbia. (see February 1940 and October 21, 1992 entries; The Journals of William Fraser Tolmie, physician and fur trader, Mitchell Press, 1963)
Kamloops Cattlemen
[November 22, 1972 (VCM) Alex Bulman]
(see Alex Bulman’s Kamloops cattlemen, np, 1972)
1971
The History of Libraries in Vancouver
[January 27, 1971 (VCM) Stanley Read]
(see The Greater Vancouver Book, 748-53; see also http://www.city.vancouver.bc.ca/ctyclerk/archives/webpubhtml/w_vpl.htm)
A Geographer Looking at the History of Vancouver
[February 24, 1971 (VCM) Prof. Edward Gibson]
Elites have had an impact on landscape change and a review of their beliefs reveal how and why Vancouver has developed as it has.
(see Edward Mark Walter Gibson’s “The impact of social belief on landscape change: a geographical study of Vancouver,” UBC thesis, 1971)
Walhachin: Its Rise and Fall
[March 24, 1971 (VCM) Nelson Riis]
Walhachin was an agricultural settlement established in 1908 near Cache Creek by a London-based development company. It was unsuitable for agriculture and when its settlers rushed off to fight WWI, the settlement fell apart.
(see Nelson Riis’ Settlement and abandonment: a case study of Walhachin – myth and reality, UBC Press, 1970; Encylopedia of British Columbia, 752; http://www.britishcolumbia.com/regions/towns/?townID=4049)
A Literary Bloke’s View of Alexander Mackenzie
[April 28, 1971 (VCM) Roy Daniells]
A Tour of the Fraser River Delta
[June 19, 1971 (Field Trip)]
Acton Kilby General Store, Harrison Mills
[July 17, 1971 (Field Trip)]
(see http://www.britishcolumbia.com/attractions/?id=70)
Jewish Pioneers in British Columbia
[September 22, 1971 (VCM) Cyril Leonoff]
(see October 28, 1955 entry; see also The Greater Vancouver Book, 305-07)
Early Theatres in Vancouver
[October 27, 1971 (VCM) Sheila Roberts]
(see November 22, 1965 entry; Sheila Roberts’ Shakespeare in Vancouver, 1889-1918, Vancouver Historical Society; The Greater Vancouver Book, 688-93)
The B.C. Centennial of 1971
[November 24, 1971 (VCM) Willard Ireland]
1971 was the centennial of British Columbia joining Canada. (see entries for February 13, 1945, November 23, 1964 and May 28, 1986)