Innholdsfortegnelse for 55.3 Fall 2022 i British Columbia History

What are the boundaries between work and play? How do we spend our leisure time? What details of our past do we weave into the things we make? This issue showcases some of these questions and reminds us that our solitary and collective pursuits matter. From chasing a puck, to spending months walking and paddling across Canada, to learning a few words in a traditional language, to safeguarding community belongings, the way we spend our leisure time is highly personal. It is also social comment, sometimes an act of social change, often a moment of connection across the divides of culture. We live many lives in the course of a single life: Jenn Ashton writes of her construction and reconstruction of identity in concert with what she has learned from…

British Columbia History is a quarterly magazine chronicling British Columbia’s unique story through the words and images of community writers, archivists, museum professionals, academic historians, and more. SUBMISSIONS Our editorial team makes every effort to respond to all submission enquiries; however, our magazine operates with a small part-time staff and it may take some time for us to get back to you. PRINT SCHEDULE Our editorial team works with set copy deadlines and must often finalize content six months or more in advance of publication. UPCOMING THEMES…

Trail historian Elsie G. Turnbull described the town's early years as "sports-minded," with not just hockey but curling generating much excitement. She quotes verse by local poet H. J. G. Hogg, Trail's unofficial poet laureate, writing about curling in his finest Scottish accent. But the poetaster's best work was reserved for hockey. One long poem recounted a game between the Trail Seniors and Intermediates. It began this way: "I don't know who suggested it; It was a deep-laid scheme To have somebody wine and dine The Senior Hockey Team. Hank had a craving, so I'm told, For hot mashed spuds and chickens, And viewed the Intermediates With thoughts of easy pickins. "Things ended badly for Hank: The Intermediates had the lead, And there they meant to camp. Poor Harris in…

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1062-kuper-island Note: This profile contains information related to the residential school system and may be triggering to some readers. Kuper Island Residential School operated from 1890-1975 on Penelakut Island (then known as Kuper Island), one of the southern Gulf Islands off the east coast of Vancouver Island. In spring 2022, CBC released Kuper Island, an eight-part podcast series that centred survivor stories and included interviews with community members such as a former Chief of Penelakut. According to podcast host Duncan McCue, who is Anishinaabe and a member of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation, Kuper Island is about “three children who survived the Kuper Island Residential School: Tony and James and Belvie. They shared their truths with an intimacy that will make you laugh and cry—and may help you…

The HBC Heritage Trail’s terrain has not changed much in the many years of its existence. Hikers still face a 4,000-metre climb when hiking from Hope to Tulameen, and the mighty Cascade Mountains still have to be crossed. In 1849 Hudson’s Bay Company packers used horses to carry 180 pounds [81.6 kilograms] as they climbed 900 metres on each of the first three days of their journey. The trail had to have three requirements in 1849 for the horses: it had to have grass sown for the horses to eat in the alpine meadows, it could not be too rocky, and the trail had to be free of winter snow by July. When we hiked the trail in 2021, we noticed a good supply of grasses around most camps. We…

When I saw Antony Holland’s spellbinding performance as the coach in That Championship Season at the Arts Club Theatre in January 1974, I recognized that here was an actor at the height of his powers. It wasn’t until decades later, however, that I realized he was only midway through a 70-year theatrical career that continued almost until his death in 2015 at age 95. Known primarily for his tour de force portrayals of Shylock and King Lear, Antony’s other compelling roles ranged from Danny, a charming, psychopathic killer in Night Must Fall, which he performed in England and Egypt, to his final starring role in Tuesdays with Morrie. Holland was 91 years old at the end of the long Tuesdays with Morrie run with co-star Warren Kimmel. He was proud…

From my mother I inherited a beautiful cedar root basket tray, and because I liked it so much my partner started giving me cedar root baskets for my birthdays. But it was when I was doing research in the museum in Yale that I became really interested in cedar root baskets made by Nlaka’pamux women in that region. There I found a gift form listing artifacts related to All Hallows in the West School. My excitement was piqued by the list of baskets that named the makers. These objects, donated by Aida Freeman, came from the collection of her mother Kathleen Edith (Pearson) Southwell who had been a student at All Hallows in the West. Kathleen had collected the baskets from makers living in the southern interior of BC, near…

Blaylock's technical genius at the smelter led to the development of a more efficient method of refining lead and zinc, products that were essential in wartime. Also notable, though little known at the time, he oversaw the production of heavy water used in the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb.12 The advent of the company's Elephant Brand Fertilizer is another example of his professional ingenuity. When local farmers sued the company for polluting their crops, he oversaw the invention of a process to turn the noxious smelter fumes into profitable fertilizer.…

Visit BCHF's YouTube channel for a growing collection of videos that explore BC’s rich past. Meet people engaged with local history, watch virtual tours, and listen to interviews. Our latest videos feature fascinating presentations from our 2022 conference. As always, our thanks to Elwin Xie for his time and video editing that have made our channel vital and growing. Email us at bcheditor@bchistory.ca or write to British Columbia History PO Box 448, Fort Langley, BC V1M 2R7 Letters may be edited for clarity or length.…

The name Paul Robeson may not mean much to today’s younger generation, but in the 1950s the African-American singer was a household name. Now, visitors to Peace Arch Park near the American border at Blaine, Washington, can learn all about the world-famous opera singer and social activist. The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission recently erected an exhibit at the park in honour of Robeson’s historic and nearly forgotten Peace Arch concerts in the early 1950s. Ironically, it was the seizure of Robeson’s passport by the State Department in Washington, DC, that triggered the concerts as a gesture of defiance. Robeson had been famous in Europe for his rich bass-baritone voice in opera roles such as Othello. In North America, he was perhaps better known for his rendition of “Old…

Coming home, for me, means returning to my family’s Indigenous ways of living and being, which were interrupted by several decades of residential and Indian day school reprogramming. When I began my journey, I was excited that I now had the proof of my Indigeneity-I wanted to tell everybody! It was in my DNA; it was how I was built. Many of my family members also took DNA tests. We were all enthusiastic as the results came back with the same genetic markers, one after the other. It seemed like automatic entry into the Indigenous Nation from which part of our family originated. We already knew our history, but for others, searching for their cultural identity through the use of this new tool can be confusing, and when I started…

The Whistler Museum and Archives (WMAS) was already in the process of broadening the scope of its collections—to become more inclusive of all communities in Whistler—when, in 2020, former Whistler Pride and Ski Festival director Dean Nelson donated artifacts and archival materials that documented Whistler Pride’s history and events. The story begins in 1992, when Altitude— as it was then known—covertly hosted about 70 participants for a gay ski week at Whistler Mountain. From these humble beginnings, the festival continued to grow, welcoming more guests, and hosting increasingly renowned performers each year, all the while working to create a safe space for the LGBTQ2S+ community in the mountain town of Whistler. The Altitude Festival grew in popularity, like many gay pride festivals across North America, and became Whistler Pride and…

September is always a busy time of year. Students head back to school, many heritage organizations reset after Labour Day, and there always seems to be a lot of activities to pack in before cooler weather arrives. I sifted through my “To Be Read” pile for historical fiction titles, so I can have immersive and cozy reading experiences when the days get shorter. While sitting with a steaming cup of lavender tea, I thought about my favourite historical fiction titles over the years and then a memory unlocked: I read my first historical fiction book as a Grade 6 student back in 1990! The book Your Time, My Time by Ann Walsh was then a recently released time-travel novel based in modern-day Wells and historical Barkerville. Recommended to me by…