Links

Above: 1927 – Opening day of the Vancouver Exhibition.
Image: Vancouver City Archives item# CVA 99-1766. Photographer: Stuart Thomson

Black Pioneers
Crawford Kilian, the author of Go Do Some Great Thing, about black pioneers in British Columbia, has a blog on that subject here. The second edition of Crawford’s book has just appeared.

Historical Research
Donna Jean McKinnon’s website and blog for “for people who don’t consider themselves as historians but find they have a historical project in mind or need to carry out some historical research in the course of their work; people like writers, realtors, community developers, artists, and genealogists.”

Ladysmith & District Historical Society
Ladysmith—once called Oyster Bay—on Vancouver Island has a fascinating history. It was renamed by coal baron Robert Dunsmuir for a reason described on the site. One hint: ten streets in town are named for generals in the Boer War. And there’s information on the sinister Brother Twelve, too.

Chilliwack Museum and Archives
There’s a very detailed decade-by-decade chronology of Chilliwack at the museum’s site. Here’s an excerpt: 1907 On November 21, the B.C. Electric Railway purchased, for $1,500, the shares of the Vancouver, Fraser Valley and Southern Railway, [part of which was the former Chilliwack Power and Light Co. Ltd.] accelerating the pace of the New Westminster-Chilliwack section of the B.C. Electric railway.

Vancouver Historical Society
Established in 1936 to stimulate public interest in Vancouver’s history, to encourage historical research and publication, and to promote the designation and preservation of historic sites. Interesting reading.

North Vancouver Museum and Archives
NVMA preserves historically valuable community records and artifacts; it makes them meaningful and accessible to the public by organizing exhibitions, delivering educational programs, caring for collections, and providing access to archival information.

Rare Books and Special Collections at UBC Library
The largest collection on British Columbia history and literature in any academic library is at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the University of British Columbia.

Above and Beyond Vancouver Journal
Aerial photographer Don Waite has a new book out with aerial photographs of the Lower Mainland and other BC regions. This site has some samples.

Michael Kluckner
The potent combination of Michael Kluckner’s deep-ranging research and warm and affectionate paintings of Vanishing British Columbia makes a visit to his web site a pleasure.

Home History Research Services
An excellent site from Vancouver “house genealogist” James Johnstone, who will research (exhaustively!) your old home. Who built it, who has lived in it, what times were like when it was new, physical changes and more.

The Langley Story Illustrated
An early history by Donald E. Waite.

North Shore History
A nicely-illustrated history of the north shore of Burrard Inlet is here.

Red Robinson
Red Robinson is the history of pop music in this part of the world. He brought the city its first exposure to Bill Haley, Elvis, Roy Orbison, Little Richard and dozens of others. At one point he had 42 per cent of the entire radio audience here! Now you can live those days again at Red’s excellent web site.

Vancouver Broadcasters
He’s done a bit of broadcasting himself, and Gord Lansdell decided to start a web site noting ALL the local broadcasters he could find. Their careers, photos and more are highlights of this site.

Vancouver Radio Museum
This site, launched by local radio history enthusiast Brian Walks, includes a valuable section called TIME TUNNEL, a chronological look at radio stations in Metropolitan Vancouver. Brian says Vancouver’s first station was CJCE, run by the Vancouver Sun, which signed on March 15, 1922.

Museum of Radio in British Columbia
Broadcaster Jack Bennet’s website. The 2010 BC Historical Federation gave bcradiohistory the award for best website in its class.

A Timeline of West Vancouver History
Here’s a once-over-lightly look at highlights of West Vancouver history from 1791 to 1938. Not sure why they stopped there, but check it out!

Price Tags (Gordon Price)
“Price Tags” is a lively electronic newsletter by former Vancouver city councillor Gordon Price. It illustrates what’s happening in Vancouver, discusses the city’s development, and explores a range of urban issues. Click on the link above to access back issues.

Vancouver Public Library
Check out the Vancouver Public Library website.

Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia
Check out the website of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia, incorporated in May 2004.

BC History Internet/Web Site
A rich resource on B.C. history is the BC History Internet/Web Site. It’s handled by David Mattison, and is HUGE.

Vancouver Elementary School Teachers’ Association
Here’s a site run by the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers’ Association on which Vancouver visitors to the site can find the name of their school, when it was built, who it was named for, etc. Click on “History.”

BC Entertainment Hall of Fame Starwalk
The B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame Starwalk pays tribute to B.C.’s entertainers!

Roedde House
Roedde House, a charmingly restored 1893 home at 1450 Barclay in Vancouver’s West End, is open to the public as a museum, meeting place, concert venue and more.

BC Radio History
Retired broadcaster Jack Bennest has launched a web site that takes you back, back, back to those glorious days of early radio . . . and forward, forward, forward to the present day.

Gastown
Visit Gastown, “old Vancouver,” courtesy of the Gastown Business Improvement Society

The City of Surrey: A History
Jack Brown, a teacher for decades in Surrey, has assembled a rich source of materials on the history of Surrey. Lots of photos, maps and a fascinating look at the early oyster industry here. Well worth a visit.

VancouverisAwesome
A link to the history section from the Glacier Media Group digital site. Vancouver Is Awesome connects readers to the people, places and happenings that make Vancouver unique. The Glacier Media Group is the publisher of several local newspapers including Burnaby Now, North Shore News, TriCity News and New West Record.

Miss604
Award-winning Vancouver Blogger Rebecca Bollwitt blogs about life in BC and often covers local history. Very interesting and informative.

HistoryLink – The Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History
As an example of what can be done on the Internet with local history we give you this terrific site, a superb survey of Seattle’s past. The success of the Seattle material led to an expansion of the service, and now they cover all of Washington State.