Blog & News

In his Vancouver Historical Society talk, Chris Wong shined a light on iconic venues and key musicians featured in his book Journeys to the Bandstand: Thirty Jazz Lives in Vancouver. Chris, who has been writing about Vancouver's jazz scene since the 1980s, introduced the audience to great Vancouver jazz musicians like John Dawe and Dave Quarin and characterful venues including the original Cellar Jazz Club and the Blues Palace in the talk. His presentation included numerous vintage images and excerpts of rare, unreleased music recorded live in Vancouver jazz clubs. Chris also talked about how he researched the 605-page book that goes from the 1950s to the present.

Watch the full video here.

The Museum of Vancouver (MOV), in collaboration with Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Faculty of Health Sciences and the Post-COVID-19 Interdisciplinary Clinical Care Network (PC-ICCN), is proud to announce the opening of Living with Long COVID. The exhibition invites visitors into the often-invisible world of those living with the life-altering effects of a COVID-19 infection.

One-in-nine Canadians have already experienced Long COVID symptoms. Despite its prevalence, the condition remains widely misunderstood, under-researched, and stigmatized. Living with Long COVID brings these realities to light, offering a powerful platform for those living with its day-to-day impacts.

The project began in 2024 when people living with Long COVID, many of whom call themselves Longhaulers, expressed a desire to share their experiences with the wider public. With support from SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences and patient advocates, a national call for submissions invited individuals to document a day in their lives. Forty-six participants from across Canada responded, contributing photographs and short reflections that candidly reveal moments of pain, joy, fatigue, resilience and everyday adaptations.

Living with Long COVID runs from October 4, 2025, to March 22, 2026 at the Museum of Vancouver.

BCMA and MOV Workshop: How to Be Hopeful in a Climate Crisis with Elin Kelsey: Thursday December 4th, 2025

9:00 am - 4:30 pm 
at the Museum of Vancouver

How do we sustain hope while facing the climate crisis? That is the question author and climate activist Elin Kelsey explores in her latest book, How to Be Hopeful. In this one-day workshop, Kelsey will share insights from her research and writing, framing hope as an evidence-based, active practice that nurtures resilience and fuels climate action.

Join the BCMA and Museum of Vancouver (MOV) for a day of learning and connection. We will begin with a talk by Kelsey, grounding participants in her approach to emotional awareness, community collaboration, and the agency of both humans and non-human species. Drawing from her book, she highlights practical strategies (such as sourcing solutions-focused news, practicing interspecies etiquette, and drawing strength from circles of support) that can inspire action in our own lives and institutions.

Building on these ideas, participants will engage in small- and large-group discussions about how to integrate hopeful practices into museum work and the sector’s climate action efforts. This workshop includes a catered lunch. 

Workshop fee: $60.00 for BCMA Members, $75 for non-members.

Register here!

Join the AABC for the webinar "When Good Descriptions Go RAD" to navigate the theory and rules behind archival arrangement and description. Participants will review practical strategies for intellectual processing and how they can be used to create meaningful finding aids for staff and researchers alike. Rules for Archival Description (RAD) will be discussed along with how to strategically use access points. This webinar will be a useful refresher for experienced practitioners and beneficial for students and volunteers processing archival records.

Instructor: Lisa Glandt, AABC EAS Coordinator

Date: Tuesday, Nov 4, 2025
Time: 9:30 – 11:30am PST
Location: online via Zoom

Cost: AABC members: $25.00 per person; Non-members: $40.00

Registration deadline: Monday, Nov 3 @5:00pm

To register for this event, please visit:  https://aaobc.wildapricot.org/Webinars

Douglas R. Mayer, renowned historian and railway author, is proud to announce the release of Canadian Pacific Railway on the Revelstoke Division, Volume Nine, the latest installment in his acclaimed series documenting the history of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the Revelstoke region.

This new volume continues Mayer’s meticulous exploration of the Revelstoke Division, offering railway enthusiasts, historians, and local residents an in-depth look at the operations, people, and infrastructure that have shaped this vital section of Canada’s railway history. Featuring rare photographs, detailed maps, and first-hand accounts, Volume Nine brings to life the legacy of the CPR and its enduring impact on Revelstoke and surrounding communities.

Canadian Pacific Railway on the Revelstoke Division, Volume Nine is published by the Revelstoke Heritage Railway Society and is available at the Revelstoke Railway Museum gift shop and through the museum’s online store. This volume is an essential addition to the library of anyone interested in Canadian railway history or the rich heritage of Revelstoke.

Available from the Revelstoke Railway Museum online store.

You are invited to join the Vancouver Heritage Foundation as they help launch Elder Larry Grant's new book, "Reconciling: A Lifelong Struggle to Belong" on October 6th.

The event will take place from 7 pm to 8:30 pm at the University Women's Club at Hycroft. You can register here.

About the author:

Larry Grant was born in a hop field outside Vancouver in 1936, the son of a Musqueam cultural leader and an immigrant from a village in Guangdong, China...When Larry Talks about reconciliation, he uses the verb reconciling, an ongoing, unfinished process we're all going through, Indigenous and settler, immigrant and Canadian-born.

A local history book 20 years in the making will be launched at the Silvery Slocan Museum in New Denver on Saturday, Oct. 4, at 1 p.m.

The King of Sandon: Murder, Myth, and the Man Behind B.C.’s Greatest Ghost Town is a full-length biography of John Morgan Harris, a mining magnate with a secret past and a complicated legacy.

Local historian and journalist Greg Nesteroff traces Harris’ life from rural Virginia, where he was born into a family of slaveholders, to northern Idaho, where he risked life and liberty to make a name for himself.

Harris arrived in the Slocan in early 1892, as part a wave of prospectors lured by a silver rush, and bought a promising mining claim that turned into his bonanza. While other tycoons spent their fortunes on mansions in urban areas, Harris built an entire city in the wilderness as a monument to himself. He owned the townsite, its principal buildings, power plant, and waterworks.

He was nicknamed the King of Sandon, but his subjects didn’t always see his rule as benevolent. He was frequently in court defending his interests, and one dispute over a mining claim dragged on for years before finally reaching the Privy Council.

When Sandon’s fortunes declined as the mines in the area played out, Harris refused to leave, even as his town crumbled around him. Although new life teased occasionally, his optimism that the city would boom again was never fully justified.

During the book launch, Nesteroff will present a slideshow and explain the book’s long genesis, including his trips to Harris’ birthplace and burial site in Virginia.

“I became interested in Johnny Harris because so many myths were associated with him,” Nesteroff explains. “While some things were said about him that were false, I was surprised that some of the most unlikely things turned out to be true.”

The book lays bare Harris’ darkest secrets and also looks at how, following his death, Sandon nearly faded from existence, only to be discovered by others determined to save what was left.

The book includes 237 photos and illustrations as well as eight specially-created maps. The King of Sandon is available for pre-order on the book’s companion website, kingofsandon.com, which also contains source notes, photo galleries, interviews, and many other special features.

The book will be available in stores throughout the West Kootenay following the launch.

Nesteroff will also speak on the book at the Slocan Valley Historical Society annual general meeting on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. at the W.E. Graham school library in Slocan.

The City of Castlegar has demolished the Pioneer Arena, an ice surface built over several years in the 1950s and '60s. The arena was marked for closure in 2016 but kept going until 2024. Medical offices and a housing project are earmarked for the site.

Read more at MyKootenayNow.com.

The City of Trail has torn down its earliest hospital, dating to 1896. The building was later a hotel and nurses residence. Demolition continues on an adjacent building from the 1940s that was once the C.S. Williams clinic. Both buildings have been vacant since the mid-1990s. The city would like to redevelop the downtown lots, although there is no specific plan yet.

Read more at MyKootenayNow.com.

Members of the Trail Smoke Eaters and Moscow Selects line up at the Cominco Arena before a crowd of more than 5,000 on Jan. 27, 1960. (Courtesy Trail Historical Society)

One of the most memorable games in Trail’s hockey history had the RCMP on high alert due to its potential “off-ice intrigue,” according to a story in the latest issue of The Hockey News by BCHF director Ron Verzuh.

Read more at MyKootenayNow.Com.