This issue of the Buzz is archived at https://tinyurl.com/3vxr5576

MEMBER NEWS

Japanese Canadian curator, activist Grace Eiko Thomson passes away at age 90

Grace Eiko Thomson, a museum curator and author who covered the Japanese Canadian experience, passed away at the age of 90 on July 11th, 2024.

Thomson was the founding curator of the Japanese Canadian National Museum, now known as the Nikkei National Museum in Burnaby, B.C.

The National Association of Japanese Canadians confirmed in a statement that Thomson died peacefully at her home in Winnipeg.

Read the full tribute to Thomson from the CBC below.

Lytton Chinese History Museum's construction progresses!

3 years after a fire destroyed the town of Lytton, the Chinese History Museum is being reconstructed with plans to eventually reopen.

On August 2nd, the museum posted on their Facebook page that the blue fence was finally gone, and painting the building would be the next step.

Keep up with the museum's progress by following them on Facebook.

"In-Cow-Mas-Ket" by Susan Allison available in digital form

The Princeton and District Museum and Archives Society has made available a digital version of Susan Allison's book, In-Cow-Mas-Ket. This book, published in 1900, recounts many of the First Nations oral histories that she was told as a young settler in the Similkameen Valley, in her own poetic style.

This volume surfaced during their processing of the massive Rev. Dr. J.C. Goodfellow collection and was dedicated to him by Susan Allison in 1929. The digitization was done in-house by Neal Dangerfield of the Princeton Museum. 

The Witness Blanket tours to the Nelson Museum

From August 9th to September 20th, 2024, the Nelson Museum will host the touring reproduction of Carey Newman's powerful exhibition, The Witness Blanket.

Seemingly disconnected remnants of clothing, crumbling buildings, and fragmented cultures are woven together into a blanket, designed to shine light on the Indian Residential School system that connects them, and stand as a monument to the resiliency and strength of those who survived them. 

Inspired by a woven blanket, Witness Blanket is a large-scale work of art created by master carver Carey Newman, containing hundreds of items reclaimed from residential schools, churches, government buildings, and traditional and cultural structures from across Canada.  

Ron Verzuh reviews "A River Captured: The Columbia River Treaty and Catastrophic Change" by Eileen Delehanty Pearkes

"American-born author Eileen Delehanty Pearkes came to the northern banks of the Columbia in 1985 to do further research into its history. She was partly interested in learning more about the river as a food source for First Nations like the Sinixt or Lakes People that were falsely declared extinct in 1956.

We follow her research much like we might tag along with a traveler exploring new territory. She is a modern-day David Thompson, the explorer who first mapped his way along the river’s 2,000 kilometres to the Pacific Ocean in 1806. Except that she has other goals in mind than finding new trade routes for a rapacious corporation like the North West Company.

Dedicating her book to the river, she writes that she wants “to see for myself how and why the fish no longer spawn in the upper Columbia region.” She also wants to see how the First Nations people who lived next to the river were devastated by its capture."

Read the full review by clicking the button below.

Are you a member society with news to share in The Buzz? Send it to laura@bchistory.ca

HISTORICAL NOTES

"It's never been a more dangerous time for B.C.'s museums and heritage sites."

"Last week a major heritage site in British Columbia was moments away from being destroyed by a wildfire and was saved by the herculean effort of the B.C. Wildfire Service and site staff, new fire breaks, and a miraculous last-second shift in the winds.

Elsewhere in the province, art galleries and museums in central B.C. are opening their doors for free to evacuees displaced by wildfires in Alberta.

Each day museum, gallery, and heritage workers and volunteers are going to work while waiting to hear if they will be forced to evacuate their sites, homes, and communities.

It has never been a more dangerous time for B.C.’s museums, galleries, and heritage sites — and this danger takes a significant toll on the people who devote their lives to safeguarding our irreplaceable cultural heritage."

Read the full article by Ryan Hunt, Executive Director of the BC Museums Association, by clicking the button below.

Historic Martin Mars water bomber completes final flight in B.C.

Thousands gathered at Patricia Bay Park on Vancouver Island north of Victoria on Sunday to witness the final landing of the historic Hawaii Martin Mars, a legendary aircraft that fought wildfires in B.C. for more than 50 years.

The massive aircraft, with a capacity to carry more than 27,000 litres of water, departed from its longtime base at Sproat Lake in Port Alberni and landed in Saanich Inlet, before heading to its new home at the B.C. Aviation Museum.

Nine Canadian Forces Snowbirds jets accompanied the water bomber on its last journey, passing over a number of communities en route to its final destination. 

Read the full article from CBC by clicking the button below.

An interview with historian Daniel Marshall

Daniel Marshall is one of British Columbia’s most-prominent historians, having spent decades chronicling the province’s past. His academic and popular histories have played a key role in shaping today’s understanding of the origins of British Columbia.

Marshall curated a 2015 Royal BC Museum exhibit on the gold rush and also co-hosted The Canyon War: An Untold Story, an award-winning documentary that brought new light to a pivotal conflict between Indigenous peoples and heavily armed American miners in the Fraser Canyon.

Marshall has now published a new book called Untold Tales of Old British Columbia. The Current spoke to Marshall about how the practice of history has changed over the last 40 years.

After 113 years, Royal B.C. Museum hands back chief's seat to the Heiltsuk Nation 

A chief’s seat that has been in the Royal B.C. Museum’s possession for more than a century is being handed back to the ­Heiltsuk Nation near Bella Bella.

Marilyn Slett, a Carpenter descendant and the elected chief of the Heiltsuk Nation, said the seat is the first of Carpenter’s major works to be repatriated. “For this to come home, it’s a ­monumental day for us. It feels like Captain has come home.” “Captain Carpenter was a good leader. He made sure that the people in the Bella Bella were fed,” said Steve Carpenter, Captain Carpenter’s great-grandson.

The seat was reassembled from storage for the occasion, but will be taken apart to travel by truck to Heiltsuk lands in Bella Bella, where a larger celebration is set to take place on July 25.

Members of the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations Whalers’ Shrine Repatriation Committee travelled to New York recently in an effort to try to bring back one of the world’s most sacred structures.

Committee members went to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) to formally meet with the museum’s Cultural Resources Office.

The representatives from the First Nations in British Columbia are keen to bring the Whalers’ Shrine back home to Yuquot, a village in Nootka Island, on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island.

The shrine was where Nuu-chah-nulth whalers prayed and practiced ritual oosemich (bathing) to prepare for the physical and spiritual challenges they faced when hunting.

There are 88 carved human figures, four carved whale figures and 16 human skulls in the shrine.

Led by hereditary Chief Mike Maquinna, Chief Jerry Jack, and Elder Margaretta James, committee members discussed the next steps to complete the process required for repatriation.

Read the full article by clicking the button below.

The Pothole Ranch in Farwell Canyon, near where a landslide dammed the Chilcotin River, was swept into the river when the natural dam broke earlier this week, sending a flood of water downstream.

Abandoned after the Second World War, the structures on this homestead were a testament to the tenacity of early pioneers in the region, who dealt with extreme weather and unfavourable conditions as they carved out a life in the valley.

This summer has seen many historic sites in B.C. threatened, damaged, or destroyed by extreme weather conditions. 

Read more about the history of the Ranch from the Williams Lake Tribune by clicking the button below.

VIDEOS

The Story of Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound, with Diane Mitchell & Eric Andersen

Historian Eric Andersen, and Diane Mitchell on behalf of the Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound Biosphere Region, talk about the past, present and future of this corner of our world. Diane opens Howe Sound’s geological history and concludes with a look into the future, a future dependent on the people who make their home here. Eric talks about the region's history, with a focus on the economic and commercial use which flourished thanks to the unique natural attributes of Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound.

Reminiscences of the Heather Pavilion at VGH

Retired Vancouver nurses Elizabeth Kirkwood and Kathleen Murphy reminisce about their student nursing days and their careers working in the Heather Pavilion at the Vancouver General Hospital. Both women play an active role in ensuring the preservation of the Heather Pavilion built in 1906 as the first building of the Vancouver General Hospital.

Conversations with a Conservator - Caring for your Family's Paper Trail

Led by professional museum conservator Tara Fraser, this workshop explores what causes deterioration in our collections and how to prevent it, including information on the proper materials and techniques needed for handling, preserving and storing family photographs, documents, heirlooms, and other precious items.

EXHIBITS & EVENTS

Fashion designer brings work back to Haida roots in new exhibit

Dorothy Grant celebrates 40 years in fashion, and her work's deeper meaning, in Haida Gwaii Museum showcase.

Read the full article about her new exhibit from the CBC by clicking the button below.

Stonehenge travels to the Royal BC Museum

Discover one of the most mysterious and unique stone monuments in the world and what it meant to the people who built it with Stonehenge. The exhibition features 400+ ancient artifacts, including the burial belongings of the Stonehenge and Amesbury archers, both of which have never been seen before in North America. Packed with archaeological insight and cutting-edge scientific research, Stonehenge explores this iconic World Heritage Site.

Working from what remains of the world’s only linteled henge, archaeologists have studied the people and communities who built Stonehenge 4,500-5,000 years ago. Learn about how these stones were transported incredible distances, shaped and jointed, and set into a vast landscape in which people have gathered for millennia.

Okanagan Print Triennial at Kelowna Art Gallery

The Okanagan Print Triennial offers visitors a fascinating glimpse into the global printmaking community. This open, juried show is dedicated to showcasing the creative forays made in printmaking across Canada and beyond, at a time when experimentation dominates and traditional practices and processes are challenged. This year, Okanagan Print Triennial will feature such a diversity of style and subject matter that visitors can look forward to leaving the exhibition with a true appreciation of contemporary printmaking.

The Okanagan Print Triennial was initiated in 2009 by Kelowna-based printmaker Briar Craig, and supported by the Kelowna Art Gallery, the Vernon Public Art Gallery, and the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus. The winner of the 2024 Triennial will be given a solo exhibition at the Kelowna Art Gallery in 2027.

The exhibit runs until October 27th. Learn more about the Kelowna Art Gallery by clicking the button below.

CLIPPINGS

Click to Read: Wooden boat restoration is back on at Britannia Shipyards

Click to Read: Barkerville reopens after wildfire evacuation

Click to Read: When mammoths roamed Vancouver Island

Click to Read: Kelowna's museum gets a front entrance freshen-up after 57 years

Click to Read: First Nations artefacts coming home from Canada after museum deal

ADVERTISING

The BCHF offers a number of advertising opportunities in our e-newsletter, which is distributed to our entire membership monthly. Advertisements are jpeg images sized to 600 px wide for electronic distribution. To submit an ad, contact Laura Van Zant: laura@bchistory.ca

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12 months = $50 each ($600 annually)

Rates for non-members are as follows:

1-3 months = $150 each ($150-$450 annually)
4 months = $140 each ($560 annually)
6 months = $130 each ($780 annually)
8 months = $120 each ($960 annually)
12 months = $100 each ($1,200 annually)

British Columbia Historical Federation

Box 448, Fort Langley, BC, V1M 247 • info@bchistory.ca

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