Diane Johnson, volunteer at the Surrey Archives, is a recipient of a 2019 BCHF Award of Recognition.
Diane Johnson has volunteered at the Surrey Archives for 11 years and in 2019 alone she contributed 1,030 hours of volunteer time to extensive transcription projects that make archival records accessible for modern researchers.
Johnson has transcribed oral history interviews — approximately 250 of them. This painstaking work requires listening to each interview carefully many times over and typing the words exactly as spoken.
She has also transcribed decades of Surrey city council minutes dating back to the beginnings of Surrey in 1889, a process that involves typing thousands of individual handwritten documents into a typewritten form that is keyword searchable. Her work is invaluable to both outside researchers and staff at the Surrey Archives.
The BCHF’s Award of Recognition is awarded to individuals who have given exceptional service to their organization or community, either for a specific project or for long service in the preservation of British Columbia’s history.
