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54.1 Spring 2021
British Columbia History
Discover British Columbia’s Past!
- British Columbia History3 min readLetters from ReadersDear Editor: I am heartened to learn you and others have enjoyed reading Union Laundry: The Story of Harry and May Yuen [in our Winter 2020 issue, 53.4]. What began as a modest genealogical keepsake for my family expanded into a multi-page document a
- British Columbia History2 min readThe Public Side of HistoryI finished my biography of James Teit in the spring of 2018 and faced a difficult decision. Do I send it to a university press or to a trade press? The former targets mainly scholarly readers and the latter, more general readers. On the surface, my 5
- British Columbia History12 min readTED HUNT A Multisport Athlete Who Soared Above The CompetitionDespite a knock-kneed running style described as “faintly reminiscent of your sainted aunt running for a bus,” Ted Hunt is one of the all-time great multisport athletes. He excelled in rugby, skiing, football, and boxing and gained accolades in swimm
- British Columbia History8 min readDiscrimination & Race RelationsVancouver’s Chinatown Literary Mappings Of SeclusionWe are pleased to present Harry Deng’s essay on Vancouver’s Chinatown, written for a fourth-year undergraduate history course at UBC. Deng’s essay was awarded the British Columbia Historical Federation W. Kaye Lamb Award for the Best Student work in
- British Columbia History4 min readPutting the Pub in Public HistoryI love a good story. I suppose my appreciation began in childhood when I eagerly looked forward to the nightly bedtime story. I did well at social studies and it only got better in high school when I got an “A” in History 12. I graduated with a BA in
- British Columbia History1 min readPoint Ellice HouseThis historic residence, built in 1861, was the home of the Honourable Peter O’Reilly. As Gold Commissioner, County Court Judge, and member of the first Legislative Council of British Columbia, he was prominent during the formative years of our provi
- British Columbia History4 min readExplaining Settlers to OurselvesSince the 1960s, Point Ellice House in Victoria has engaged visitors with stories of tea, croquet, romance, and high society.1 If you have ever visited this provincial heritage site, you probably came for afternoon tea, a fixture of the visitor exper
- British Columbia History1 min readInternational RelationsThe Geography of Settler ColonialismPeter O’Reilly was BC’s Indian Reserve Commissioner, responsible for assigning reserve lands without treaty. He travelled the province from 1880 to 1898, returning to this room to make decisions that would have devastating impacts on First Nations pe
- British Columbia History1 min readMain Barriers To Education For Students With DisabilitiesInadequate Funding This was cited as the prime reason for delayed and diminished special education services at the elementary and secondary levels. Physical Inaccessibility Students with disabilities continue to encounter physical barriers to educat
- British Columbia History1 min readWaiting for WelcomeI am a woman of Indigenous ancestry. My great-great-great grandmother was Siamelaht and came from a pre-contact Squamish Nation family. I also fancy myself an amateur historian, and on my frequent journeys through the past I try very hard look for tr
- British Columbia History4 min readThe Purser’s DilemmaSending children though the post is not unheard of. I found this out as I began researching the first story in this series. Children have been sent, postage paid, back and forth to relatives or school; the practice has been documented many times. The
- British Columbia History3 min readWorldA Seat At The Table Chinese Immigration And British ColumbiaStories of Chinese immigration and settlement are not a sidebar of British Columbia history; they are BC history. A Seat at the Table focusses on the experiences of Chinese immigrants in British Columbia beginning 200 years ago and traces their inter
- British Columbia History2 min readFighting For A Seat At The TableSeveral months ago, a journalist contacted me in order to ask me to explain the rise in anti-Chinese violence and anti-Asian hate crimes. At the time, there only seemed to be isolated incidents—an elderly man being shoved to the ground; a woman accos
- British Columbia History3 min readMuseum of the Cariboo Chilcotin & BC Cowboy Hall of FameFictional cowboy Smith ambled out of Paul St. Pierre’s imagination at Big Creek in the Chilcotin where he spent years mining stories and characters for CBC Television’s Cariboo Country (1959–1967). The show launched the acting career of 60-year-old C
- British Columbia History7 min readRefracting History | Stories In Digital And PrintBritish Columbia’s history is told through multiple lenses. We must seek out diverse perspectives, continually reframe the ways in which we understand the past, and carefully choose formats for sharing stories. Should a particular story be told in pr
- British Columbia History1 min readRecently ReleasedBalancing Bountiful: What I Learned about Feminism from My Polygamist Grandmothers by Mary Jane Blackmore (Halfmoon Bay, BC: Caitlin Press, 2020) $24.95 Chicanery, Civility & Celebrations: Tales of Early Rossland by Ron Shearer (Rossland, BC: Rossla
- British Columbia History1 min readBritish Columbia HistoryAimee Greenaway Books Editor British Columbia History c/o Nanaimo Museum 100 Museum Way, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5J8 ■
- British Columbia History1 min readWays of PreventionOuarantine is a term thrown around regularly in the new COVID-19 society we live in, but it is not a new tool in the arsenal of medical professionals. In the past, quarantines — sometimes lasting months — were regularly used by doctors to combat cont