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The Chung Collection is a rich source of historical photographs on a mind-boggling array of subjects. To showcase this amazing variety, we plan to feature a photograph each month, related to the season or current/historic events.

In homage to the wonderful British Columbia fruit available this time of year, the feature photograph is of a fruit ranch in Kelowna taken in July of 1921:

This photograph is part of an album of photos of a “journey across Canada,” taken by an unknown photographer. This is an extensive album of more than 300 photographs from across the country, featuring landmarks, scenery, and shots of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

If you’re interested in the history of fruit growing in British Columbia, an interesting resource are brochures issued by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, describing the opportunities in British Columbia for fruit farming. These can be found in the collection by searching for books with the keyword “fruit”.

Speaking of fruit, here at UBC we’re all enjoying the Blueberry Fest!

From July 21 to 24, Richmond is hosting the Your Kontinent Film and Media Arts Festival, which is showcasing a variety of films and multi-media artworks, with an emphasis on Asian film through its collaboration with the DocuAsia Forum. The name “Your Kontinent” is a variation of the concept of “Urkontinent,” meaning one large continent which would theoretically create a mosaic of cultures on one continent- not unlike Richmond itself! Artists and viewers are encouraged to think about “one’s individual perception of their continent or culture.”

Check out their website for the festival schedule or ticket information.

We often tell people that we started the digitization of the Chung Collection in 2008, but strictly speaking, that’s not true.  There was actually a very modest start to our digitization activities in 2004, when we digitized the diary of Hector Langevin.

The Langevin diary is one of the highlights of the collection. It describes Langevin’s journey across the United States by rail, and up to the B.C. coast by boat, on his journey to scope out the appropriate place to end the Canadian Pacific Railway. Ultimately of course Vancouver was chosen as the terminus, and in this diary you can come to understand the reasons why Langevin, as Minister of Public Works, recommended a site on Burrard Inlet instead of the former front-runner, Port Moody.

Naturally, Langevin also describes his travels along the way to B.C., including a description of Chinatown in San Francisco, and in B.C. he describes the climate, natural resources, existing nations of indigenous peoples, their treaties and Chinook “trading language”, potential for settlement, business activity, public works required, postal, communication, and transportation arrangements, as well as potential railway termini on Burrard Inlet, Esquimalt, and the Skeena River.

There are three ways to access the Langevin diary:

1. See digital versions of the diary pages here:
http://www.library.ubc.ca/spcoll/langevin/

2. Read an English language transcription here:
http://www.library.ubc.ca/spcoll/langevin/Langevin_Diary_eng/Langevin_Eng_Home.htm

3. Read a French language transcription here:
http://www.library.ubc.ca/spcoll/langevin/Langevin_Diary_Fre_Version2/Langevin_Fre_Home.htm

The Langevin diary is on display in the Chung Collection exhibition room, Case 6.

Image of Hector Langevin above is courtesy of Library and Archives Canada, via the Wikimedia commons.

Hockey fever is alive and well in Vancouver, despite last night’s less than desirable results in Boston. So for all you hockey history buffs out there, we have a challenge for you:

We have two photographs in the Chung Collection that are inscribed on the back as being the “CPR Hockey Team”, taken in 1928. The photo above shows the team posing on the deck of the Empress of Canada. We do not appear to have any other records of this team in the collection, nor have we been able to find any references to the team in secondary sources. Does anyone know this piece hockey/CPR history? Did the CPR have a hockey team, or perhaps this was a team being sponsored by the CPR? If you know, we’d love to hear from you! Email us at chung.collection@ubc.ca.

The records for the two photographs can be read here and here. Click on the thumbnails to see a larger version.