The Bralorne Reading Room (room 490 in the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies, Irving K Barber Learning Centre) is named after the town of Bralorne, a gold mining community in the Bridge River District, 125 kilometers west of the town of Lillooet. In 1897, three gold prospectors staked claims at what became the […]
If you have been to Google today, it may have come to your attention that today is the 224th anniversary of the birth of Louis Daguerre, inventor of the first permanent photographic process, called a daguerreotype. Daguerreotypes were used from around 1839 to 1860, and differ in many ways from later photographic types: the process […]
The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of B.C. and the Initiative for Student Teaching and Research in Chinese Canadian Studies (INSTRCC) at UBC are co-presenting a book launch and readings for a trio of books by three local authors next week. Larry Wong (Dim Sum Stories), Rebecca Lau (Mami) and Chad Reimer (Chilliwack’s Chinatowns, a history) will read from their respective books next week at the Museum of Vancouver. The event starts at 7 pm (doors at 6 pm) and light refreshments will follow. The event is free for members of the CCHS or the Museum of Vancouver, regular museum admission for others. For details, check the Museum of Vancouver events calendar.
A reminder that except for UBC Okanagan Library, all other UBC Library branches, including Rare Books and Special Collections, University Archives and the Chung Collection will be closed for Remembrance Day on Friday November 11. The photograph above, from the Chung Collection, shows the C.P.R. steamship the R.M.S. Empress of Russia leaving Vancouver when she […]
Remembrance Day is this Friday, and so it is a good time to reflect on a Vancouver icon with a C.P.R. connection.
Winged Victory, or “Angel of Victory” statue at Vancouver’s Waterfront Station is a Vancouver icon with the Canadian Pacific Railway company connection. The statue was commissioned and placed by the C.P.R. in 1921 to commemorate the 1,100 C.P.R. employees who lost their lives in the First World War. A plaque was added to the statue after World War II to commemorate the employees lost in that war as well. The statue, weighing 3,000 pounds, was sculpted by Coeur de Lion MacCarthy who was born in London but moved to Montreal in 1918. As explained on the History of Metropolitan Vancouver, the scratch marks on the statue originate from some well-meaning locals who gave the statue a scrubbing in 1967, not understanding that the “dirt” was actually part of the patina that develops naturally on bronze statues. As featured earlier this year on the Miss 604 blog, many stunning photos of the “Angel of Victory” can be found on Flickr if you are unable to visit it in person.
Both C.P.R. employees and ships participated in both World Wars- try searching the Chung Collection for the keywords “world war” for related records.
If you would like to join UBC students, faculty and staff for our Remembrance Day service, details are available here.
The photo above is courtesy of Flickr user BriYYZ and is used under a Creative Commons License.
The story of Yip Sang and his extended family is so compelling that visitors often ask, “Why hasn’t someone written a book about this?” Now someone has! Yip Sang and the First Chinese Canadians by Frances Hern has been published by Heritage House as part of their “Amazing Stories” series. In Yip Sang Hern uses the Yip family story as a framework for the experiences of early Chinese-Canadians, but also shows how the Yip family was so extraordinary in their success and place in the community.
Not surprisingly, the Chung Collection was used as a source for researching this book. Our congratulations to the author for its completion! The book is currently in cataloguing here at UBC Library but will be available for borrowers soon.
The Chung Collection exhibition room will be closed to the public on Monday Nov. 7. Our apologies for this inconvenience.
Please note that this closure also effects the Rare Books and Special Collections Charles Van Sandwyck exhibition.
Cross posted with the New at RBSC blog.
The Chung Collection exhibition room will be closed to the public on Monday Nov. 7. Our apologies for this inconvenience. Please note that this closure also effects the Rare Books and Special Collections Charles Van Sandwyck exhibition. Cross posted with the Chung Collection news blog.
This month, in honour of Halloween, our featured photograph is of a young girl in a clown costume. This photograph is part of a photo album by a young Chinese-American in the 1910’s named Frank Jue.
All that we know about the young girl in this photograph is that it is captioned “Bernice.” It may not have been a Halloween costume- this photo album contains a number of theatrical and humourous photographs that appear to have been taken just for fun. Frank Jue (also known as Jue Fong) was a teenager during this time period, and we know little about him also, except that he went on to sing as a tenor. While the collection contains many portraits of Chinese-Canadians and -Americans, candid photographs are more difficult to come by, which makes this album a very valuable resource.
This Saturday, head to the Britannia Community Centre for the Story Gallery Festival which will feature a number of community story-telling projects, presented through new books, oral histories, and art. including:
”Our Roots: Aboriginal and Immigrant Stories in Grandview-Woodlands”
The Britannia Community Centre says there will be presentations, music, demos and food! A full schedule of events is available here.