Intrepid Sisters on the Move

Posted on July 9, 2025 @2:38 pm by cshriver

Many thanks to guest blogger, Barbara Towell, for contributing the below post! Barbara is E-Records Manager with Digital Programs & Services at UBC Library and an avid cyclist.

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On Monday, July 17, 1939, twenty-something sisters, Clara and Kitty Wilson, left their comfy family home on the west side of Vancouver and embarked on a two-week self-guided cycling holiday to Vancouver Island. This journey was one of a decade of summer cycling tours they undertook in British Columbia. They documented their trips through a series of photos and letters home that have been brought together in a wonderful photo album, now fully digitized and available on UBC Library’s Open Collections and forming part of the Uno Langmann Family Collection of Photographs. For Kitty and Clara Wilson, the summer of 1939 was one of leisure, adventure, letter-writing, and fun.

86 years after Clara and Kitty’s trip, my partner and I plan to recreate that ride, tracing the sisters’ tire marks, staying in the places they stayed, seeing the sights they saw. Our tour, like many of Kitty and Clara’s, begins at the Plaza Hotel in Nanaimo (now called Fairmont Hotels and Resorts), and carries on north to Campbell River. Some of the hotels and camps where Clara and Kitty stayed still exist, but most are gone. All the natural monuments remain however, and we plan to visit the waterfalls, rivers, and maybe the potholes mentioned in the letters. As for the buildings, I hope to find at least the addresses of where these places once were. In short, we plan to do just what Kitty and Clara did all those summers ago: enjoy a journey powered by legs and bicycles.

The Route

Kitty and Clara began their ride on July 17 and arrived in Campbell River on July 23, 1939. Their trip took place along what is now known at Highway 19A Ocean Side Route, which was at the time, primarily a gravel road. The highway was only fully paved in 1953, as part of WAC Bennet’s highway improvement plan. The sisters averaged just over 40K per day; theirs was a leisurely pace. Kitty herself said it best in a letter home: “We walked up every hill that was more than a foot high and still made good time.” I like the attitude conveyed in the letters; some days they just didn’t feel like riding, especially once they got to Campbell River where they were spoiled by the proprietor of their lodgings, Mr. Danby. They were on holiday after all.

The Gear

We don’t plan on sourcing and riding the same kind of bikes Kitty and Clara used (this isn’t that kind of recreation), but judging by the photographs, the sisters appear to be riding 1930s Dutch-style bikes that weigh-in at more than 20 kilograms each. They named these bikes Rastus (Clara), and Ginger (Kitty).

Kitty and Clara did not itemize their gear, but I can see from the photos that they traveled light: one small suitcase each strapped on to their bike’s luggage rack. Given the heft of Rastus and Ginger, packing light was necessary. I believe they brought their bikes on the ferry that docked at what is now Canada Place in Vancouver then took the CPR Princess Elaine to Nanaimo. It would be another twenty years before BC Ferries established the same routes to Nanaimo.

The Lodging: Auto Camps

There are still evidence of tiny cabins dotting the seaside on Vancouver Island. They were an invention that developed together with the expansion of the road network. I never knew what an auto camp was before I started reading the letters, but in 1939 they were everywhere. The sisters wrote to the proprietors of the auto camps along their route in advance ensuring they had a place to stay.

The Letters

Kitty and Clara wrote and received letters from their family daily, care of various post offices along their route. To the 21^st century reader, the sisters’ address and the manner in which they write paints a veneer of white British middle-class privilege and youthful ease. Their letters are full of comic misspellings, nicknames, and devil-may-care kinder-pomp. In contrast to the casual and nonchalant attitude taken up in the letters, the sisters planned this trip carefully. Two young women cycle-touring the dirt roads of Vancouver Island was not a common sight in 1939, and the people they told had opinions about their adventure. The sisters maintained an attitude about their trip that strikes me as particularly modern; they didn’t seem to be especially influenced by people’s opinions of how to spend their leisure time.

These two were not ordinary.

I hope you will join me in part two of this blog as we recreate the ride Kitty and Clara embarked upon 86 years ago, compare the sights, and perhaps get to know these intrepid sisters just a little.

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Chung | Lind Gallery summer hours

Posted on June 16, 2025 @8:39 am by cshriver

Due to staffing changes, the Chung | Lind Gallery will have reduced hours for summer 2025.

The planned summer opening hours are:

•  June 17-28, 2025: Closed
•  July and August, the Gallery will be open Wednesdays to Saturdays from 10 am-5 pm

As opening hours are subject to change, please check the hours portal for the most up-to-date information.

During our reduced hours, we will have limited availability for guided tours and class visits.

We invite you to enjoy our audio highlights tour, our audio guide, or our 360-degree virtual tour. You can also browse digitized materials from the Chung and Lind Collections, and enjoy stories from the Chung | Lind Gallery Blog.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the RBSC contact form or by sending an email to rare.books@ubc.ca. Thank you again for your understanding and interest in the Chung | Lind Gallery!

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RBSC satellite reading room open

Posted on July 3, 2025 @9:50 am by cshriver

Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives is currently operating out of a satellite reading room.

Due to ongoing upgrades, the Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room has temporarily relocated down the hall to Irving K. Barber Learning Centre room 142.

 

Reading Room hours for Summer Term II (July – August, 2025) will be Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Scheduled class visits will be accommodated outside of public reading room hours.

To make your visit more efficient and to ensure that materials are available, please contact Rare Book and Special Collections or University Archives with your materials request before visiting the satellite reading room.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the RBSC contact form or by sending an email to rare.books@ubc.ca or to a specific librarian or archivist.

 

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It’s the Cream of the Crop!

Posted on June 9, 2025 @1:39 pm by Jacky Lai

Many thanks to guest blogger Gabriella J. Cigarroa for contributing the below post! Gabriella is a graduate student at the UBC School of Information and recently completed a Co-op work term with Rare Books and Special Collections Library.

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It’s the Cream of the Crop!: The B.C. Dairy Historical Society Collection

As a Co-op Project Archivist in Fall 2024, I processed the B.C. Dairy Historical Society collection. Since 1998, the B.C. Dairy Historical Society (BCDHS) has collected a breadth of records documenting the history of the provincial dairy industry. Used to write books including Jane Watt’s Milk Stories: A History of the Dairy Industry in British Columbia, 1827-2000 and High Water: Living with the Fraser Floods, this collection includes a wealth of journals, photographs, and records from provincial dairy organizations and producers. Materials originated from the Fraser Valley Milk Producers’ Association (now known as Agrifoods, and owners of Dairyland until 2001), Palm Dairies (a dairy local to Vancouver that was bought by Dairyland in 1989), and assorted dairy industry professionals and enthusiasts. 

Some photos of my favorite finds in the collection are shared below: 

 

 

 

As of 2023, dairy was the top agricultural commodity in B.C. This collection documents the work of dairy co-operatives, producers, and other industry professionals to develop that market.  

If you think about us the next time you visit the dairy aisle at your local grocery store, please contact RBSC about making a research visit. 

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Upcoming reading room closure

Posted on June 6, 2025 @12:02 pm by cshriver

The Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room will be closed on Tuesday, June 10, for staff training. Normal satellite reading room hours will resume on Wednesday, June 11. We apologize for any inconvenience!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the RBSC contact form or by sending an email to rare.books@ubc.ca.

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Upcoming Chung | Lind Gallery Closure

Posted on April 28, 2025 @11:24 am by Claire Malek

The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection and Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection Gallery will be closed from April 29 to May 17 inclusive due to a nearby construction project in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Normal Gallery hours will resume on Tuesday, May 20. We apologize for any inconvenience!

During the closure, we invite you to browse digitized materials from the Chung and Lind Collections, and enjoy stories from the Chung | Lind Gallery Blog.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the RBSC contact form or by sending an email to rare.books@ubc.ca.

 

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Quon On: A Legacy of Travel, Trade, and Community in Chinese Canada

Posted on April 26, 2025 @12:21 pm by Andrew R. Sandfort-Marchese

This blog post is part of RBSC’s blog series spotlighting items in the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection and the Wallace B. and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

In this photo by Yucho Chow dating to the 1920s we see a group of sharp businessmen in front of the Quon On Jan company store. This photo shows more than just a snapshot of daily life in bygone days – this place was not just a business, but a lifeline for Chinese Canadians navigating immigration, trade, and community life. In this blog we will talk about some of the identified men in this photo and their lives in the context of the Quon On business. This company, alongside its affiliate Quon On Co., was instrumental in the maritime and railway travel networks linking British Columbia to Asia and the United States. At the helm of Quon On Jan was Mar June 馬駿 (centre, farthest on the right), also known by the name 馬心喜—a powerful merchant.

From Ow Ben, Toisan to East Pender Street

Mar June’s origins trace back to the village of Ow Ben, Toisan (歐邊), in Kwonghoi township (廣海) Canton Province. His entry into Canada was recorded as May 1, 1895 on some documents, aligning with a later registration in 1909 upon arrival in Victoria from Seattle aboard the Canadian Pacific SS Princess Victoria. In that 1895 ledger he was listed as a merchant, aged 31, with no head tax recorded—a hint that he may have actually entered and become established before full enforcement of the Chinese Immigration Act. In US National Archives materials, there is ample evidence he travelled between Seattle, Port Townsend, Victoria, and Vancouver often during the years before the 1923 Canadian Exclusion Act was passed.[i]

By 1923, Mar June’s Quon On Jan firm was operating at 137-139 E Pender Street, sharing space with the Ma Gim Doo Hung (馬金紫堂 Mah Family Society). He most likely had a major role purchasing this plot of land and establishing the Mah clan’s hall on this prominent stretch of Chinatown’s commercial thoroughfare when they moved from a rooming house on Cambie St in 1920. This building remains a prominent historical landmark and continues to host the Mah Society of Vancouver. By 1924-1925 Quon On Jan moved to the address shown in the Yucho photo, 295 E Pender.

By this period had also established himself as a Chinese Agent for the Blue Funnel Line—a role he had filled in Vancouver since at least 1914, according to early issues of the Chinese Times. This company was an rival to the Canadian Pacific Steamships; ticket agents representing Blue Funnel often were competing with the prominent Yip Family which represented Canadian Pacific. He likely assumed the Blue Funnel portfolio after Lee Kee, roughly parallel to prominent merchant Seto More who gained the title of Canadian Pacific Chinese agent from the Yips. Additionally, he represented the Canadian National Railways and the Admiral Line, a subsidiary of the Pacific Steamship Company that operated from 1918 to 1936. This latter business likely puts him in direct contact with his relation Harry Mar Dong, a subject of a previous blog.

A Brotherhood of Agents and Merchants

Quon On Jan was not an isolated operation. The wider Mah family and their associates formed a tightly knit web of clan, trade, business, and community roles.

Mar Chan (馬進 also known as Mar Kok Leu/Len, not pictured in the Chow photo), from Kwonghoi, was an elder among Chinese ticket agents in Victoria. Likely a mentor of Mar June, he had arrived in Victoria before the head tax via San Francisco, and as early as 1898 he was a longstanding cannery labor contractor. Like with the Yip family, power and money from Chinese ticketing developed alongside control over where indebted labourers worked through perilous contracts, especially in canneries and farms. Eventually Mar Chan became the head of all Chinese agents for the Blue Funnel Line through both Quon On Co. and Quon On Jan. His business firm and family compound at 529 Cormorant Street, Victoria became a key address used by many Chinese workers registering under the Exclusion Act. He retired to China, his gold mountain dream, in 1928 at the age of 80, after 57 years in Canada. His departure would align with a new generation of brokers, ticket agents, merchants and translators arriving at the forefront of Chinatown life.[ii]

One of these up-and-comers was Mar Yee Why 馬余槐/淮 (centre, second from left of the four), possibly a cousin or associate of Mar June. Known later as Fred Bing Yee, he arrived in 1918 on the CPR Empress of Japan and began work as a passenger agent for Quon On Co., frequently traveling between Victoria and Vancouver. He journeyed to Seattle throughout the harsh Exclusion era in his private car, connected to Quon On’s operations. His comparative ease of travel across this rigid border often hostile to Chinese is noteworthy; Yee even returned from China in 1933 aboard the SS Ixion in second class—a rarity for Chinese Canadians, but fitting for someone deeply involved in international travel logistics.[iii] He later served as an accountant for the Young Fong Co. and passed away in 1963, survived by his wife, two sons, and a daughter.

The Rise of a Power Couple: Frank Mah and Mary Lam

As the 1930s approached, Frank Mah Fook Shung 馬福崇 emerged as a vital figure in the evolution of Quon On. He married Mary Lam, the daughter of Chung Ling Lam of the Hong Wo store in Richmond, in 1931. Around this point the Quon On partnership dissolved, with Quon On Co. of Victoria and Vancouver continuing as Blue Funnel Agents under Frank’s management, while Quon On Jan became American Mail Line and Dollar Line Agents, with Mar June remaining CNR ticketing agent.

Initially the couple lived above Quon On Co.’s new address at 254½ Pender St, but later moved to the Cumberland Apartments on 14th Ave, making the couple early Chinese Canadian residents of Vancouver’s West Side, contemporaries of Tong Louie and Geraldine Seto in Point Grey. The Mah’s became known for their hospitality, hosting dignitaries and leaders of Chinatown as key parts of Vancouver “society life.”

Frank was the English Secretary of the Chinese Merchants Association and a prolific presence in the English newspapers of the time. He coordinated the mass exodus of poor Chinese elderly “bachelor” men post-repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1947. Quon On’s reputation had remained strong into the post-war period, with the firm acting as agent for American President Lines, one of the only lines Chinese Canadians who wished to return to China for retirement could take home—particularly as CPR limited its passenger service from BC.

After Frank’s untimely death in 1948, Mary Lam took over the business and transformed it. As Mary Mah (or often in newspapers as Mrs. Frank Mah), she became a travel entrepreneur, Chinese art collector, and a cultural ambassador of sorts. Quon On under her direction eventually rebranded as Quon On Travel Service, representing Canadian Pacific Air and arranging luxurious global tours. In 1959, for example, she offered a 38-day Pacific Orient travel package visiting Hawaii, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and Hong Kong for $1,795, with a discounted rate for companions.[iv]

A Cultural Legacy

Mary Mah was much more than a travel agent. She was a member of the Soroptimists Club, active in the Pender Y, and taught Cantonese cooking at UBC’s Home Economics building as part of extension courses. She was a supporter of the Chinatown News magazine through her frequent purchase of advertisement space, and was a noteworthy bridge between early local born Chinese and those following in the 1940s and 1950s. These efforts helped broaden understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture in British Columbia during the 1960s.[v] She lectured widely on art, politics, and the cosmopolitan life of Hong Kong.

In 1960, Quon On Co. found itself peripherally involved in the RCMP’s sweeping investigations into “paper sons.” While the company did not engage in document fraud, it occasionally referred inquiries about getting fake documents to George Lim, Mary’s brother and head of Hong Wo store, which managed farms and cannery contracts.[vi]

The Final Chapter

Though Quon On World Travel—the company’s last iteration—likely ended operation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the spirit of the original firm endures. Its legacy lives on through archives, oral histories, and the memories of thousands whose journeys it helped facilitate—across oceans and generations.

Mary Mah passed away on October 21, 1990, just shy of her 90th birthday. She and Frank Mah are buried at Mountain View Cemetery, as well as Mar June and his wife Jung Shee, whose work through businesses like Quon On shaped the Chinese Canadian experience.[vii]

Footnotes

[i] US National Archives and Records Administration, Seattle branch. Mar June. Chinese Exclusion Act Case files, Box 341 Case 7027/70.

[ii] Mar Chan had at least three children, and likely had multiple wives as many merchants did. Known descendants are: Mar Kai Kong 馬啓, Mar Kai Kai Leong 馬啓亮, and Mar Hang So.

[iii] Library and Archives Canada, Passenger Lists: Vancouver and Victoria 1925-1935, Reel T-14903, June 3 1933, SS. Ixion

[iv] Chinatown News, Jan 18, 1959, page 11

[v] Chinatown News, Sept 3 1961, page 24

[vi] Library and Archives Canada, 2025, Access to Information Request A-2022-04779, Image 1190

[vii] Frank and Mary Mah had no children, and its unclear if Mar June and his wife or wives did.

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Posted in Chung, Chung | Lind Gallery, Collections, Exhibitions, Frontpage Exhibition, Immigration and Settlement, Research and learning | Tagged with Blue Funnel Line, Chinese American History, Chinese Canadian History, Chung Collection, Chung Lind Gallery, collections, History, Vancouver, Victoria, Yip Family

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Canada’s Silk Trains

Posted on April 9, 2025 @11:34 am by cshriver

“Nothing material, not even the mail, moves across oceans and continents with the speed of silk”

– George Marvin (The Sunday Province, 10 February, 1929)

We are delighted to announce a new display– Canada’s Silk Trains – which tells the story of the fast-paced silk train era. From the time that the first 65 packages of silk were unloaded in Vancouver on June 13, 1897, the race was on to find the fastest way to transport this valuable cargo across Canada and on to the National Silk Exchange in New York.

Between the late 1880s to the mid-1930s, the Canadian Pacific Railway, and later the Canadian National Railway, competed against time, the elements, and each other to transport silk to eastern markets. Insurance rates for silk were charged by the hour, incentivizing the rail companies to pursue faster and faster transportation times.

Despite the high speeds of the silk trains, there were very few accidents. The most well-known incident occurred on September 21, 1927, when a silk train derailed just beyond Hope, British Columbia, sending 4,500 bales of silk into the Fraser River. This accident was reported in newspapers at the time, and later provided the inspiration for the picture book Emma and the Silk Train. Images of the accident are not common, and so we were excited to identify two confirmed photographs (and one suspected photograph) of the crash in the newly available Price family collection. The display features books, photographs, and newspaper articles from across UBC Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections.

Canada’s Silk Trains is on display in the Rare Books and Special Collections satellite reading room on level 1 of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and can be viewed Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through July 4, 2025. For more information, please contact Rare Books and Special Collections at (604) 822-2521 or rare.books@ubc.ca.

 

References

Lawson, J. (1997). Emma and the silk train. (Mombourquette, P. Illus.). Kids Can Press (PZ4.9.L397 Em 1997).

Marvin, G. (1929, February 10). Fast as silk? [Microfilm of The Sunday Province, Vancouver, p.3]. https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/february-10-1929-page-43- 56/docview/2368257290/se-2

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Leon J. Eekman Materials

Posted on April 1, 2025 @1:35 pm by Andrew R. Sandfort-Marchese

This blog post is part of RBSC’s blog series spotlighting items in the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection and the Wallace B. and Madeline H. Chung Collection.

While the Wallace B. and Madeline H. Chung collection is best known for its large Canadian Pacific and Chinese immigration holdings, it also contains a wide variety of miscellaneous photos and materials from across Western Canada and Pacific Northwest. These can often allow us insight into lives that indicate the differences of experience between immigrant communities in BC, particularly between European colonists and other groups. Today we will be discussing the life of a Belgian-Canadian whose materials are found in the Chung Collection, Leon Eekman.

Leon (Leondart, Leendert, Leonard) John (Jan, Jean, Jeens) Eekman was born on December 12, 1880, in Brussels Belgium, likely of Flemish background. He was from a large middle-class family with at least four brothers and one sister. When he was young he served as a sergeant in the infantry stationed in Liège, Belgium, before arriving in Canada around 1905, first to Manitoba and then settling in Victoria, British Columbia. A well-educated man with fluency in English, French, German, Flemish, conversational Dutch, and Walloon, Eekman soon found work as a language tutor. As a result he quickly became acquainted with colonial society, including the family of Chinese merchant Loo Gee Wing, subject of a previous blog. By 1908 he was also working as a surveyor and draftsman, well-established enough to employ a Chinese domestic servant, Ah Guan 關亞均, which was common among the colonial well-to-do.

His movements over the next few years suggest a complex transatlantic life; in 1909, he returned to Europe via New York City aboard the SS Oceanic, to attend the 1910 Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles re-entering Canada in September 1910. He was at that point recorded as a tourist with no stated intention of permanent residence. Despite this, he made his way back to Victoria, where he had lived before. The differences between his easy crossing of borders and those of Chinese Canadians during a time of tightening exclusion are a noteworthy comparison here.

 

Shortly after his return, Eekman married Marion Holdcroft on November 10, 1910, in Victoria, after courting her in previous years. The wedding took place at the home of his in-laws, and through this union, he became connected to the Holdcroft family, a well-respected colonial lineage with English roots. Marion’s father, John Holdcroft, was the Assistant Surveyor of the City of Victoria, a role that Leon himself would later hold. Marion’s maternal relatives had been English merchants in Brussels, later starting a toy company. In their early years of marriage, Leon and Marion lived with her parents at 1268 Walnut Street, and Leon continued his work as a language tutor and surveyor. Around 1912, he became a naturalized British subject, further solidifying his ties to Canada. During this period the ability of Asian diaspora communities in BC to naturalize had been slowly restricted, likewise showing a diverging experience of legal belonging.

 

When World War I broke out, Leon enlisted with the Gordon Highlanders (50th Reg.) He later served in the Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC), working under Colonel Murray McLaren at a field hospital in Étaples, France. His brother, Arie Eekman, also served in the same conflict in the Netherlands Army as a Militia Sergeant of the First Corp. Motor Service in Delft. Leon’s role involved the grueling and dangerous task of transporting wounded soldiers from the battlefield to medical facilities. His service was not without hardship; in October 1915, he contracted tuberculosis, which would shape the remainder of his service.

Fearing anti-German sentiment in Victoria impacting his family due to his surname, Eekman wrote a public letter to the Victoria Daily Times from the front in June 1915, proclaiming his British loyalty and that of his family. By May 1916, his health had deteriorated to the point that he was medically discharged and sent to the Esquimalt Convalescent Home, followed by six months at the Tranquille Sanatorium. Still wanting to serve, Eekman was frustrated in his attempt to serve as a translator; he suspected discrimination due to his German-sounding name. His military discharge became permanent in July 1918, and he returned to civilian life in Victoria.

After the war, the Eekman family settled at 1303 Hillside Avenue. Leon petitioned the city to restore his pre-war position in the survey department, which he had left upon enlisting. This is a position that would have been excluded to non-whites by statute during this period. Over time, he became a provincial draftsman and later served as the Assistant Building Inspector for the City of Victoria. Beyond his professional life, he was deeply involved in religious and civic activities. A passionate evangelical Christian, he was active in the Shantymen’s Association, ministering to working men in remote (particularly mountain and coastal areas) of British Columbia. His religious fervor extended into his participation in the Canadian Protestant League, a controversial anti-Catholic organization. He frequently wrote newspaper columns and letters to the editor, engaging in heated theological debates, often garnering response letters about his all-to-frequent contributions.

During World War II, Eekman was appointed Acting Belgian Consul for Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii, where he assisted in the registration and conscription of Belgian diaspora men for the war effort. He requested every Belgian-Canadian house fly the Belgian and British flag to show loyalty. In April 1946, after 40 years of service with the city, he retired although his diplomatic work continued until 1947. He was a part of the welcome committee for Princess Juliana of the Netherlands when she visited Victoria, and in 1948 he was awarded the Order of Leopold II for his service to Belgium. In his later years, he continued to write emotional public letters and became a vocal critic of government policies, particularly opposing CMHC’s affordable housing initiatives in Saanich, which he felt discriminated against taxpayers. He also spoke out against age discrimination in the workforce.

In 1949, Leon made a four-month trip to Europe, likely his first since World War I, visiting relatives in England and the Continent. By 1950, he had resumed his role as Honorary Belgian Consul for Vancouver Island. He remained an outspoken and controversial figure in the community until his death in 1954. His obituary in the Times Colonist on September 25, 1954, detailed his lifetime of contributions to Victoria and beyond. His memory lived on through his two surviving children, including Walter Gordon Eekman (born in 1912), continuing the family’s presence in Victoria for generations to come.

In 2005 some personal materials of Leon Eekman were purchased from Wells Books in Victoria, before being donated to the University of Manitoba Archives in 2015. They offer insight into how Dr. Wallace Chung may have acquired these materials.

While they can often challenge us, stories like that of the Eekman family allow us to view the range of experiences of BC residents across time. We invite you to engage with the digitized and physical materials of the Chung Collection and other holdings at Rare Books and Special Collections that may have relevance to genealogical or historical research.

 

Sources

University of Manitoba Archives, Leon J Eekman Fonds. https://umlarchives.lib.umanitoba.ca/leon-john-eekman-fonds

Leon John Eekman. Personnel Records of the First World War. Library and Archives Canada. RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 2848 – 49. Item 374921. Canadian Expeditionary Forces (CEF)

Victoria Daily Times and Victoria Times Colonist, Newspapers.com

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Posted in Chung, Chung | Lind Gallery, Collections, Exhibitions, Frontpage Exhibition, Highlights, Immigration and Settlement, Research and learning | Tagged with BC History, Belgian-Canadians, Chung Collection, Chung Lind Gallery, Universal Expositions, Veterans, Victoria, World War One

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Winter weather closure

Posted on February 3, 2025 @10:06 pm by cshriver

Due to winter weather conditions, the Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives reading room will be closed on Tuesday, February 4. The reading room should reopen on Wednesday, February 5.

We apologize for any inconvenience and hope you are all staying safe and warm!

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