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Rural Chinese setting
This wet plate glass negative photo is in good condition despite the rough edges around the image due to the complicated procedures required to maintain pictures in this regard. In the picture of a Chinese settlement we can see a various amount of…
Correspondence relative to the Canadian Pacific Railway
Due to British Columbia agreeing to build transport links as per the agreement to join the Canadian confederation, this book of papers contain the context surrounding the “pacific scandal”. A scandal which saw a bribery of the first government of…
Letter from Pelly to Grey
The latter denotes an enquiry to British governance, by a representative of the Hudson Bay company, about the situation of their company and its Fur trading rights in relation to the 1846 Oregon treaty and the land acquitted to British territory. The…
Feather Pluckers from Loy Sing Guen
The object is a metal Plucker, used to pluck feathers from ducks and chickens. The inscription on the side indicates its origin came from China where the tool was forged and transported into Victoria by the Chinese migrants due to the gold rush of…
Letter from Douglas to Labouchere
The letter gives a report of the state of colonial trade, weather forecasts and native relations. Despite the letter stating native-colonial relations to be amicable, something of sour note may have occurred between Native and colonial settlers two…
Chinamen washing for Gold near Northbend
The dry plate image, which is creased and is fading, still tells us enough about the Chinese immigrants who were transported on the trains, working to find gold through traditional means of washing for gold. Due to the efforts of the Canadian…
British Columbia Mission
This account of the travel experiences of the missionaries provide us with detailed insights into the areas they travelled. Details regarding the price of various services and goods, transportation costs and the general make up of cities and scenery…
Hunting for gold: reminiscences of personal experience and research in the early days of the Pacific
The book details the life of a gold rush miner as he travelled through various regions in British Columbia search of gold. The context surrounding his travels through Montreal, San Francisco and other cities, is at a time where the gold rush was in…
Beren to Lytton
The letter denotes the story of a violent skirmish between Native peoples and American colonial settlers. This was not uncommon due to the late 1850s seeing a rise in expansionist movements of colonial settlers. The colonists would come into direct…
Crowds at C.P.R. wharf viewing the arrival of the first train in Vancouver
The B&W glass negative photo depicts the arrival of the first train, Engine NO.374, to arrive in Vancouver in 1887. The use of dry plate gelatin matches the similar photos taken during the same period and furthermore the crease on the edge of the…