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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…
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…
Chisel
This object is a chisel, most likely used by labourers during the Gold Rush Era, and in the development of the railway network in California. Chisels were digging tools which helped to shape the metal railway tracks that were gradually laid across…
Digger Indians, Yosemite Valley
This is a wet-plate processed photograph of a group of Indigenous people in Yosemite Valley, California. The appearance of the four subjects is muddy, with soil streaks on their faces and clothes. The title is actually a derogative term used by white…
Slave advertised for sale
This is a newspaper advertisement for the auction of a 'Negro' slave for $300 by his master B.G. Lathrop. The significance of the source lies in the fact that it is the first sale of a slave in California despite its declaration as a free state in…
Barbary Coast Women
A landscape black and white photograph by Martin Behrman shot in the Barbary Coast in 1890 showing eleven women sitting together. Nine dressed in white, which could potentially be due to their profession in Barberry coast and depicted as ‘soiled…
The Cariboo sentinel, article on new mining laws to avoid Indian graves
This is a small article in the Cariboo sentinel discussing how the town has not received a copy of the new laws regarding mining on Indian gravesites. This article was written at a time of gold rush in the area and concerns the implementation of new…
Memoirs of a Professional Lady nurse
The memoirs have been typed and documented then published in a book in order to preserve methods of Nursing during the 19th century. The book also features diagrams and pictures illustrated by hand which offers further primary evidence which have…
Chinese Weighing Scales
This is a set of Chinese weighing scales, which were used to measure the weight and worth of gold found in British Columbia. The gold found would be placed on one side of the scales, and one of the weights would be placed on the other, when both are…
Despatch to London: Douglas to Stanley
This report describes a number of different aspects all related to the Fraser River. Douglas first acknowledges that a large amount of people are coming to the area from San Francisco, in order to mine for gold. Towards the end of the document,…