Issue 1, 2024

2024 ISSUE 1

ROYA L B C M USEU M

refreshing jonathan hunt house

p. 3

CANADIAN MODERN: DESIGN AND CRAFT IN 20 TH CENTURY CANADA

p. 15

UNVEILING HIDDEN TREASURES

p. 23

Best rock show ever.

May 10, 2024– Jan 5, 2025 rbcm.ca/stonehenge

2 0 2 4 ISS U E 1

Samantha Rich e d i to r - i n - c h i e f

Ipek Omercikli m a n ag i n g e d i to r

Amanda Richardson as st . m a n ag i n g e d i to r

Courtney Zylstra

The Royal BC Museum was founded in 1886. Today, we acknowledge that we are uninvited guests of the lək̓​̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) People, known as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations, on whose lands we reside. We are grateful to the Nations for hosting us on their traditional territories as we live, work, learn and grow together.

g r a p h i c d es i g n e r

Shane Lighter p h oto g r a p h e r

Melanie Grisak p h oto g r a p h e r

Copyright Royal BC Museum, 2024.

O N T H E C OV E R :

c o n t r i b u to r s

6

25

22

1 3

CEO Welcome Message

feature Refreshing Jonathan Hunt House A refresh 47 years in the making becomes a multigenerational lesson in carving, painting and caring for ancestral objects.

5

natural history Ankylosaur Battle Scars

6

natural history The New Face of the Tyrant Lizard King

7

human history Hayashi Photography Studio: A Visual History of Cumberland

9

natural history Blue Whales: They’re big, they’re grey, with a 12-metre spray.

11

exhibits Stonehenge: Sarsens and a Sacred Place

13

future of the museum PARC Campus: Building the Future of the Royal BC Museum

15

25

feature

bc archives

Canadian Modern: Design and Craft in 20th Century Canada Immerse yourself in modern design through a look at the Springback chair, our designers’ favourite pieces, and how the design has changed over the years.

From the Archives

31

publishing

21

Conserving Wildlife in the Early 20th Century

human history Preservation Through Digitization: Protecting a Historic Indigenous Audio Collection

33

22

What’s On

events calendar

museum spotlight Good in a Crisis: Kelowna Museums and the Impact of Climate Change

23

feature Unveiling Hidden Treasures: Long-Forgotten Landscape Paintings Discovered at the Royal BC Museum Whispers of exhibition ancestors reveal themselves through a trove of long forgotten landscape paintings.

19

24

9

Welcome Tracey Drake ceo

Dear friends, This year has been a busy one.

Having served in the CEO role for a little over a year now, my focus remains on providing organizational stability and continuing to plan for the bright and dynamic future of the Royal BC Museum, BC Archives and IMAX® Victoria. I am focused on a future where we fully acknowledge our past and work collaboratively with our communities to truly understand how we become a progressive, inclusive and diverse provincial institution. At the beginning of 2024, the team at the museum and archives adopted a collective intention of learning to listen and listening to learn—a practice that is very important, and at the heart of all that we do.

Significant work is happening as we strive to become a reimagined, inclusive and dynamic museum and archives. This has been evident with

Significant work is happening as we strive to become a reimagined, inclusive and dynamic museum and archives. our exceptional feature exhibition, Stonehenge. This exhibition has been featured at venues all over the world and we are fortunate to bring this unique stone monument experience to British Columbia. We also welcomed a Royal Ontario Museum favourite, Canadian Modern, to the museum.

The special objects in this exhibition range from fashion and furniture to 1

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

jewelry and electronics—each telling the Canadian story and presenting a fresh perspective on new and historic items, including a number of pieces from BC. In addition to our core galleries, these travelling exhibitions showcase a diversity of experiences for our visitors from British Columbia, across Canada, and from around the world.

Our teams have also been working diligently to reopen the third floor galleries. It began with the reopening of Old Town, New Approach in late summer 2023. Then, in April of this year, we reopened two sections of the First Peoples gallery. Our Living Languages, redesigned in partnership with the First Peoples’ Cultural Council, is a refreshed version that features updated information about the resurgence of First Nations languages in this province.

We also reopened the ceremonial house and museum installation, Jonathan Hunt House. The space was restored by master carver and artist Richard Hunt and his nephew, fellow carver and artist, Jason Hunt. Working together on these initiatives is critical to our way forward.

The museum has committed to working with First Nations and Indigenous Peoples to reimagine the areas of the First Peoples gallery that remain closed.

I acknowledge that visitors are eager to see more of these important galleries, but we must first ensure they are reimagined with Indigenous voices from across the province, front and centre.

We are also hard at work on PARC Campus, the state-of-the-art facility currently under construction in Colwood, that will be home to the provincial archives, research and collections. This facility will safely house the majority of the natural and human

history collections of the province, be an exciting hub for research and public learning programs, and house the BC Archives. Not only will the building meet the needs of a growing museum, but it will also meet the CleanBC energy efficiency standards, is designed for mass timber construction, and will be LEED Gold certified. There are two frequent questions I receive about this new facility. Will PARC Campus replace the downtown museum? It will not. The museum will remain at its downtown harbour location, but archives will move to Colwood, along with research labs and collections spaces. Will PARC Campus be open to the public? It most certainly will. The building is designed with a central public hallway which features windows into the research and collection labs, so that you can see our team at work and ultimately have access to more of BC’s collective history. PARC Campus is expected to open in 2026.

In 2023, we embarked on a provincewide public engagement program, asking British Columbians their thoughts and ideas on how to reimagine the Royal BC Museum.

The community engagement team has been showing up in communities, listening and asking the important, and often difficult, questions. Since we began, we have visited over 100 communities, talked with over 7,000 British Columbians and heard from more than 5,000 people via the digital survey. The virtual survey will remain available to all British Columbians until January 2025; an important process that will help inform the future of the Royal BC Museum.

All of this could not be done without assistance from our partners, First Nations, community, members and donors. There is much work happening behind the scenes and across the province. I am immensely grateful for the incredible support of this province— every community conversation, each offer of partner support, and every person who took the time to attend an engagement session or completed the digital survey: THANK YOU! Our relationships with Indigenous partners throughout the province is

critically important to the Royal BC Museum. This is especially important with the work we are doing on the lands of the Lekwungen peoples. I am committed to strengthening our bonds with Songhees and Esquimalt Nations and take an immense sense of responsibility as we walk alongside each other. I am grateful for what I have learned and heard, and will continue to learn and grow into the future.

Kind regards,

Tracey Drake Chief Executive Officer

jAt the announcement of the museum’s partnership with the Terry Fox Foundation, with Minister Lana Popham and Darrel Fox, April 2024. We celebrated Asian Heritage Month in May with a live tea ceremony demonstration by the Urasenke Tankokai Victoria Association.

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 2

Refreshing Jonathan Hunt House Ipek Omercikli

I

editor

n April 2024, the Royal BC Museum reopened Jonathan Hunt House, a museum installation that recreates the ceremonial house of the late Kwakwaka’wakw chief Jonathan Hunt. His grandson Richard Hunt, who helped his father Henry Hunt with the original installation, and Richard’s nephew and the chief’s grandson Jason Hunt, refreshed the space by repainting the house posts, chief seats, dance screen, log drum and welcome figure for the first time since the house was first opened in 1977.

As a newcomer to Victoria, and Canada, learning more about Jonathan Hunt House and its history was illuminating. Richard and his wife, Sandra, invited me to their home to see his workshop where he carves and paints daily, and Jason and I connected over Zoom while he worked on a striking sun mask for a client.

Seeing both artists in their work space, endlessly creative and productive, and so gracious with their time and answers, was inspirational and brought up questions on the nature and culture of creation, art and craft.

in conversation with richard hunt Ipek Omercikli: You worked on Jonathan Hunt House with your father Henry during the original installation. What was that like?

Richard Hunt: Yes, and my brother Tony. There were maybe five or six native people—Haidas, and people from the West Coast.

It was a great atmosphere because

3

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

we were all having fun.

IO: How was it coming back to the museum to work with your nephew Jason?

RH: It was great working with Jason because he was so gung-ho. For me, two to three hours now, my back goes, my hands go, but I never had to go and find out where he was, because he was always there, working away.

IO: You restored the totem pole in Thunderbird Park—your first solo project in 1979—in 2021. How was it to start working on your own, compared to working with family?

RH: Well, it only took me two months because I was so gung-ho. I did it in two months and never asked my dad. I closed my ears or pulled my ears when he tried to tell me what to do. Everybody’s got an opinion, right?

When I started out, if I listened to everybody, my work would be totally different. I finally thought, well, if

you want to do it that way, then you do it, but I’m doing it this way.

IO: When you’re carving and painting, what maintains your passion and dedication?

RH: It’s just a drive to produce.

Everything I do comes from my culture.

When I was at the museum, I did all styles. Mungo [Martin, a highly distinguished Kwakwaka’wakw carver] revived Northwest Coast art to the point of being recognized as a world-class art instead of a craft. He used to carve all different styles, and then my dad did as well. Then I did. But when I quit [the museum], I figured I don’t have to do other people’s culture because they’re now doing what belongs to them. So, culture plays an important role. j Richard Hunt in his studio.

f e at u r e

in conversation with jason hunt Ipek Omercikli: How was it repainting Hunt House with your uncle Richard?

Jason Hunt: It’s funny because this was the first time we’ve ever actually worked on a project together.

He’s been a carver his whole life and I’ve been carver most of my life and somehow, we’ve just never had the opportunity to work together on something. Richard, he’s one of my heroes in the art world, so getting the opportunity to actually work with him on something was pretty amazing.

IO: You also brought your kids in at some point to paint with you.

How was seeing them contribute to your family’s legacy in that space?

JH: It’s been a big part of my childhood, and I wanted to give my

kids a little piece of that. Nobody’s ever retouched anything in there. We’ve never repainted it. We’ve never restored it. This is the first time anything like that has happened, so, most likely in my lifetime it isn’t going to happen again. But in my kids’ lifetime, it might, and they might remember that they came in and they got to put a little bit of paint on there.

IO: When I was chatting with Richard, he told me you were always at Hunt House working, regardless of the time of day.

JH: To be honest, it didn’t make any difference if you’re in there day or night because there are no windows. I enjoyed it!

For me, I’m sitting there and looking at my grandpa’s work, my uncle Tony’s work and Richard’s work and even when they’re not there, I’m still learning from it. My grandpa passed away when I was 10 and obviously, I never worked with him. Getting to repaint his work now and learning how he put things together and how he designed it—he’s still teaching me.

IO: Is it about maintaining his legacy for you, or do you see yourself adding another layer as you work on it?

JH: Yes and no. In restoration, the goal is never to change anything or to put your own flavor in it. It’s just to bring it back to as close as you can get to original without actually changing anything.

On one of the totem poles there’s an eye that’s not painted. When it was first created, they were in a big rush, like, “we need those totem poles today.” So, it got put up like that and it never got finished, so, we didn’t paint the eye.

IO: What do you want people to understand when they visit Hunt House?

JH: I want people to recognize that it’s a specific culture, a specific family. That should be told—the story of who created it, and when, and all those kinds of things. Marking it as different from an installation or an exhibit is important, because these are living things and it belongs to a family and to a culture, not just for display. That’s my grandpa’s legacy, my uncle’s legacy. People like myself wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them.

 top: Carvers use a variety of tools to remove and shape wood, including different kinds of knives and chisels. j centre: Jason Hunt and his son in Jonathan Hunt House. The newly refreshed Jonathan Hunt House, repainted for the first time since 1977.

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 4

Ankylosaur Battle Scars Dr. Victoria Arbour curator of palaeontology

 The Zuul Duel—two Zuul crurivastator battle each other using their tail clubs in the coastal forests of Montana 75 million years ago.

Illustration by Henry Sharpe.

5

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

Ankylosaurs, the armoured dinosaurs, are my favourite group of dinosaurs. Unsurprisingly, they are also the ones I’ve spent the most time studying. Some of my earliest research was on whether or not ankylosaurs could use their characteristic tail clubs as weapons. Ankylosaur tail clubs could deliver bone-crushing impacts—but who were ankylosaurs fighting with these formidable weapons? Almost every popular and scientific depiction of fighting ankylosaurs shows them using their tails to defend themselves from predators, most often the large tyrannosaurs that shared their ancient habitats. On the surface, this seems pretty reasonable and plausible.

However, if we look at living animals with specialized weaponry, they don’t usually use their weapons for defense against predators, but for fighting members of the same species. Think of the horns of bighorn sheep or antelope, the antlers of moose or elk, even the weird protuberances on the heads of many beetles. All these species use their pointy bits for fighting their own kind.

Could ankylosaur tail clubs have also originated as weapons to fight other ankylosaurs? This is a question I’ve been hoping to answer for more than a decade. Finally, a special fossil has given us some tantalizing evidence about the evolution of ankylosaur tail clubs.

An exceptionally preserved skeleton of Zuul crurivastator—a species I helped name in 2017, and yes, the name is a Ghostbusters reference—at the Royal Ontario Museum retains all of the bony armour and skin across the ankylosaur’s back and tail. As the skeleton was being prepared out of the encasing rock, my colleague David Evans (curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the ROM) and I noticed that many of these bony spikes had been broken and healed while Zuul was still alive. The injured spikes were only located on the flanks near the hips, right where another Zuul’s tail would strike if they were fighting each other, and not where we’d expect to see injuries from a predator like a tyrannosaur. We think this is good evidence supporting our hypothesis that ankylosaur tail clubs were used for within-species battles.

Perhaps Zuul fought over mates, food, breeding territory or good nesting grounds. We may never know for sure, but either way, battling ankylosaurs would have been a sight to behold.

This research was co-authored with scientists from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (Lindsay Zanno) and Royal Ontario Museum (David Evans). It was published in the scientific journal Biology Letters.

The New Face of the Tyrant Lizard King Derek Larson collections manager and researcher , palaeontology

In 2023, T. rex got a facelift thanks to a multinational team of scientists including the Royal BC Museum.

Our image of what dinosaurs looked like while alive 66 million years ago has been revised and refined through decades of research by palaeontologists. From slow and lumbering behemoths to fast and feathered creatures, dinosaurs are now understood as animals within their ancient ecosystems much more accurately than they were decades ago. New research has continued this trend of refining our view of dinosaurs by arguing that T. rex and many other meat-eating dinosaurs had soft tissue that covered the teeth, commonly called lips.

The skin and other soft tissues of dinosaurs only rarely fossilize, so almost all of our understanding of these animals come from the hard parts left behind: their bones and teeth.

We have different ways of filling in our missing knowledge of dinosaurs when what we want to study doesn’t fossilize. We can use close relatives of the fossil and deduce that dinosaurs would have soft anatomy similar to both crocodiles and birds, their modern-day relatives. We can also look for more distantly related animals with body parts that perform a similar function, and use those for comparison.

For several years, we thought that T. rex lacked lips because both crocodiles and birds lack lips, and that the teeth of T. rex were too big to cover with lips, like a boar’s tusks. However, neither of these assumptions hold up to scrutiny.

Birds lack lips because they have beaks instead, and crocodiles lack lips because of their aquatic environment.

Crocodile teeth also show much higher

 Scientists and artists have developed two principal models of predatory dinosaur facial appearance: crocodylian-like lipless jaws, or a lizard-like lipped mouth. ©Mark P. Wilton  With its mouth closed, all of the enormous teeth of T. rex would be invisible behind its lips. ©Mark P. Wilton  A juvenile Edmontosaurus disappears into the enormous, lipped mouth of T. rex. ©Mark P. Wilton

rates of wear and breakage of teeth than T. rex. Further, T. rex teeth were not too large to be covered with lips if they resembled those of Varanus lizards such as the Komodo dragon.

This research was co-authored with scientists from Auburn University (Thomas Cullen), University of Portsmouth (Mark Witton), University of Manitoba (Kirstin Brink), and University of Toronto (Diane Scott, Tea Maho, David Evans and Robert Reisz).

It was published in the scientific journal Science.

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 6

HAYASHI PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO: A VISUAL HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND Dr. India Rael Young curator of art and images

A new, immersive recreation of historic British Columbia is opening at the Royal BC Museum in Fall 2024. Set foot

 Teruko Doi and Matsuio Hayashi with a group of children being photographed by Yukio Matsubuchi, before 1929. CMA 140-167.

 Eviction notice sent to workers during a 1903 strike. BCA GR-1946.

inside a Cumberland photographer’s 1918 studio in the newest addition to Old Town, New Approach. The museum has meticulously recreated the studio from a photograph with antique field and studio cameras from the collections and hand-painted backdrops.

Japanese Canadian photographer Senjiro Hayashi moved to the coal mining district of Cumberland to set up his studio in 1911. The business ran for nearly 30 years, changing hands through three other Japanese Canadian photographers: a Mr. Kitamura, and Tokitaro and Shizuko Matsubuchi.

At the museum, you can learn more about the studio within the exhibition and by watching the documentary Hayashi Studios, which will run in the Majestic Theatre and is also available online.

Museum staff worked with the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre,

Cumberland was formerly a thriving community of new immigrants from all parts of the world.

the Cumberland Museum and Archives, the Past Wrongs, Future Choices at the University of Victoria, and documentary filmmakers Haley Gray and Elad Tzadok.

Their formative work on Senjiro Hayashi and the Japanese Canadian community in Cumberland brings the museum’s exhibition to life. As we learned from our colleagues, Cumberland was formerly a thriving community of new immigrants from all parts of the world. We delved into the BC Archives records to better understand the makeup of the mining community.

In 1852, Hudson Bay Company trader Joseph W. McKay wrote to Sir James Douglas that he had learned about coal seams in the territory of the Sálhulhtxw. Douglas, then the governor of the colony of Vancouver Island, recommended that McKay take possession on behalf of the company.

By the 1880s, the Crown granted industrialist Robert Dunsmuir more than two million acres of land, including mineral and timber rights, from Seymour Narrows to Finlayson Arms.

He sent Chinese and white workers from his mines in the Nanaimo area

to set new shafts for Union Colliery.

The first year that coal shipped out of the valley was also the first year Dunsmuir experienced a workforce strike, which was in 1888. Ironically, the Union Colliery mine would become a hotbed for union labour throughout its operation. Italian workers, in a bid to more closely align with Anglo-Scot employees, claimed that lower paid Chinese workers were “taking their jobs.” Forms of this racism would occur over the years, ultimately displacing Chinese workers, as laws entrenched white workers’ “rights” while disenfranchising non-white labour.

In the 1890s, Chinese, European, Japanese, and Black immigrants from the United States filled the Union Colliery mining camp, each community with a distinct group of cabins, boarding houses and even shops. The town of Cumberland grew as a neighboring community to the mines. Hayashi first opened his studio in the Japanese neighborhood of the Union camp, and moved the studio to Cumberland’s main street the next year.

Union’s resident list from 1891 only

 Chinatown, Cumberland, at its height, with more than 600 residents and Union Colliery Mine #3 in the background, 1910. BCA B07606.

documents homes of European descent, but their overall numbers show the Asian community was much larger.

Museum designers will recreate a map that shows the breadth of people who formerly lived in Cumberland.

Racism in the first half of the century caused non-European workers to move away from the area and into other communities and lines of work.

The federal government forcibly removed Japanese Canadians from their homes to Canadian internment camps during WWII. The very last photographs the studio created were for internment ID cards.

Today, thanks to the work of researchers, curators, archivists and filmmakers, the memories of Cumberland’s first families are being recorded and retold.

In the months and years to come, the Royal BC Museum will continue to reopen exhibits throughout the 3rd floor and share more stories of BC’s rich history and the people who once called these lands home.

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 8

Blue Whales

They’re big, they’re grey, with a 12-metre spray.

Dr. Gavin Hanke curator of vertebrate zoology

Blue whales aren’t blue. They are grey. But the name grey whale is already taken. Blue whale is said to come from the Norwegian blåhval, and this was adopted as the common name because they look light blue just under the ocean surface.

Blue whales also were called “Sibbald’s rorqual,” after Robert Sibbald—but that doesn’t roll off the tongue as nicely as blue whale. And “sulphur bottom,” the name Herman Melville used in the novel Moby Dick, sounds more like a nickname for a whale with a gastrointestinal complaint. The sulfur reference stems from a yellowish colour on the whale’s underside from a coating of diatoms (algae)—and both Sibbald and the yellow colour was the 9

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

inspiration for the name Cope gave the species in 1869: Sibbaldius sulfureus.

The present name for the species— Balaeonoptera musculus—based on the first description by Linnaeus (1758), and supersedes Cope’s Sibbaldius sulfureus.

Sorry Edward Drinker Cope, Sibbaldius sulfureus sunk into taxonomic obscurity.

The blue whale is the largest animal alive today, but there are larger living things like a giant sequoia, Pando (a clonal quaking aspen), and fungal masses. It is difficult to relate our day-to-day experience as relatively small mammals to the scale of a whale. The tongue of an adult blue whale weighs about the same as a Rivian R1T pickup truck, and the heart’s size was once compared to

a VW Beetle. It is closer to a Smart EQ Fortwo—a really compact car.

The heart of a blue whale is big, but the aorta, the blood vessel leading from the heart to the body, is where the blue whale hides its cardiac secret to success. The heart beats 30 to 37 beats a minute at the surface and 4-8 to as low as 2 beats per minute while diving. Dives can last up to 15 minutes— don’t try that in your neighbourhood swimming pool—the lifeguards will get really nervous. The blue whale aorta essentially is a tough balloon.

The aorta inflates with blood when the heart contracts and then slowly deflates—sending a steady flow of blood to the body rather than a short burst.

The life cycle of a blue whale is not

that different from our own—they live 80 to 90 years. We know a whale’s age based on counting layers in its ear wax. Blue whales mature at 8-10 years, and females give birth every two to three years. Pregnancy lasts about 10-12 months, and baby blue whales are about 6-8 metres and 1,800 kg at birth. In their first 7-8 months, baby whales gain more than 90 kg a day.

Blue whales feed on krill (small crustaceans), taking around 1,000 kg of krill at a gulp. They eat about 4,000 kg of krill a day—that is the same mass as 17,316 of my favourite Beyond Meat burgers (that’s 12 burgers a minute for 24 hours). Whales are critical to

Whales are critical to the cycling of ocean nutrients.

During World War II, blue whales could be mistaken for an enemy submarine—although whales keep their oil on the inside.

the cycling of ocean nutrients. In life whales shuttle energy from the ocean depths and enrich surface waters.

Their poop is valuable fertilizer for phytoplankton—the base of the marine food chain. When dead, whales sink.

Their decaying bodies are an organic oasis for deep sea organisms.

Blue whales usually cruise at 8 km/h but can reach 32 km/h if needed.

Fast whales like the blue whale were not targeted by the whaling industry until mechanization made

it possible. Thousands were killed each year until an international ban on whaling was declared in 1986.

Today, ship strikes, entanglement, noise pollution, marine debris and changing ecosystem dynamics are the big threats facing whales. Even a whale as large as a blue whale is vulnerable.

Humans and orcas are the only regular predators of large whales with commercial whaling in Iceland, Norway and Japan, and traditional harvesting practices in Canada, Russia, South Korea, the United States, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Throughout the North Pacific, commercial whalers took at least 8,000 blue whales, although this number likely is an underestimate given sketchy recordkeeping early in the industry.

The healthiest population of blue whales is off the Pacific Coast of North and Central America with population estimates ranging up to 3,000 whales.

Even though blue whales are regularly detected by hydrophones along the BC coast, they are considered endangered by COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) off Canada’s Pacific coast.

 Scratches, cuts and tail colouration can be used to identify each blue whale.

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 10

Stonehenge SARSENS AND A SACRED PLACE Amanda Richardson communications specialist

 This well-travelled exhibition features over 400 ancient artifacts along with archaeological insight and cutting-edge scientific research.

11

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

The theories that surround the creation of Stonehenge are as elusive and magical as the stone circle itself. Aliens, giants, or the wizened old sorcerer Merlin?

How, and more importantly why, were hundreds of tonnes of stone moved to Salisbury Plain some 5,000 years ago? For every question science has answered there are as many that remain just out of reach.

In Stonehenge, the current feature exhibition at the Royal BC Museum, archeologists, scientists and historians delve into the mysteries of the famed and fabled stone monument, and importantly, the people who built it.

For the first time, Stonehenge, created by MuseumsPartner in Austria, takes visitors behind the myths and magic to the real people who lived, worked, and died on the land where the henge has stood for five millennia.

It’s a fascination the world can’t shake, according to awardwinning archaeologist and exhibition curator Mike Parker Pearson, one of the minds behind Stonehenge. Polling done while deciding the topic of MuseumsPartner’s next exhibition showed huge interest in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“Stonehenge was built in the Neolithic—the New Stone Age—and most of what has survived is little more than stones and bone, [but] public opinion in different parts of the world showed that people were really fascinated

by Stonehenge,” says Parker Pearson. “I realized that there’s an amazing story to be told about the people who built this iconic stone circle. Who were they?

How did they live? How and why did they build it?”

When Parker Pearson first began excavating Stonehenge in 2004, archaeologists knew about many of the sites around the primary henge, but no one had figured out how they linked to one another.

The iconic linteled and jointed stone henge made of Welsh bluestone and massive sarsen stones is at the centre of a multi-monument complex that spans 26 square kilometres in Wiltshire, England. The site is comprised of five henges (Stonehenge, Woodhenge, Durrington Walls Henge, the now levelled Coneybury Henge, and the West Amesbury Henge, also known as Bluestonehenge), two cursus monuments (large parallel banked enclosures earlier than Stonehenge and thought to be ceremonial routes for the dead), hundreds of burial mounds known as barrows, prehistoric roadways (known as avenues) at Stonehenge and Durrington Walls, Vespasian’s Camp (an Iron Age hillfort), the Cuckoo Stone shrine, and the largest Neolithic settlement in Britain beneath Durrington Walls henge.

“Over the next 10 years of fieldwork, we discovered the remains of houses where people lived at Durrington Walls and Woodhenge, and recovered the cremated bones of those buried at Stonehenge,” says Parker Pearson. “The discoveries confirmed our theories and also provided thousands of finds of pottery, bones, flints,

Stonehenge was built in a landscape that was already special and sacred plant remains, and other finds for laboratory analysis.”

Advances in scientific techniques and methods, including isotope and ancient DNA analysis, allowed Parker Pearson and his team to tell a completely new story about the site and its role in unifying the ancestors, the people, the land and the cosmos.

“Stonehenge was built in a landscape that was already special and sacred, and where people had come together for large gatherings in the centuries before,” says Parker Pearson.

While Parker Pearson and his team may understand why the location was chosen, there are fewer answers as to why those specific stones were chosen, particularly when other viable stones already existed in the area.

“Since 2012 I’ve been working with geologists to find out exactly where Stonehenge’s stones came from. We’ve found that the big stones—called sarsens—come from 24 km away but it is the smaller ‘bluestones’ which are really fascinating,” says Parker Pearson. “Although there are 43 of them, there were originally about 80. Geologists have sourced them to outcrops in the Preseli hills of west Wales, 280 km away. To haul them that huge distance was one of the great achievements of prehistoric people.”

Parker Pearson says that in many cases, they’ve been able to pinpoint the location of the stones down to the exact outcrop. The team’s excavations confirmed that the rocks had been quarried for standing stones just before Stonehenge was built, even discovering the stone wedges used to pry the pillars off the outcrops. While maybe not as exciting as spying evidence of an extraterrestrial visitor or a mystical wizard, the wedges are remarkable evidence of the very real work of human hands thousands of years ago.

“Stonehenge is the only stone circle to be built with stones not from its locality and this is the secret of its purpose, to unite those ancient people of Britain,” says Parker Pearson.

“Geologists are now investigating the source of the Altar Stone, at the centre of Stonehenge, and they are about to announce their findings. We’ve known since last year that it comes from far to the north, even further away than the bluestones, but just how far is likely to be a revelation!”

And just like that, there’s another mystery poised to be revealed. Who knows what other secrets Stonehenge keeps hidden within its towering slabs.

See Stonehenge at the Royal BC Museum through January 5, 2025, and discover the mysteries of one of the world’s most famous stone monuments for yourself.

 One part of a 26 sq. km complex of ancient monuments, Stonehenge and its mysterious linteled stones continues to captivate researchers around the world. Photograph by Adam Stanford Aerial-Cam Ltd.

 Stonehenge—at the Royal BC Museum until January 5, 2025—delves into the evolution of the famed Neolithic site and the people who built it.

Image provided by MuseumsPartner.

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 12

PARC Campus BUILDING THE FUTURE OF THE ROYAL BC MUSEUM Jamie Toth manager of corporate communications

In 2026, the Royal BC Museum is opening a second location, PARC Campus, the provincial archives, research and collections building, in Colwood, BC. PARC Campus will allow us to improve storage and care for the provincial collections, and will house the BC Archives and research labs.

Feature exhibitions and core galleries will remain at the downtown Victoria location—the harbour campus.

The new facility is currently under construction on lək̓​̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) territory in partnership with the Songhees and Xwsepsum (Esquimalt) Nations, the Province of British Columbia and the City of Colwood.

PARC Campus will be a 15,200 square metre state-of-the-art facility, and use mass BC timber construction.

The facility will meet CleanBC energy efficiency standards, have LEED Gold certification and will also be designed to achieve the highest accessibility certification level awarded by the Rick Hansen Foundation, RHF Accessibility Certified Gold. That isn’t all: The unique design of the building will also allow visitors to interact with displays and artifacts and provide opportunities for the public to witness curators, collection managers and researchers in action. Imagine—you can see our team hard at work and ultimately have more access to BC’s collective history.

Stay up to date on what’s happening at collectionsandresearchbuilding.ca.

13

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

 Digital rendering of PARC Campus

 / Campus under construction, June 2024

HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE FUTURE OF THE ROYAL BC MUSEUM We are seeking your input to create a reimagined museum that reflects all people in the province.

TAKE THE SURVEY TODAY! Until Jan 2025

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 14

DESIGN AND CRAFT IN 20th CENTURY CANADA

“Habitat” Chair, 1967

15

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

Woman’s Mini Dress, 1969

2001 Chair, 1970

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 16

f e at u r e

Textile length in a design called “Onion,” 1970-1979

The Evolution of Modern Design Ipek Omercikli editor

C

anadian Modern, on loan from the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) for the first time, traces the story of industrial design and craft in Canada through more than 100 objects. Canadian modern design, rooted in trends of the past but dynamically reimagined, offers new avenues for speculation and creation, posing questions on the crossroads

of innovation and tradition. What do these objects tell us about the concept of “Canadian” design? How do they challenge this idea through style, material and presentation?

The defining traits of the modernism movement—reinvigoration and an appeal to universalism—carry complex histories of violence and extraction in the era of industrialization. Modernism’s

 Canadian Modern is at the Royal BC Museum through February 16, 2025.

17

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

strive toward both universalism and progress is often at odds: one denotes stagnancy and the other movement. These objects fuse those ideas and emerge as unique examples of a tumultuous material culture.

Most items in the exhibition shape readily available local materials into simple and aesthetic designs. Among common materials used are post-war military surplus plastics, aluminum and plywood. The spirit of renewal is clear in these designs, taking something from the past and shaping it into something else with another purpose.

With Canada’s history of colonialism and nation-building, which included and ensured Indigenous oppression and assimilation in all areas of life, it is especially important to recognize Indigenous influence and contribution to modern art in Canada. From the 1948-made “Magnesium Shoe” to the contemporary 2020 whorl coat made by Coast Salish designers, Indigenous involvement, even during and after an era of bans, is abundant.

Canadian Modern demonstrates the ways in which artistic sensibilities give way to utility, and vice versa. From well-known to lesser-known designers and makers, from mass-produced to

handcrafted, the scope of the mid- to late 20th century objects is extensive.

Building on the impressive work of the ROM, exhibition designers from the Royal BC Museum are highlighting the work of local craftmakers and designers with familiar objects that are staples of BC homes, including a 1950s Melmac dinnerware set, a 1960s sunburst design clock and a second late 1950s electric clock, a handsewn Nadine Adam dress, and an Electrochrome TV purchased from Victoria’s own Standard Furniture in 1960.

One of the featured pieces on loan is a 1951 Springback chair designed by famed BC architect, Peter Cotton.

This influential Canadian design classic is on loan by private collector and researcher Allan Collier who wrote about its design, distribution, and significance in Canadian culture for this issue. Hear more from Collier on the Springback chair’s design on page 18.

Canadian Modern is produced and circulated by ROM (Royal Ontario Museum), Toronto, Canada.

Allan Collier collector and researcher

The Springback chair is a Canadian design classic. In addition to its exquisite detailing, the chair was one of the first pieces of Canadian residential furniture made of steel rod and the only one with cantilevered back legs.

It was designed in 1951 by Peter Cotton, then an architecture student at the University of British Columbia, who saw a need for modernist furniture to complement the unique new residential architecture appearing on Canada’s West Coast. While at UBC, Cotton became attracted to the advantages of steel rod in residential furniture, citing its strength, expressive qualities and ease of fabrication.

The Springback was made of nontraditional materials: the frame of steel rod and the seat and back of moulded plywood—left exposed or upholstered— that “floated” on the minimalist steel frame. The back legs were cantilevered from the floor, unattached to the seat, and flexed like a spring to suit the weight and posture of the user.

The Springback is one of a several furniture designs manufactured

by Cotton’s firm Perpetua Furniture which attracted national attention in the early 1950s.

Cotton’s designs coincided with efforts by the National Gallery of Canada to encourage modern design. Starting in the late 1940s, the gallery established the National Industrial Design Committee (NIDC) which sponsored design exhibitions, competitions and an annual Design Awards program. It also published a registry of Canadian design called the Design Index and

f e at u r e

The Springback Chair established a Design Centre in Ottawa where well-designed Canadian products could be seen.

The Springback chair, along with 10 other Cotton designs, was listed in the Design Index and exhibited at Ottawa’s Design Centre. After that exposure, 200 Springback chairs were specified for the new Wymilwood building at the University of Toronto.

Several other Cotton designs won NIDC

Design Awards; a glasstopped coffee table was included in the 1954 Milan Triennale. His entire Perpetua line was represented

by Morgan’s Department Store in Eastern Canada.

Through exhibitions, Cotton’s stature as a talented Canadian furniture designer grew, and his furniture was featured in magazines like Canadian Homes and Gardens and Western Homes and Living as well as the national press. In 1954, having saturated the mostly West Coast market for his furniture, Cotton closed Perpetua to complete his architectural studies.

Seven decades on, the Springback remains an example of modernist furniture at its best, expressing functional simplicity and unique engineering through a poetic use of steel and wood.



Springback chair, Peter Cotton, 1951

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 18

Designers’ Choice KM

Kelsey Miner exhibition designer

SL

Steve Lewis exhibition designer

01

SL

We asked the Royal BC Museum exhibition designers, Steve Lewis and Kelsey Miner, to pick out some of their favourite pieces from the Canadian Modern exhibition. Here, Steve focuses on simple and minimalistic Canadian design that speaks to him, and Kelsey highlights the exhibition’s local pieces, as well as some from the museum’s own collection, featuring objects regularly found in BC homes and those created by BC designers.

02

SL

 Cord Chair, ca. 1952

03

SL

Designer: Jacques Guillon, Modern Art of Canada, Montreal, QC

 K42 Electric Kettle, 1940 Designer: Fred Moffatt, Canadian General Electric Company, Barrie, ON

What I love about this kettle is the simplicity of the design. A domed body, a handle and a spout—no superfluous adornments or unnecessary details.

The idea to repurpose an existing headlamp from a car for the main body of the kettle is also a bit of ingenious industrial design. But what I really love about this kettle is that I was able to buy one at a garage sale for a princely sum of three dollars a few years ago.

Images 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 8 ©ROM. Used with permission.

Images 6 & 7 photographed by Shane Lighter

19

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

By staying true to the materials and using only readily available supplies such as surplus parachute cord and laminated wood originally made for skis, Guillon developed a chair that exemplified the principles of modernist design. What I personally love about this piece is how lightweight the chair is, both physically and visually.

Weighing only 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) the chair’s cord “upholstery” gives the piece an ethereal quality.

 Project G Stereo, 1963 Designer: Hugh Spencer, Clairtone Sound Corporation, Toronto, ON The way the iconic sphere-shaped speakers cantilever off the main body of the stereo is part of what makes this such a beautiful piece. The minimal lines of the rosewood cabinet, which house the turntable and amplifier of the stereo, also add to the modernist aesthetic. And if cool-cats such as Frank Sinatra and Oscar Peterson endorsed the stereo, then you know that Clairtone had a genuine winner on their hands.

 Star 69 Side Table, 1998

06

KM

07

KM

 Electrohome TV, 1959

Designer: Johnny Lim, Pure Design, Edmonton, AB

Designer: Dominion Electrohome Industries Ltd. Kitchener, ON

I have a bit of a personal soft spot for this piece as I was studying Industrial Design at the University of Alberta in Edmonton when Pure Design was at the height of their game. Myself and my fellow design students were often trying to emulate what Pure Design was producing at the time. The simple profile of the colourful powder-coated steel table top and the Eames-esque metal rod legs provided a new take on the typical modernist aesthetic.

When we were searching through the museum’s history collection for items to feature in this exhibition, I spotted this gem hidden high up on a tall shelf. Despite its hidden location, I only needed to see a tiny corner of the beautiful curved legs to know that it would fit perfectly into this show. The rounded wood details and shapes used on this TV are a prime example of modern design.

05

KM

Dr. Henry LTD, 2020 Designer: John Fluevog, Vancouver, BC This shoe might be the most quintessentially contemporary BC item in the whole show. It was created

by Vancouver based shoe designer John Fluevog and was inspired by British Columbia’s Chief Provincial Health Officer, an avid Fluevog wearer, Dr. Bonnie Henry. It is a great example of the design creativity happening in our province today.

 Dinnerware set, ca.

1950–1959 Designer: Moderne by Maplex, Toronto, ON This dishware set from the museum collection is a great example of color, shape and materials used in 1950s design. I specifically like these because they hold a lot of nostalgia for many people. These sets, or something similar, were a staple of many households from our youth or even our parents’ or grandparent’s homes.

08

KM

Woman’s Jacket, 2020–21 Designer: Aunalee Boyd-Good, Sophia Seward Good, Dr. William Good, Snuneymuxw First Nation, Nanaimo, BC This jacket and face mask, from Coast Salish brand Ay Lelum—The Good House of Design, are as local as it gets. Designed by sisters Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Seward Good of Nanaimo, this jacket uses artwork by their father, Snuneymuxw artist Dr. William Good. The coat reflects (and protect against) the weather of this region and beautifully displays ancestral stories from this land.

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 20

f e at u r e

04

SL

Preservation Through Digitization: PROTECTING A HISTORIC INDIGENOUS AUDIO COLLECTION Dr. Elizabeth Peterson director of indigenous collections and repatriation

This fall, the Indigenous Collections & Repatriation (ICAR) audio-visual collections will embark on a two-year digitization project of over 3,000 recordings from its linguistic and heritage audio collections, thanks to a landmark donation from the Wesik Family Foundation. These recordings are a unique and important archive of cultural knowledge, history and traditions from Indigenous communities from across BC. The majority of the recordings in the two collections were the result of work conducted by anthropologists and linguists working in the Royal BC Museum’s linguistic

a case-by-case basis, leaving much of the ICAR audio collection undigitized.

Not only is digitizing a key step to increase accessibility, it is also a vital part of the preservation process. Since audio-visual records deteriorate at a much quicker rate than other archival materials, the preservation of these records requires that they be digitized promptly. Currently, all original formats of these recordings are held in cold storage in order to slow deterioration.

Digitization of the recordings requires not only special technology, but also expertise to extract relevant metadata from the original formats.

With the funding from the Wesik Family Foundation, over the next two years we will be bringing in this technology and expertise so that the remaining recordings can be safely digitized and preserved, allowing the ICAR AV collection to continue to be accessible to Indigenous communities for current and future generations. During and continuing past this digitization project, we will work closely with communities and nations in creating new paths for access and control of their cultural heritage held within this collection.

 Audio tape copying setup with Janet Cauthers

Not only is digitizing a key step to increase accessibility, it is also a vital part of the preservation process. division and/or ethnology department between the 1960s and 1980s. Over the last few years, ICAR, with the support of the BC Archives, has been working with individual families and nations in digitizing these recordings in an effort to make them accessible to descendent communities and future generations. Due to capacity constraints within the museum and archives, this work has been done on 21

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

by Provincial Archives of British Columbia, 1980.

I-67663.

 Audio-visual records are prone to deterioration.

Digitizing physical recordings ensures records are preserved and protected for years to come.

m u s e u m s p ot l i g h t

Good in a Crisis: Kelowna Museums and the Impact of Climate Change Jillian Povarchook, M. M. Ed executive director , kelowna museums society The Kelowna Museums Society (KMS) aims to inspire our community to be alive with its history—connecting people and place. In addition to administering two archives, a sports hall of fame, and regional conservation lab, we execute our mission through our three museums in the heart of Downtown Kelowna: the Okanagan Heritage Museum, the Okanagan Military Museum and the Okanagan Wine & Orchard Museum. The latter highlights what Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley are known for: wine and fruit.

Over the past decade, however, our region has become synonymous with something else: fire season. The summer of 2023 was particularly brutal due to the McDougall Creek and Clifton/McKinley fires. Kelowna was effectively shut down in late August to facilitate a rigorous emergency response and secure shelter for those who were evacuated from their homes. Our attendance during that time, however, increased—folks were desperate for indoor activities to keep their families busy and out of the smoke.

Museums have long been recognized as cornerstones of community, fostering empathy, intergenerational connection, and dialogue. Last summer, however, we were reminded of another purpose: physical refuge. During the worst days

of fire and smoke, our three museums remained open oases thanks to air conditioning and a generous supply of bottled water from the City of Kelowna.

When advocating for our organizations, this lesson is an important one to remember—the role of museums as safe community spaces is a powerful argument for their continued funding and support.

Recognizing the urgency of the climate crisis and its impact on our region’s agricultural landscape, the KMS is committed to integrating this reality into our mission of connecting people with their heritage and environment.

Housed within the historic Laurel Packinghouse, the Okanagan Wine & Orchard Museum provides an ideal platform for this dialogue.

While our current exhibitions celebrate the rich history of the Okanagan’s agricultural heritage, we understand the importance of acknowledging the challenges posed by climate change. As we preserve the stories of the past, we also aim to illuminate the strategies being employed today for climate adaptation and mitigation. Through these narratives, we hope to engage our community in thoughtful reflection and proactive planning, connecting people and place with the future.

 top: A beekeeping suit at the Okanagan Wine & Orchard Museum bottom: A smoke plume from the McDougall Creak Wildfire spreads over Downtown Kelowna, August 2023.

 Laurel Square, with the Laurel Packinghouse in the background. Laurel Square serves as an outdoor classroom where students can learn about indigenous plants and pollinators.

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 22

Long-Forgotten Landscape Paintings Discovered at the Royal BC Museum Michael Barnes director of exhibitions

 Top Row: Archival images of the paintings as they were originally displayed as backdrops to taxidermy animal exhibits.  Bottom Row: The paintings, hidden for years behind wood paneling, were discovered when the

BC Archives

unused cases were being dismantled.

23

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

F-07368

Unveiling Hidden Treasures:

In May 2023, members of the exhibitions team at the Royal BC Museum unearthed a remarkable cache of forgotten landscape paintings and a link to our museum history. As they dismantled five timeworn showcases in the former maritime gallery, Josh Pierrot and Devin Hobbins stumbled upon an unexpected treasure trove concealed within. This discovery presented a unique opportunity to piece together the story behind these lost artworks.

Dating back to the early 1900s when the museum was housed within the BC Legislative Building, the five showcases were originally designed to display an assortment of early taxidermy specimens. When the museum moved to its current location on Belleville Street in the 1970s, the showcases were repurposed for exhibiting various maritime-related artifacts. The interiors were covered with stained wood panels placed directly over the original background paintings, where they remained unseen and forgotten. That is, until Josh and Devin unveiled the secrets these cabinets held.

A search through the BC Archives’ photographs of the former museum revealed the original displays within three of the showcases. The first featured an arrangement of Kermode bears, frozen in a tableau of family life; the second, a fox poised to pounce on a ptarmigan; and the third, a trio of deer looking up from grazing as if they had heard something approaching.

We don’t yet know what the other two original displays were.

Former history curator Lorne Hammond speculated that the showcases were likely built by the City of Victoria’s Public Works department. As for the paintings, stylistic differences suggest that

f e at u r e

 Exhibitions team members Josh Pierrot (left) and Devin Hobbins (right) reveal a hidden painting.

I-26842

G-03012

there were two or three different artists involved. While their identity remains a mystery, one intriguing clue has emerged. A museum volunteer shared a short undated news clipping about his great-grandfather, a landscape painter who lived in the Cowichan Valley from 1902 to 1935. It reads, “Mr. L.C. Springett of Maple Bay is working in Victoria at present, having been commissioned to paint natural backgrounds for the animal cases at the museum.” Indeed, two of the paintings do bear a resemblance to Springett’s style although we may never know for sure.

As a lifelong museum exhibitions enthusiast, these glimpses of the past evoke a pleasant sense of nostalgia and transport me to a bygone era of museology and display techniques. It was precisely this dusty cabinet-of-curiosity style of presentation that first captivated me as a boy. Experiencing these displays in living color, after having seen them only in black and white photographic records, is a genuine thrill. Moreover, I’m struck by the tangible connection to our “exhibition ancestors” that these cases provide. A direct line exists between the talented artists and fabricators currently working at the museum today and the forgotten craftspeople and artists who brought these displays to life over 100 years ago.

The rediscovery of these forgotten landscapes is not only a testament to the dedication of exhibitions staff but also our place in a long continuum of museum workers.

Who knows, generations from now, a future museum employee may find some remnant of our work and wonder about the artists and tradespeople who created it.

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 24

From the Archives MS-1992

I want to share MS-1992, a scrapbook filled with glowing testimonials, certificates, awards, letters and calling cards that were collected by Selina Smith over the course of her career.

Selina Frances Smith (1854-1938) was a Black settler who was a well-respected musician and music teacher who had a role in sculpting the talents of Victoria’s upper-class youth.

—Christeah Dupont archivist

MS-1992

MS-3478

My favourite document is a copy of a cartoon originally from MAD Magazine.

I was processing the records of the BC Chiropractic Association (MS-3478) a couple of years ago, and in several of their newsletters were copies of this cartoon. I used to get a chuckle each time I saw this, especially as I grew up reading MAD, and loved the artwork of Don Martin.

Given that there were quite a number of duplicates of these newsletters with this cartoon, as is common practice when processing, I discarded these extra copies, but not before cutting out this excellent cartoon and adding it to my personal collection of “funnies”.

—Sue Halwa archivist

25

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

1944-09-580199

Every year the BC Archives receives unrestricted birth, death and marriage records from the Vital Statistics Agency that we host on our genealogy database. With the release in 2020, I tested the data using my own surname and came across the marriage record of my recently departed great aunt, which identified her as a 21-year-old spinster with my favourite job description: Farmerette.

Finding a piece of your own self or your community within a record is a powerful experience, and can be rich with fascinating, painful and sometimes amusing details.

—Kate Heikkila archivist

The Joint Reserve Commission was created between the governments of British Columbia and Canada to determine the boundaries of Indian reserves in British Columbia, operating from 1876-1878. The commissioners travelled the province, visiting communities while determining the size and location of reserves. This journal of proceedings records their daily activities and decisions. This page discusses the reserve on False Creek in Vancouver, visited on November 14, 1876.

GR-3732

—Rachel McRory archivist

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 26

MS-3612 is a small file that contains some visually interesting records and an archival mystery. Figure 1 is a schematic of placer mining equipment from 1867. The plans were drawn by Phillip Cadell, a Victoria-based mining tradesperson and inventor. The plan is accompanied by an application for letters patent from two Americans who had designed a submerged water pump, along with a schematic (figure 2) and grant of letters patent for their design (figure 3). The mystery is how these records are connected.

Fg. 3

Fg. 2

—Stu Hill archivist

MS-3612 Fg.1

27

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

MS-1901 This 1916 letter, sent from a British training camp in Hampshire, England, was written by GSW Arthur and Pte Gregory Yorke and addressed to Legislature Librarian and Archivist Alma Russell. I came across this while taking part in a World War I digitization project; MS-1901 contains so many fascinating letters sent from soldiers on the front lines back to British Columbia.

This one was particularly enjoyable read–notable for the humorous exchange between the two soldiers– just a bit of banter…and the enclosed piece of Christmas cake of course!

—Jonny Allen archivist

PR-1615

Matilda John had a career in nursing, served with the Canadian Army Corps overseas, and ended up in England where she stayed. But when she was 16 she had a pen pal in bank clerk Harold Wilson, and she kept his letters all her life.

—Katy Hughes archivist

MS-1615

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 28

ROYAL MUSEUM SHOP INTRIGUING & UNIQUE SHOP IN PERSON OR ONLINE AT rbcm.ca/shop Museum, Combo Pass, and IMAX® Victoria members receive 10% off all purchases.

SHOP HOURS: 10 am–5 pm daily (closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day) 250-356-0505 | shop@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca *No admission required

Sombreness Sunlit, Emily Carr, Royal BC Museum & Archives PDP00633

Emily Carr is recognized as one of Canada’s foremost artists and authors, and her powerful artistic interpretations of the coastal landscapes of her home, British Columbia, remain her lasting legacy. The Royal Museum Shop features several of Carr’s iconic images on a broad selection of product.

SEE FULL SCHEDULE AND GET TICKETS

Conserving Wildlife in the Early 20thCentury EXCERPT FROM STEWARDS OF SPLENDOUR: A HISTORY OF WILDLIFE AND PEOPLE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA

By Jennifer Bonnell

Winner of the 2024 Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing from the BC Historical Federation and the 2024 Clio Prize for best book on British Columbia history from the Canadian Historical Association. Finalist for the 2024 Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize from the BC & Yukon Book Prizes.

31

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

Limited enforcement, especially in remote areas of the province, meant that settlers often succeeded in ignoring game regulations. Others ridiculed or threatened local game wardens when faced with prosecution.

Writing about the early years of his work as provincial game warden, for example, Bryan Williams recalled being “frequently subjected to considerable abuse, threats of violence, occasional actual attempts at violence, and sometimes practical jokes.”

Twice in the history of the BC warden service, game wardens were killed by those they charged with violations. Both instances occurred during the Great Depression, when families struggled to provision their tables. The first incident took place in July 1930, when Kootenays game warden Dennis Greenwood was shot and killed in Canal Flats by a man he had charged with poaching deer the previous winter. Two years later, in October 1932, warden Albert Farey was shot twice in the back by a man he had stopped to question about an untagged deer hide in his possession.

As in the Greenwood case, Farey had charged and convicted his killer in a separate incident two years previously, apparently seeding resentment. Never popular and sometimes dangerous, the work of local game wardens was, for some, not worth the enmities it generated and the relatively meagre remuneration it offered.

As much as game regulations were bitterly resented by some, they also provided new economic opportunities for rural and Indigenous residents.

Game regulations requiring nonresident hunters to be accompanied by a licensed guide created opportunities for some residents to market their horsemanship, hunting experience and local knowledge as outfitters and hunting guides. The wildlife wealth of places such as the Bull and Elk River valleys in the East Kootenay supported early outfitters in what is

now the Top of the World Provincial Park. Exclusionary practices among licensing agents and established guide outfitters often prevented Indigenous hunters from operating as independent operators or head guides, but many took up work as assistant guides, horse wranglers, cooks and store clerks.

 A hunter with a black-tailed deer (Odocoileus

hemionus columbianus) on Shawnigan Lake, Vancouver Island, November 1939.

Royal BC Museum, F-02490.

Stewards of Splendour: A History of Wildlife and People in British Columbia is on sale now, from Royal BC Museum Books.

Purchase a copy from your local bookstore, the Royal Museum Shop or at rbcm.ca/books.

EXPLORE NEW WAYS TO LEARN Can’t get here in person? No problem! We bring the museum to you with our Digital Field Trips.

These live, interactive programs are led by our staff and designed to be inquiry-based, ensuring a dynamic and engaging experience.

Learn more about Digital Field Trips at rbcm.ca/dft

DONATE TODAY Your gift supports all of the Royal BC Museum’s endeavours, including education, research, conservation, repatriation, exhibition development and caring for the collections.

Thank you for your support.

For more information, visit rbcm.ca/support RBCM Corporation Business No. #88032 1807 RC0001 WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 32

adult programs After Hours: Upcycled Costumes Oct 17, 2024 | 7–9 pm In Partnership with The Makehouse Co-Op. 19+ | $30 Learn more about these events and others at rbcm.ca/calendar

exhibitions Stonehenge May 10, 2024–Jan 5, 2025 Discover one of the most mysterious and unique stone monuments in the world and what it meant to the people who built it with Stonehenge. rbcm.ca/tickets Canadian Modern Jun 28, 2024–Feb 16, 2025 Explore innovative modern designs from mid-century homeware to a psychedelic vintage dress, crafted by Canadians whose works reflect and define the global trend in Canadian Modern. rbcm.ca/tickets

IMAX® Victoria Superhuman Body: World of Medical Marvels Opens Sept 30, 2024 Travel inside the wonders of the human body and discover the latest scientific breakthroughs and bioengineering innovations transforming human health. rbcm.ca/tickets Arctic: Our Frozen Planet Opens Oct 28, 2024 An epic 3D adventure across the magical realm of snow and ice at the top of our planet. rbcm.ca/tickets

33

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1

Genealogy Boot Camp Nov 24, 2024 | 9 am–12 pm In this workshop, learn to use our genealogy database as well as our general collections catalogue to trace your family roots in British Columbia.

In person | $30 Nov 21, 2024 | 5:30–7 pm Online | Free

kids programs Kids Art Class: Miniature Stonehenge Nov 16, 2024 | 1–3 pm Ages 9-12 | $40

all ages Geodiversity Day Oct 6, 2024 Join exhibitors to learn more about the many different aspects of geodiversity.

Free Fungi Fest Fieldtripper: Exploring Fungi with the Royal BC Museum Oct 19, 2024 Join us for a mushroom hunt with Kem Luther, co-author of the RBCM Handbook Mushrooms of British Columbia. Space is limited.

Registration required in advance. $8 Fungi Fest Mushroom Show Oct 20, 2024 |10 am–4 pm Deadly, delicious, and undoubtedly fascinating, fungi are the star of the show. Members of the South Vancouver Island Mycological Society will be on hand to identify and present.

Free

Remembrance Day Nov 11, 2024 Free admission for veterans Colourful Business Expo Nov 16, 2024 | 12–5 pm Free event showcasing and supporting various racialized, Indigenous and new immigrant businesses.

Free Carol Along Dec 2024 Gather under the Netherlands Centennial Carillon with your fellow singers, family and friends for a one-of-a-kind carolling party.

Hot chocolate and cookies will be served to make the season bright.

Free WinterFest Nov 30–Dec 1 , 2024 | 10 am–5 pm An outdoor multicultural holiday celebration featuring market vendors, live entertainment and amazing food.

Letter Writing Week Jan 2025 Stop by our letter writing station during universal letter writing week. Take a moment, sit down and write a letter to someone.

Free Family Day Feb 19, 2025 Visit the Royal BC Museum with your family on family day.

live at lunch Third Wednesday of each month 12–1 pm Learn from curators, archivists, researchers as well as fascinating community members and guests.

Free

live online Join us for online programs. Each livestream is 30 to 45 min.

Creep, Crawl, Slither Oct 30, 2024 | 10:10 am Ages 4–8 Oct 31, 2024 | 1 pm All ages Remembrance: Interpreting Historical Photographs from WWII Nov 7, 2024 | 9:10 am Ages 9–13 Nov 7, 2024 | 1:15 pm All ages

MEMBERS GET MORE With unlimited year-round access to a world of ancient marvels, modern innovations and immersive experiences, members really do get more.

COMBO PASS (IMAX Victoria & Museum) ®

Indigenous Technology: Spindle Whorl Nov 21, 2024 | 10:10 am Ages 8–11

ᤱ Unlimited entry to museum galleries and feature exhibitions

Surviving Winter Dec 11, 2024 | 10:10 am & 1:30 pm Ages 4–9

ᤱ Up to 20% off at select partners and attractions

Gold Rush Jan 22, 2025 | 11:10 am Ages 9–12 Meet the Mammoth Feb 18, 2025 | 9:10 am Ages 6–10

ᤱ Unlimited IMAX® Victoria documentary films ᤱ Discounted Hollywood feature films

ROYAL BC MUSEUM MEMBERSHIP ᤱ Unlimited entry to museum galleries and feature exhibitions ᤱ 20% off IMAX® Victoria film tickets ᤱ Up to 20% off at select partners and attractions

Investigating Insects Mar 12, 2025 | 11:10 am Ages 8–12 Dinosaurs: Adaptations and Habitats Apr 30, 2025 | 10:10 am Ages 4–8

IMAX ® VICTORIA ANNUAL PASS ᤱ 20% discount on Royal BC Museum admission ᤱ Unlimited IMAX® Victoria documentary films ᤱ Discounted Hollywood feature films

JOIN NOW WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 34

$3.95 100%

Scan to read this issue electronically

675 Belleville Street Victoria, BC V8W 9W2 250-356-7226 1-888-447-7977 royalbcmuseum.bc.ca

WHAT’S INSIGHT / 2024 / ISSUE 1 35