What does a historian do? And why can’t it be replicated by “AI”? Here’s my latest work of public history - I’m quite proud of it. Thanks to @thediscourse.ca for supporting historical writing thediscourse.ca/cowichan-val... #bcHist #cdnHist
A lovely obituary of Michael Halleran, a Vancouver Island historian I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with several times. #bcHist #cdnHist #yyj www.timescolonist.com/local-news/o...
File under "views that haven't changed much in 66 years": a postcard of M.V. Quillayute at Earl [sic] Cove Ferry Terminal. Postmark (Powell River) is Fall 1960; funnel colour and flag on sign are Black Ball (i.e. before BC Ferries took over the route). @scmuseum.bsky.social
#bchist
You know who you can trust never to sell underweight foodstuffs? IYKYK #bchist
The Mayor’s Grove & the General’s Tree buttondown.com/leftcoastdis... #yyj #VimyRidge #bcHist #Cdnhist
25,800 tons of copper ingots on the observatory inlet waterfront at anyox bc, 1910s or 1920s.
#bchist #cdnhist #envhist
@ubcengineering.bsky.social students up to tricks? 'Twas ever thus, as I explored in the thread below a couple of months ago.. #cdnhist #bchist
Officials working to remove ca...
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
"But the swan population in the area hasn't always been so healthy. Trumpeter swans were once listed as an endangered species. In the 1930s, fewer than 70 wild birds were known to exist after they were over hunted for their white plumage."
#bchist #cdnhist #envhist
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Did no one even vett this, @royalbcmuseum.bsky.social? Even by generative AI standards, it is a horrifyingly inaccurate depiction of gold prospecting... #bchist
Taste of home? Had breakfast this morning at Miss Molly's Diner in west Ottawa (great shakshuka!). When my son asked who "Molly" was, the waitress replied that it was named for Molly in The Beachcombers! A corner of a snowy field that is forever the Sunshine Coast.. @scmuseum.bsky.social
#bchist
Vancouver poet A.M. Stephen wrote this satirical poem mocking patriotic verse. But earlier, Stephen had written plenty of patriotic ditties. Why the change? Check out my article on interwar BC poets and national identity! #worldpoetryday #cdnhist #bchist #cdnlit
canadianpoetry.org/wp-content/u...
Not really "new", though: they are finally implementing the design granted to the City by the Chief Herald of Canada in (checks notes) 2008: www.gg.ca/en/heraldry/...
#vexillology #heraldry #cdnhist #bchist
He's sweet as custard
'Cuz he always cuts the mustard:
Steve cuts the mustard every time!
(At Steve Marshall Ford in Nanaimo)
Steve cuts the mustard every time!
#bchist (after a fashion)
the skeena river and the industrial waterfront in kitselas bc, during construction of the grand trunk pacific railway during the early 1910s.
#bchist #cdnhist
Quite the entry sign, @benbradleyca.bsky.social and @jmcelroy.bsky.social!
#bchist
Found a bit of Vancouver history in an Ottawa thrift store this weekend. Internet sleuthing tells me that New Chungking Chop Suey at Pender and Main burned in 1963. It was well known for serving "cold tea" after the bars closed. Ad from Chinese Times, Sept 21, 1963. #bchist #cdnhist #foodhistory
I love these discussions of historical pronunciation. For some #CanCon, Major J.S. Matthews, first City of Vancouver archivist, insisted that "Burrard" should be pronounced Burr-Erd" (equal emphasis on the two syllables), not "Burr-AHRD", as we do today. #cdnhist #bchist
how about a massive "heck no" to any notion of the victoria conference & convention centre taking over (ie: sharing a "multi-purpose hub" with) the royal bc museum? the bc archives are already being exiled to the outer edge of the regions electrical grid.
#bchist #cdnhist
cheknews.ca/shared-space...
curious to know more about "railroad ricky," the raccoon locomotive engineer mascot of port moody bc's "golden spike days."
#bchist #cdnhist @jmcelroy.bsky.social
on the trail to the silver cup mine, near hazelton bc, in the late spring or summer during the 1920s.
#bchist #cdnhist
US officials have long overestimated western separatism. In 1877, the US Consul at Victoria wrote, "Nothing can conciliate [BC separatists]," and "many desire...the annexation of British Columbia to the United States." Spoiler alert: nope. Full text in alt-text. #cdnhist #bchist #cdnpoli
A silverish coin with a smiling caricature of former BC premier W.A.C. Bennett and the inscription "Bank of B.C. / One Bennett"
Lots of talk about Alberta separatism of late, but other western provinces have considered going it alone in the past. Is this odd coin a relic of a BC independence movement in the 1960s? Not quite... a short 🧵 #cdnpoli #cdnhist #bchist #exonumia
Auld Lang Syne is about goodbyes, endings, and beginnings, which might be why it came to mind for Dr. William Fraser Tolmie as he paddled the great #ColumbiaRiver one day in May 1833. #cdnhist #bcHist #oregon
buttondown.com/leftcoastdis...
The wikipedia entries for much of BC history are pretty sad. Ive known this for years, but today I looked up a very well known fur trade figure who worked in the US and BC. The entries for his US time are quite fulsome, and then it basically says “also he lived in Victoria for 40 years.” #bcHist
