history

Victoria’s Fairmont Empress hotel was named best historic hotel worldwide in the Americas for 2020/ (Courtesy of Fairmont Empress hotel)

Victoria’s Empress named best historic hotel in Americas

Destination landmark first opened in 1908

 

Frederick Lee and Eva Lillian Baker lived in Victoria from the 1930s until their passing. Now, their great nephew who lives in Birmingham, U.K. is asking for Victoria residents’ help to learn more. (Courtesy Derek Roft)

Don your detective hats Greater Victoria — a U.K. man wants your help

Derek Roft is on a mission to find out more about relatives that emigrated to Canada in 1912

 

SOOKE HISTORY: Alleged bootlegger has day in court

SOOKE HISTORY: Alleged bootlegger has day in court

Blackberry wine confiscated at home

  • Sep 28, 2020

 

25 years later: The water skiing legend on Kalamalka Lake

25 years later: The water skiing legend on Kalamalka Lake

A group of waterskiers were towed behind a plane on Kalamalka Lake back in 1995

25 years later: The water skiing legend on Kalamalka Lake
A view across Victoria’s harbour is split by more than 100 years on the OnThisSpot app. The app gives users the historical knowledge and imagery they need to be transported back in time. (Victoria Archives AC1-M06964 & On This Spot Enterprises)

History app uses ‘then and now’ photographs of Victoria

OnThisSpot provides historical insight of Canadian cities

A view across Victoria’s harbour is split by more than 100 years on the OnThisSpot app. The app gives users the historical knowledge and imagery they need to be transported back in time. (Victoria Archives AC1-M06964 & On This Spot Enterprises)
Mohawk Council of Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Otsi Simon discusses the current situation and actions relating to the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs during a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

30 years after Oka crisis, Kanesatake land claims remain unresolved

Serge Simon, the current Grand Chief of Kanesatake, vividly remembers the events of July 11, 1990

Mohawk Council of Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Otsi Simon discusses the current situation and actions relating to the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs during a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
The Sooke Region Museum will reopen to the public Monday, June 22. (Black Press Media file photo)

Sooke Region Museum reopens to visitors

Museum only to allow 15 people inside at a time

The Sooke Region Museum will reopen to the public Monday, June 22. (Black Press Media file photo)
An image from the Royal BC Museum’s digitized collection of historical photographs shows an Interior Salish woman and child weaving baskets. The image is one of thousands posted in an online database. (Courtesy of the Royal BC Museum)

Victoria museum releases more than 16,000 historical images of Indigenous life

Digitized images preserved and shared with Indigenous communities

An image from the Royal BC Museum’s digitized collection of historical photographs shows an Interior Salish woman and child weaving baskets. The image is one of thousands posted in an online database. (Courtesy of the Royal BC Museum)
A screenshot from the 1926 footage of the North Island. (Youtube screenshot)

VIDEO: Film historian finds rare footage from 1926, showcasing remote Northern Vancouver Island life

‘This photographer clearly knew what he was doing, suggesting he was taught’

A screenshot from the 1926 footage of the North Island. (Youtube screenshot)
Vehicles parade through Cloverdale in 1946. The actual parade is unknown as there were six in Cloverdale that year – May Day, the Rodeo, the Kinsmen’s Gymkhana (June 29th), the Fall Fair, August Memorial Service, and the Wild West Show. (Image courtesy of Surrey Historical Society)

BCHF conference once again slated for Cloverdale

Surrey Historical Society to host 2021 history conference

Vehicles parade through Cloverdale in 1946. The actual parade is unknown as there were six in Cloverdale that year – May Day, the Rodeo, the Kinsmen’s Gymkhana (June 29th), the Fall Fair, August Memorial Service, and the Wild West Show. (Image courtesy of Surrey Historical Society)
Some youth are choosing to draw their thoughts on their pandemic postcards. People who don’t want to download a postcard can also e-mail their thoughts to Literacy Alberni and they will be printed on a card for the project. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)

Vancouver Island pandemic postcard project asks people to share COVID-19 experiences

Postcards will be donated to museum for posterity

Some youth are choosing to draw their thoughts on their pandemic postcards. People who don’t want to download a postcard can also e-mail their thoughts to Literacy Alberni and they will be printed on a card for the project. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)
The corner of Highway 14 and Phillips Road looked like this in the late 1960s and early 1970s. (Courtesy Elida Peers/Sooke Region Museum)

SOOKE HISTORY: Phillips at Highway 14 before it was home to Sooke’s third traffic light

Elida Peers is a historian with Sooke Region Museum

  • Apr 5, 2020
The corner of Highway 14 and Phillips Road looked like this in the late 1960s and early 1970s. (Courtesy Elida Peers/Sooke Region Museum)
Fanny Rodgers shows a 45-year-old message left in the walls of her Castlegar home. Photo: John Boivin

Hidden message connects Castlegar homeowners decades apart

The Rodgers family was surprised when a message fell out of the walls as they were renovating

Fanny Rodgers shows a 45-year-old message left in the walls of her Castlegar home. Photo: John Boivin
A collection of new artifacts from the wreck of the Franklin Expedition’s HMS Erebus, is seen at Parks Canada Conservation Laboratories in Ottawa, on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. Artifacts include a hairbrush, handle of a stamp for a seal, clothes brush, comb, piece of sealing wax, chain, toothbrush and paintbrush. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Thumbprint, hairbrush: Franklin wreck in Nunavut waters reveals sailors’ lives

In 2019, the Parks Canada team produced extraordinary images of the HMS Terror

A collection of new artifacts from the wreck of the Franklin Expedition’s HMS Erebus, is seen at Parks Canada Conservation Laboratories in Ottawa, on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. Artifacts include a hairbrush, handle of a stamp for a seal, clothes brush, comb, piece of sealing wax, chain, toothbrush and paintbrush. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Sculptor Nathan Scott adds detail to the tremendous clay mutton chops of John Abbott. Looking on is the ill-fated John Thompson (front right), the 68-day leader Charles Tupper (back right) and Mackenzie Bowell (back left). (Dave Eagles/Kamloops This Week)

Kamloops sculptor casting Canada’s forefathers in bronze

Four of Canada’s early prime ministers will be cast in bronze at a shop in Knutsford, B.C.

  • Feb 9, 2020
Sculptor Nathan Scott adds detail to the tremendous clay mutton chops of John Abbott. Looking on is the ill-fated John Thompson (front right), the 68-day leader Charles Tupper (back right) and Mackenzie Bowell (back left). (Dave Eagles/Kamloops This Week)
From left to right: Taseera Lwanga, Donneil McNab and Ruth Nakalyowa. Royal Roads University’s Afro-Heritage Association will host two Black History Month events at the university this month. (Courtesy of John-Evan Snow)

Royal Roads honours Black History Month by celebrating black excellence

National theme is ‘Canadians of African Descent: Going forward, guided by the past’

From left to right: Taseera Lwanga, Donneil McNab and Ruth Nakalyowa. Royal Roads University’s Afro-Heritage Association will host two Black History Month events at the university this month. (Courtesy of John-Evan Snow)
Couple’s love of Oak Bay Beach Hotel leads to purchase of strata unit

Couple’s love of Oak Bay Beach Hotel leads to purchase of strata unit

The best of both worlds in hotel condo

  • Dec 11, 2019
Couple’s love of Oak Bay Beach Hotel leads to purchase of strata unit
Artist Robert Amos paints Victoria

Artist Robert Amos paints Victoria

Painter is also an art writer and art historian

  • Sep 27, 2019
Artist Robert Amos paints Victoria
Point Ellice House has undergone renovations and will open with a new exhibit (Facebook/ Point Ellice House Museum & Gardens)

Victoria’s historic Point Ellice House re-opens after months of closure

A new exhibit will be on display at the house to explore the ‘Politics of Luxury’

Point Ellice House has undergone renovations and will open with a new exhibit (Facebook/ Point Ellice House Museum & Gardens)
Founding family of the Peninsula

Founding family of the Peninsula

Jennifer Rausch is the latest descendant to open a business maintaining the family’s ties to the area

  • Jul 12, 2019
Founding family of the Peninsula