Friends of the B.C. Archives Lecture, Sunday, February 13, 2005 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Newcombe Conference Hall, Royal British Columbia Museum, 675 Belleville Street, Victoria

"A Voyage to the North West Side of Friends of the B.C. Archives Lecture, America: The Journals of James Colnett, 1786-89"

Captain James Colnett was an early participant in the maritime sea otter trade, and between 1786 and 1789 his two vessel expedition traversed the Northwest Coast from Prince William Sound to Vancouver Island, and wintered on the Hawaiian Islands. He and his crew were the first Europeans to encounter the Tsimshian and the southern Heiltsuk peoples, as well as the first to land on the southern Queen Charlotte Islands. Professor Robert Galois of UBC's Department of Geography has recently published Colnett's journal of this expedition, along with extensive annotations and maps, and in his talk he will address the geopolitical context of the voyage, and the intellectual background that shaped the writing of the journal. This fascinating document offers a new understanding of the early European presence in the Northwest and a glimpse of the Native responses to these developments, and Professor Galois's lecture will be of interest to historians, geographers, and ethnographers of the Northwest Coast.

For more information about this event contact Ann ten Cate, Outreach Coordinator, BC Archives, 250-387-2970 or Ron Greene, Secretary of the Friends of the BC Archives at 250-598-1835. This event is free for Friends of the Archives, $5.00 for non-members, payable at the door. Call in advance for information about handicap access.

"Vicious Trade": Prostitution in Victoria and Vancouver, 1900-1915

Sunday, January 23, 2005 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Newcombe Conference Hall, Royal British Columbia Museum
675 Belleville Street, Victoria

Guest speaker Linda Eversole, a freelance researcher, writer and heritage consultant, will guide us through the seamier side of life in Victoria and Vancouver at the beginning of the last century. In the course of her research into Victoria's notorious Madam Stella Carroll, Linda has tracked the development of prostitution as a business in the Pacific Northwest, spurred principally by the Yukon and Alaska gold rushes. Linda will give us an insight into this "vicious trade" with personal profiles and a collection of largely unpublished archival photographs of Madams, "inmates", habitu?s", police, politicians and brothels.

For more information about this event contact Ann ten Cate, Outreach Coordinator, BC Archives, 250-387-2970 or Ron Greene, Secretary of the Friends of the BC Archives at 250-598-1835. This event is free for Friends of the Archives, $5.00 for non-members, payable at the door. Call in advance for information about handicap access.

Pinder Cheema, Q.C. will speak on her life as "A First Generation Sikh Woman Lawyer" at the Victoria Historical Society's meeting on Thursday, January 27, 2005. The meeting will be at the James Bay New Horizons Centre, 234 Menzies Street at 7:30pm. Visitors are welcome.

Monday, December 6, 2004: The Hallmark Society (Victoria) meeting for December 6 will feature speaker Jennifer Nell Barr, Executive Director of the Victoria Heritage Foundation. She will speak about the process of researching, editing and publishing revised editions of This Old House: Victoria's Heritage Neighbourhoods. Copies of Volume One will be for sale. The meeting will be at the James Bay New Horizons Centre, 234 Menzies Street, Victoria, at 7:30pm. Admission by donation.

Victoria's Hallmark Society, which sponsors the annual South Vancouver Island Regional Heritage Fair, has asked schools to publicize the 2005 South Vancouver Island Regional Heritage Fair. Much like science fair projects, Grades 4 to 9 students research and prepare a display on historical events, people, or places. South Vancouver Island projects will be on exhibit at the Royal BC Museum in Clifford Carl Hall on May 6, 2005. Two entries will be chosen to represent south Vancouver Island at the National Heritage Fair in Saskatoon in July 2005. For some ideas take a look at the 2004 winning projects.