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Simpson Family fonds
- Date Range
- 1905-1983
- Collection
- Simpson Family fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual record
- graphic material
- cartographic material
- Scope and Content
- This fonds contains written records, maps, photographs and a painting created by and/or related to Donald and Mary Simpson of Smithers, in particular their mining operations on Hudson Bay Mountain. It includes correspondence, reports, maps, and claim records regarding the Victory and Empire mines, …
- Collection
- Simpson Family fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual record
- graphic material
- cartographic material
- Fonds No.
- PF36
- Accession No.
- 2020.39
- 1983.17
- 1983.56
- Physical Description
- 3 cm of textual records, 4 maps, 42 photographs, 1 painting
- Date Range
- 1905-1983
- History / Biographical
- Donald Cameron Simpson was born in Scotland in 1871 and immigrated to Canada with his family at age 14. In the early 1900s he and his brother James began working on the Victory and Empire mining claims on Hudson Bay Mountain. He married English immigrant Mary Smith (b. 1871) in 1915 and they moved to Smithers shortly afterwards. The couple continued to operate their mines throughout the 1920s and the first half of the 1930s. Donald died in 1936 and Mary moved to Vancouver in 1954, where she died four years later. The Empire claim was sold, but the Victory claim remained in the family until 2019.
- Custodial History
- Items in accession 2020.39 were in the ownership of the Simpson family for many years before being donated by Elizabeth Cameron, granddaughter of James Simpson, on October 2nd 2020. They were entered into the newly-created Simpson Family fonds on October 6th 2020.
The photocopied memoirs from accession 1983.56, as well as photographs P1290-P1292 (1983.17) and P3984-P3989, were retroactively added to the Simpson Family fonds on October 6th. The memoirs had originally been donated by Cameron Bordon in 1983 and were part of the BVM discrete item collection. Photographs P1290-P1292 had been donated by the Cameron family in 1983.
- Scope and Content
- This fonds contains written records, maps, photographs and a painting created by and/or related to Donald and Mary Simpson of Smithers, in particular their mining operations on Hudson Bay Mountain. It includes correspondence, reports, maps, and claim records regarding the Victory and Empire mines, a handwritten mineral information reference book, several poems and a story written by Donald Simpson, memoirs and a painting by Mary Simpson, a 1945 Municipal Land Assessment and 1958 Demolition Agreement for the Simpsons’ home, and photographs of the Simpsons, their extended family, and their mining claims.
- Arrangement
- The fonds has been arranged into three series: S1) Mining Records, containing documents and maps relating to the Victory and Empire Mines, S2) Personal Materials, containing records relating to the Simpsons’ home as well as personal writings and art by the Simpsons, and S3) Photographs, containing photos of the Simpsons, their extended family, and their mining claims.
- Geographic Access
- Hudson Bay Mountain
- Smithers, B.C.
- Type of Record
- Archival Description
Less detail