Back row (l-r): Hilding Palm, [?], Gordon Williams, Dr. Redvers Brummitt, Graham Collison, Chris Dahlie, Tom Collison, [Ed Malkow or Hilton Morris?], Lennard Freer
Front row: Mae Ford Simpson, Else Dahlie, Marjorie Furness, Ialeen Brummitt, [Helen Mchaffey or Mrs. Bowie?], Jo Freer, Peggy Nystrom, George Bowie, Pearl Hann Wall, Elsie Erickson
Middle row: Hulda Mattson, Esther Lundquist, Harold Windt, Jack Furness, Joe Aida, Doug Bamford, Bert Griffin
Book originally belonged to chief engineer for the GTP railway in the Northern interior
Custodial History
This item originally belonged to Bob Davidson, a chief engineer for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. Eventually the book was given to Joseph F. MacDonald, the donor's father.
Scope and Content
Item is a book containing advertising and photographs for the GTP in the Northern Interior.
Photo of the Saluting our Pioneers float. George DeWit and grandson in matching suits, Christina Van Den Born in dress, Oakie McCammon and Fred Riffel at ends (unclear which is which).
Photo of the Saluting our Pioneers float. George DeWit and grandson in matching suits, Christina Van Den Born in dress, Oakie McCammon and Fred Riffel at ends (unclear which is which).
Item is a book, Bulkley Valley School Days, about the history of education in the Bulkley Valley. It was written by longtime local educator Della Herman around 1980.
Della Herman (nee Carpenter) was a teacher, principal, supervising principal, and school trustee in the Bulkley Valley from 1936 until the mid-1980s, primarily working at Smithers Elementary School / Muheim Memorial Elementary.
Scope and Content
Item is a book, Bulkley Valley School Days, about the history of education in the Bulkley Valley. It was written by longtime local educator Della Herman around 1980.
Records include 10 VHS tapes of luncheons, dinners, teas, and other events, two guestbooks for the Bulkley Valley pioneers’ and early residents’ open house, and one photograph (P7891) of Lodge employees with fundraiser proceeds.
10 VHS tapes; 4 cm of textual records; 1 photograph
Date Range
1967; 1985-2002
History / Biographical
The Bulkley Lodge is a long-term assisted living facility in Smithers operated by Northern Health Authority. Founded by the Society of Concerned Citizens (incorporated 1973), the Lodge was officially opened on October 12, 1978 by B.C. Health Minister Bob McLelland. In 1982 the Society of Concerned Citizens was renamed the Bulkley Lodge Society in order to better reflect its goals of supporting the facility. Initially taking in personal care and immediate care residents, the Bulkley Lodge was licensed for 7 extended care residents in 1988; this number has since increased. The building underwent significant renovations throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. Today (2020), Bulkley Lodge cares for 70 residents across four units. It offers a central dining and activity room, a main lounge area, a self-serve coffee bar, a hair salon, and an exercise room. Residents are able to enjoy social activities, therapeutic recreation, spiritual programming, occupational therapy, and specialized nail and foot care.
Some of the original board members included Bea Quadros, Pat McCammon, Jim and Margaret Goodacre, Ev Glass, Margaret Graham, Marguerite Perry, Mary Baker, Jim Robinson, Mel Burchette, Joe MacDonald, Flo Hidber, Audry Cook, Ron Kilby, Sid Beerda, Bill Bryant, Anna Morris, Johanna Huisman, Doris Stahel, Louise Kratz, Gary Lobley, R. McIntyre, and Florence Oulton.
Custodial History
Records were created by the Bulkley Lodge staff to capture events held by the Lodge for residents.
Scope and Content
Records include 10 VHS tapes of luncheons, dinners, teas, and other events, two guestbooks for the Bulkley Valley pioneers’ and early residents’ open house, and one photograph (P7891) of Lodge employees with fundraiser proceeds.
The fonds is arranged into two series, Administrative and Fall Fair, and contains newspaper programs, prize lists, prize tickets, meeting minutes, correspondence, financial statements, newspaper supplements, entry forms, certificate of incorporation and a brief history on the founding of the fair.
Talk of forming a Bulkley Valley Agricultural Association to oversee the planning of an exhibition began in 1910 (Interior News, May 1910). Various names were used before incorporation, such as: Bulkley Valley Agricultural Association (Interior News, July 27, 1912), Bulkley Valley Agricultural Association and Farmer’s Institute (Omineca Herald, June 7, 1913) and Bulkley Valley Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition Association (Interior News, June 21, 1919). On July 14, 1919, the Bulkley Valley Agricultural and Industrial Association was incorporated under the Agricultural Act. The mandate of the Association was to "advance the interests of agriculture and to hold an annual exhibition of agricultural products at Smithers, and to do all such other things the directors may decide for the advancement of the association, the farmers and farming." The first directors of the Association included A. Kilpatrick (President, Smithers), J. G. Wood (Vice-President, Telkwa), and L.B. Warner (Secretary Treasurer, Smithers), George Oulton (Smithers), A. J. Prudhomme (Telkwa), E. C. Barger (Telkwa) and William S. Henry (Smithers) (Interior News, June 21, 1919). Smithers held its first Fall Fair in Albert Park, September 30th, 1919. After several years the Fair became a three-day event, presenting a wide variety of exhibits including agricultural displays, livestock and logging shows, handicraft and homemaking exhibits, stage shows, and a midway. The Fair continues to this day, having been held every year since 1919 except for 1932-1933, 1938-1945, 1950-1952, and 2020.
Scope and Content
The fonds is arranged into two series, Administrative and Fall Fair, and contains newspaper programs, prize lists, prize tickets, meeting minutes, correspondence, financial statements, newspaper supplements, entry forms, certificate of incorporation and a brief history on the founding of the fair.
Arrangement
Records were rearranged in September 2016 by Manda Haligowski to better reflect archival standards and to improve accessibility.
Series contains records pertaining to the Muheim Elementary School, including past iterations of the School such as Smithers Elementary School and Second Elementary School. Records include five Smithereen yearbooks (1933-1934 [digital only], 1938, 1940, 1941, and 1942), a centennial photo booklet c…
2.5 cm of textual records; 59 colour slides; 31 b&w photographs; 156 MB of textual records (PDF/A)
Date Range
1933-1934; 1938; 1940-1942; 1967-1970s
History / Biographical
Smithers Elementary School, also known as Smithers Public School, was built circa 1915 as a two-room, two-storey building on Third Avenue South. Two more rooms were later added to create an L-shaped building. The school taught grades one through seven. It was used as a temporary hospital during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. Another two-storey building was later constructed on the same grounds by the local contractor, Ernie Hann. In the early 1950s the original building was demolished and replaced with a new eight-room school, renamed Muheim Memorial Elementary in 1959 after the School District’s first secretary, Alex Muheim. New facilities, including a gymnasium, four new classrooms, a staff room, and a library, have since been added, with the whole school receiving a renovation in 1979.
Scope and Content
Series contains records pertaining to the Muheim Elementary School, including past iterations of the School such as Smithers Elementary School and Second Elementary School. Records include five Smithereen yearbooks (1933-1934 [digital only], 1938, 1940, 1941, and 1942), a centennial photo booklet containing five photographs, and 26 photographs (P7976-P8001) and 59 colour slides (P6311-P6369) depicting the school in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Henry Gunderson worked as a tie cutter and farm hand in the Bulkley Valley. He lived with his sister, Gertie Gunderson, and Bill Wilson on the Telkwa High Road (close to Witset, B.C.)
Scope and Content
Item is the diary of Henry Gunderson, depicting his time tie-hacking, working on farms and constructing government roads.
Notes
The identity of the creator was determined by an interview with a pioneer settler, Eleanor Robinson, and note on Sept. 28 "$260.00 due me, Henry Gunderson." Oscar Lundstrom, Eric Marten, Carl Mortenson, Antony Ruskanko, Paul Sturzenegger are mentioned.
Item is a pamphlet entitled "Through the Great Unspoiled Wonderland of British Columbia - Motoring through the Farthest North in the Last Great West - Central British Columbia: The Lakes District, The Bulkley Valley, The Skeena Valley." The pamphlet describes automobile touring through the area an…
Smithers, Canada: Bulkley Valley Automobile Association.
Scope and Content
Item is a pamphlet entitled "Through the Great Unspoiled Wonderland of British Columbia - Motoring through the Farthest North in the Last Great West - Central British Columbia: The Lakes District, The Bulkley Valley, The Skeena Valley." The pamphlet describes automobile touring through the area and gives details of the scenery and settlement.
Series includes 165 photos of Lake Kathlyn Elementary School, its staff, and students, primarily during the 1960s and 1970s. Subjects include children playing outside, making arts and crafts, playing musical instruments, and dressed in historic costumes; class photographs from 1967 to 1977; and 42 …
165 colour and b&w photographs, 2 floppy discs, 0.2 cm textual records
Date Range
1964-1977, 2001
History / Biographical
Lake Kathlyn Elementary was established in 1960 to accommodate the growing population of Smithers. It taught Kindergarten to Grade Seven to children from as far west as Witset. The school was built on land purchased from Floyd Laughlin and initially had two classrooms teaching Grades 1-5. Grades 6 and 7 were added in 1962. The school expanded throughout the ‘60s to include additional rooms, a covered play area, and a gymnasium. Lake Kathlyn Elementary School was absorbed into Smithers’ boundaries in 1979. On April 12, 2016, the School District 54 Board of Trustees voted to close the Elementary School at the end of June because of the loss of funding initially given for diminished enrollment.
Custodial History
Photos P5273-P5280 were found in BVM archives on January 2, 2017.
Photos P5543-P5545 and P7734-P7821 were included among the memorabilia of Hugh and Hilda Clarkston which was donated by Lorraine Clarkston on September 13, 2005. They were initially part of a scrapbook. The photos were found in a folder in the archives on September 9, 2020, given P numbers (except for P5543 and P5545, which already had them), and added to fonds GF3.
Photos P7830-P7849 and other items numbered 2020.36 were found in collections in Room 6 on September 21, 2020. The photos had been labelled P5006-P5047, but as these numbers were already in use for different photographs, they were given new numbers.
Scope and Content
Series includes 165 photos of Lake Kathlyn Elementary School, its staff, and students, primarily during the 1960s and 1970s. Subjects include children playing outside, making arts and crafts, playing musical instruments, and dressed in historic costumes; class photographs from 1967 to 1977; and 42 unidentified headshots of students and staff members. Other items include a typed page on the history of Lake Kathlyn School, and 3 photos, 2 floppy discs and a short write-up about a Witsuwit’en blanket feast held at Lake Kathlyn School on November 30th 2001.
The 42 headshots have not been scanned or given P numbers or database entries as there is no information known about the subjects. They may still be made available to researchers who are interested in them.
Fonds includes photographs, personal scrapbooks, and accounts ledgers and correspondence from Hanson Lumber and Timber Co. Scrapbooks include newspaper clippings, photographs, election posters and House of Commons debate programs, which document Hanson’s involvement in the lumber trade and politics.
Demand grew once more for railway ties and by 1919, Hanson had at least 20 camps along the rail line employing about 300 men. Hanson continued to operate company tie camps in addition to the sub-contracts. Hanson was also involved in sawmilling, with the Royal Lumber Co. being built in 1920 and located on the Skeena River near Hannall, B.C. HHanson, with a partner named Shockley, were contracted to build the original bridge over the Skeena River at Terrace, B.C. in 1924 and the Central Park Building in Smithers, B.C. in 1925. Come 1926, Hanson constructed an office building on the corner of Main and Broadway in Smithers, moving his company’s headquarters into it. From here Hanson directed the varied operations of his company.
During Hanson’s absences, Austin Goodnenough, Field Superintendent, would manage the business interests. Hanson’s son, Olaf Jr., finished law school at McGill University, in Montreal, QC, in 1937, returning to work for his father’s company. Shortly after a year, Olaf Jr. joined the Royal Canadian Air Force, but epilepsy forced him to leave the service and return to Smithers, becoming vice-president of Hanson Lumber and Timber Co. Hanson entered semi-retirement in 1945.
Hanson bought land in Manville, Alberta and spent his time cultivating land and erecting buildings. In the winter seasons, Hanson worked in Grand Trunk Pacific Railways construction camps, cutting ties and bridge timbers for the new line. Hanson left Manville in 1907 and with a companion walked towards Hazelton, B.C., surveying the timber resources along the entire 800-mile route. In 1909, Hanson arrived in Prince Rupert to begin his business, supplying the GTP railroad construction with cut ties. When the construction of the GTP railway was completed, Hanson began producing cedar poles for exportation.
He married Martha Johnson (who emigrated from Sweden to Gunn, A.B., near Edmonton, in 1907 with her parents) in Prince Rupert in 1910. Together they had two children, Linnea (1911) and Olof, Jr. (1914).
He was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament for the Skeena District in 1930, and held office for 15 years. Hanson was also president of the Royal Fish Company, Massett Canneries, the Prince Rupert Board of Trade, a partner in a real estate firm and had extensive minin interests in the Skeena and Bulkley Valleys. He served as vice-president of the Scandinavian Aid and Fellowship Society and was an active member of the Lutheran Church and the Masonic Lodge. Later Hanson served as president of the Smithers Board of Trade, became the Swedish Counsul of British Columbia and was appointed to the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission.
Olaf Jr. (“Bill”) passed away in 1950 from a heart attack. Hanson passed away in 1952 and his company, Hanson Lumber and Timber Co. sold to the Bell Pole Company of Hazelton, B.C. in 1954. Linnea Hanson passed away April 2, 2011.
Olof Hanson was a Swedish immigrant born in Tannas, Sweden in 1882 to a poor farming couple, Hans Ingebrikston Hanson and Kirsten Olson. When he was 20 years-old, Hanson immigrated to United States, pursuing his education in Spokane, Washington, and spending summers working as a farm hand in Minnesota, North Dakota and Idaho. He left Spokane in 1905 to work for a large sawmill in Bonner Montana. Later that same year he left to homestead in Canada.
Scope and Content
Fonds includes photographs, personal scrapbooks, and accounts ledgers and correspondence from Hanson Lumber and Timber Co. Scrapbooks include newspaper clippings, photographs, election posters and House of Commons debate programs, which document Hanson’s involvement in the lumber trade and politics.
Arrangement
Original order no longer exists, so records are artificially arranged.
File includes five pages of handwritten memoirs written by Mary Simpson regarding prospecting and living at the Victory claim, as well as life in Smithers.
Mary Simpson was the wife of Donald Simpson (a prospector) and an active musician and artist in Smithers, B.C.
Custodial History
Photocopies (1983.56) were donated by Cameron Bordon in 1983 and added to the BVM discrete item collection. Originals (2020.39.21) were donated by Elizabeth Cameron on October 2, 2020. Both items were then added to the newly-created Simpson Family fonds.
Scope and Content
File includes five pages of handwritten memoirs written by Mary Simpson regarding prospecting and living at the Victory claim, as well as life in Smithers.
Item is a souvenir program for the Coronation Day Celebration in commemoration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II held June 2, 1953, in Smithers, B.C.
Item is a souvenir program for the Coronation Day Celebration in commemoration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II held June 2, 1953, in Smithers, B.C.
Item is an envelope with "Ian McKenzie May" written on the front and on the back a brief form for monetary figures for the United Church Pastoral Charge of Smithers, B.C.
Item was previously part of the Discrete Items Collection, but was transferred to the Smithers United Church fonds on November 18th 2020.
Scope and Content
Item is an envelope with "Ian McKenzie May" written on the front and on the back a brief form for monetary figures for the United Church Pastoral Charge of Smithers, B.C.
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