Blog & News

On display at the Royal BC Museum until mid-January, the 1965 Rolls-Royce Phantom V Touring Limousine features a vibrant, kaleidoscopic paint job that has become a fan favorite. This iconic car was used by the Beatles in 1965 when they drove to Buckingham Palace to receive medals from the Queen. Originally painted Valentine Black, Lennon had the car repainted in 1967 by artist Steve Weaver, who incorporated elements of the psychedelic era and Romany designs. This customization was completed just before the release of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

Weaver used latex house paint for the design, which has proven vulnerable over time. The Royal BC Museum has carefully monitored the car’s paint condition and undertaken conservation efforts to preserve it.

In 1987, Jim Pattison generously donated the vehicle to the museum after its display at Expo '86 in Vancouver. The Rolls-Royce has remained in operational condition for over fifty years, with its powerful engine supporting the brakes—a necessary feature given its substantial weight of 3,000 kilograms.

This iconic car is part of the Museum’s exhibition, Beyond the Beat: Music of Resistance and Change, opening on May 30. The exhibition will feature artifacts that highlight music’s powerful role in social and political change, including items from Neil Young, Elton John, Tegan & Sara, and Chuck D of Public Enemy.

ROSSLAND, BC – The Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre is thrilled to announce a significant milestone: a $1,000,000 grant from the Province of British Columbia through the Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program (REDIP).

This grant supports the Museum’s ambitious “Elevate the Rossland Museum & Discovery Centre: Heritage Hub & Economic Catalyst” project—an initiative designed to enhance infrastructure, expand year-round programming, and attract visitors to the region through a dynamic, inclusive, and immersive museum experience.

The REDIP funding underscores the Museum’s dual role as a steward of local heritage and a driver of regional economic diversification and cultural tourism. With this contribution, the project has now secured a total of $5 million toward its $5.9 million goal. The Museum continues to seek both financial and in-kind support to close the remaining gap.

“This generous support from the Province is a huge step forward for our community and our organization,” said Joelle Hodgins, Museum Director. “This investment builds on over a decade of community-driven planning and fundraising. We’re so close to fully realizing this vision and can’t wait to welcome visitors into the renewed Museum space next year.”

The multi-phase Renewal Project includes major capital upgrades and new interpretive features—most notably the immersive Mine Experience, which will bring Rossland’s rich industrial heritage to life through interactive, sensory-rich exhibits and expanded programming. Additional improvements include a reimagined entrance, enhanced accessibility, and flexible indoor and outdoor gathering spaces.

"The Rossland Museum is not just a great spot for tourists, but a pillar for the community that preserves important history and facilitates programming in the City of Rossland," said Steve Morissette, MLA for Kootenay-Boundary. "I'm grateful our government could support them in continuing to expand their services so their impact can be felt for years to come!"

The REDIP grant reflects the province’s commitment to long-term, sustainable community development. The Rossland Museum project was one of just 80 initiatives selected this year for its strong economic and cultural impact.

The Museum is deeply grateful to the Province of British Columbia and all the generous supporters who have brought the project this far—including Teck Trail Operations, Columbia Basin Trust, BC Arts Council, Heritage BC, the Raymond Gaudert Estate, and numerous individual donors, sponsors, and community organizations.

As the project enters the final design and early construction phases, the Museum welcomes additional contributions to help close the final funding gap.

To learn more or support the project, visit www.rosslandmuseum.ca/renewal

Wednesday, June 18th, 2025

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm PT

Access is one of the largest barriers to repatriation. The Government of Yukon's Searching for our Heritage project locates artifacts of Yukon First Nations origin housed in museums around the world, helping to facilitate research and ultimately return belongings home. 

Join the BCMA and Cathy Ritchie, Collections Management Advisor for the Government of Yukon, to learn about the Searching for our Heritage Database, how it came to be, explore how it can be used, and discuss its successes and challenges.

Register here! 

In the video below, Linda Ambrose, author of Pentecostal Preacher Woman: The Faith and Feminism of Bernice Gerard (2024, UBC Press) presents at the BC Historical Federation's annual conference on May 3 in Williams Lake. Ambrose provides a summary of her book, the winner of the 2025 Lieutenant Governor's prize for historical writing.

Bernice Gerard (1923-2008) was an evangelical pastor, talk-show host, university chaplain, municipal politician, and a musician. The book explores her multifaceted life describing her as one of the most influential spiritual figures of twentieth-century British Columbia, whose complicated blend of social conservatism and social compassion has lessons for our polarized times.

Based on Rev. Gerard’s personal archives and life writing, Pentecostal Preacher Woman foregrounds her own voice to trace the complex evolution of a conservative woman’s ideas about faith and society.

BCHF president Rosa Flinton-Brown (pictured) presented a speech at the awards dinner at the annual conference in Williams Lake on May 5. 

Rosa's recent remarks reflect her understanding of the critical nature of our work, the current threats to the historical record and how we can support each other in it.  An excerpt is below.

Rosa will remain with the BCHF in her role as past president/treasurer for the next three years. She is very excited to support Sarah Lim, an excellent historian and experienced leader, as she takes over the presidency of the BCHF.

While I am not a historian myself, my involvement in this organization has deepened my appreciation for the members of the BCHF. Public historians are the architects of our social fabric. The work you do transcends academic interest—it weaves together the disparate threads of individual lives, community experiences, and cultural traditions. When you recover forgotten voices and overlooked narratives, you help create a more complete understanding of who we are as a society. In an era of fragmentation and division, this work of connection and contextualization has never been more essential.

As we learn more about what has been happening across the border over the last 100 days, we are reminded, once again, of a very sobering reality.  We must confront an uncomfortable truth: history is fragile. It can be lost, altered, or deliberately erased. We have witnessed this in our own province, where certain narratives—particularly those of Indigenous peoples—were systematically suppressed by government policies. The residential school records that disappeared. The documents regarding the Chinese Exclusion Act that are just now becoming available for the first time. The countless women's stories never deemed worthy of official record.

These are not just gaps in our archival collections; they are wounds in our collective memory. They remind us that history is never neutral—it reflects power structures and priorities. Current events underscore the ethical responsibility that comes with this work. When we preserve the past, we are making a statement about what deserves to be remembered.

Archives and record-keeping are acts of resistance as much as they are acts of preservation. The digital revolution has transformed our field in ways that expand our reach and capabilities, allowing us to safeguard deteriorating materials and make collections accessible beyond physical walls. But these advances also create new vulnerabilities—digital decay, format obsolescence, the overwhelming volume of information being created daily. Meeting these challenges requires not just technological solutions but institutional commitment and public support. 

And now a terrifying new challenge, that a government can choose to erase large swaths of these digital archives with relative ease. How do we, as a historical community, speak out and act to avoid the mistakes of the past?  How do we build meaningful relationships across borders to allow for a replication of records, a duplication of archives to ensure that the historical record cannot be “disappeared”?

Throughout this weekend, we have experienced together that peculiar mixture of sadness and revelation that comes with uncovering difficult histories. There is genuine grief in confronting the violence and exclusion that mar our provincial story.

Yet there is something profoundly healing in this work. When you recover silenced voices and forgotten experiences, you open the possibility of a more honest reckoning with who we have been—and who we might become. There is redemption in truth-telling, even when the truths are painful. There is dignity in remembering, even when the memories are difficult.

This tension between sorrow and enlightenment is at the heart of what historians and storykeepers do. You dwell in this space not because you enjoy discomfort, but because you believe that a society can only move forward when it has fully acknowledged where it has been.

Tonight, as we celebrate achievements in your field, let's also celebrate each other and the community you've built together. In a profession that often involves solitary hours in archives or behind computer screens, you sustain each other. As we enjoy this evening and the year ahead, let's continue supporting one another in this vital work. Let's share our successes, learn from each other's approaches, and remember that while our individual projects matter tremendously, it's our combined effort that truly preserves the fullness of British Columbia's story.

Thank you all—not just for being here tonight, but for the work you do every day to ensure that our history endures in all its complexity, challenge, and wonder.

A restored gravemarker has been dedicated in Revelstoke for Jennie Kiohara, a young Japanese-Canadian woman murdered 120 years ago.

Read more in the Revelstoke Review.

The BCHF's annual report highlights the important work of the organization for the 2024-25 fiscal year. We hosted an amazing conference, delivered four excellent BC History magazines and honoured writers, historians and projects with awards and grants. All the details are here: 2025-annual-report-bchf.pdf

Please take special note of the financial statements. The treasurer's report (page 20) details the necessity of increasing subscription and membership fees to meet the rising costs of the print magazine. The motion to increase membership fees was passed at the annual general meeting on May 2. If you have any clarifying questions or concerns, please contact Rosa at treasurer@bchistory.ca.

After more than 40 years, Albert (Sonny) McHalsie (seen above during a BCHF field trip in 2024) has retired as a cultural advisor and Sxweyxwiyam from the Stó:lō Resource and Research Management Centre after more than 40 years. 

Read more in the Fraser Valley Current.

Sharanjit Kaur Sandhra of Belonging Matters Consulting is the recipient of a BCHF Centennial Legacy Fund award in the amount of $2,500.

The funds will support research, design, and curation of a project called Pyaar and Basketball - Exploring Heritage, History, and the Brownness of Basketball in BC.

The project merges a basketball tournament and a story exhibit as a means to bring racialized youth into the cultural landscape of BC history.

A basketball tournament proposed in Surrey, BC will be set against the backdrop of story telling panels and imagery highlighting the significant contribution of Punjabis and Filipino communities in BC's diaspora within the sport in solidarity with the foundations of Black identities to the sport.

In 1791, Captain Vancouver and Third Lieutenant Joseph Baker, along with other officers and crew, set sail from Falmouth Harbour in England, for a 5 year journey to find the North West Passage.

This Coast Salish family story weaves together primary source narratives, personal recollections, knowledge keeper voices, and new revelations. It shows how and why Vancouver's journals were suppressed when he returned to England. The journal descriptions of the high level relationships and alliances with the Indigenous people they were meeting were redacted and kept from later historical materials which then informed educational textbooks. This is a re-interpretation of the story of those times, through an Indigenous lens. Baker and Tasi's research into primary archives and oral knowledge around the world is a significant contribution to reconciliation, and correcting an injustice.

Watch the full video here.