Blog & News

Ron Verzuh reviews "A River Captured: The Columbia River Treats and Catastrophic Change" by Eileen Delehanty Pearkes.

Excerpt:

"American-born author Eileen Delehanty Pearkes came to the northern banks of the Columbia in 1985 to do further research into its history. She was partly interested in learning more about the river as a food source for First Nations like the Sinixt or Lakes People that were falsely declared extinct in 1956.

We follow her research much like we might tag along with a traveler exploring new territory. She is a modern-day David Thompson, the explorer who first mapped his way along the river’s 2,000 kilometres to the Pacific Ocean in 1806. Except that she has other goals in mind than finding new trade routes for a rapacious corporation like the North West Company.

Dedicating her book to the river, she writes that she wants “to see for myself how and why the fish no longer spawn in the upper Columbia region.” She also wants to see how the First Nations people who lived next to the river were devastated by its capture."

Read the full review here.

A chief’s seat that has been in the Royal B.C. Museum’s possession for more than a century is being handed back to the ­Heiltsuk Nation near Bella Bella.

Marilyn Slett, a Carpenter descendant and the elected chief of the Heiltsuk Nation, said the seat is the first of Carpenter’s major works to be repatriated. “For this to come home, it’s a ­monumental day for us. It feels like Captain has come home.” “Captain Carpenter was a good leader. He made sure that the people in the Bella Bella were fed,” said Steve Carpenter, Captain Carpenter’s great-grandson.

The seat was reassembled from storage for the occasion, but will be taken apart to travel by truck to Heiltsuk lands in Bella Bella, where a larger celebration is set to take place on July 25.

Read more here.

Resident shipwright, Dave Sharp is now working out of Richmond Boat Builders, a workshop originally built in 1932 by Japanese Canadian boatbuilder Saeji Kishi.

His current project is the repair and maintenance of the Silver Ann - built in 1968-69 by Sadajiro Asari - the last wooden gillnetter to be built in this workshop. Catch Dave in action during weekdays to see his latest project.

Visit their website here.

Villains and Vittles Dinner Theatre returns for its 30th year at R. J. Haney House. Enjoy performances every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday evening from July 14th to August 25th.

This annual event for the R. J. Haney Heritage Village & Museum is a fun way to support the museum. To learn more visit their website.

The sod was turned on July 9th, 2024 to begin construction on the new roof that will shelter locomotive No. 5500 at the Revelstoke Railway Museum.

The project will build a roof over diesel locomotive No. 5500, a piece of designated Canadian Cultural Property. The locomotive was built in 1966 by General Motors in London, Ontario and was the first diesel-electric locomotive. It was a significant part of Canadian railway history and Revelstoke's railway history. The roof will protect the locomotive from inclement weather.

Original article from The Revelstoke Review.

The Chinese Canadian Museum in Victoria has officially launched their new exhibit, "Victoria in the Time of Exclusion." Learn more about Chinese people who lived in Victoria during the dismal exclusion years (1923-1947) through surviving C.I. certificates.

This exhibit is an extension of the Museum's inaugural "The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act" exhibition.

Learn more here.

Parks Canada is planning the future of Fort Langley National Historic Site, and are seeking the public's input.

Share your thoughts on the visions and strategies gathered for the new Fort Langley NHS Management Plan by taking their survey. 

Survey available until July 23rd, 2024.

Registration is now open for the BC Museums Association's annual conference.

The conference will be held in Prince George from September 23rd to 27th. Registration is open to Emerging/Underemployed Professionals, BCMA Members, and Non-Members.

Learn more about the conference and register here.

From July 10th, 2024 to February 2nd, 2025 the SLCC will be hosting the touring exhibit "Chief Dan George - Actor and Activist" created by MONOVA.

The exhibit explores the life and legacy of Tsleil-Waututh Chief Dan George, including his influence as a First Nations rights advocate and his career as an actor.

Learn more about the exhibit here.

The Princeton Museum has launched its Highway 3 Museum Tour guidebook in time for summer adventures! Discover 19 heritage sites and other partner institutions along Highway 3 and learn more about the history of the region.

Learn more here.