Blog & News

New Westminster Museum and Archives holds 230,000 photographs documenting scenes of the city’s history and its people. Community members donated the majority of these photographs creating a preferred narrative of our past, influencing the stories told through exhibition, programming, and the media, and omitting the contributions of those not captured in this historic record.

Reframed: Understanding New West Through Photos critically examines photographs acquired by New Westminster Museum and Archives since 1950. The exhibition articulates the role these images have played in shaping community narrative, and reframes them to present a more genuine picture of the city’s past. By looking at who is, and is not, present in these photographs, we explore how a limited number of photographers shaped the early historic record of the city. This exhibition compares the original vision of the photographer with the impact of their work. Evidence of forgotten stories appear at the fringes of their images and beyond the cropped areas of photos used for publication. Reframed considers the role developing technology played in empowering New Westminster’s communities to document their own lives. With thousands of unnamed faces in the collection, this exhibition highlights the power that names hold to discover hidden histories from marginalized populations.

The exhibition critically examines the ways in which we can reframe our knowledge about the city by highlighting its marginalized stories.

The exhibit's opening reception will take place on February 6th from 6pm to 8pm. The exhibit runs from February 6th, 2025 until June 29th, 2025.

After a career that has traversed 50 years, Haida artist Kihl’ Yahda Christian White is presenting his first major solo exhibition this February.

The Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver is hosting the show’s opening on Feb.1 with White in attendance. The displays will be available to view until next year.

The featured artwork spans his entire career and includes collaborative pieces made with apprentices.

Read the full article here.

On Thursday, February 20, the Chinese Canadian Museum is hosting a virtual panel talk entitled "Chinese Canadian Convos with BC History Magazine."

The special virtual program highlights stories from our winter 2024 issue of BC History, which featured a theme of Chinatowns. 

Panelists include Imogene Lim, Catherine Clement, Elwin Xie, Sarah Ling, and Andrew R. Sandfort-Marchese in conversation with magazine editor Aimee Greenaway. 

The online event is free to attend, registration is required. Visit the Museum's website to learn more and sign up. 

The annual deadline of March 1 is approaching and we're looking for your nominations and applications!

Recognition Awards

The BCHF Recognition Awards honour individuals and organizations who are making a difference in the BC historical and heritage sector. Recipients will be recognized at the annual conference, held in Williams Lake May 1-4. Please consider making a nomination today. 

READ THE GUIDELINES AND APPLY HERE

Centennial Legacy Fund

The Centennial Legacy Fund (CLF) is a small funding program that supports individuals and organizations working on projects to promote and preserve BC history. Past funding has supported initial research, exhibitions, acquisition of conservation supplies, documentation of oral histories, and the digitization of important collections. Apply by the deadline to be considered for a grant of up to $5,000. 

READ THE GUIDELINES AND APPLY HERE

Parts of the historic boardwalk and a number of buildings in Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island were destroyed by a large fire, Port McNeill Fire Rescue said on December 31st.

The fire department issued a public safety announcement asking people who were going to the area to watch the fire to stay away as it was hindering the efforts of crews to extinguish it.

"This is a devastating loss to the North Island," the department wrote on social media.

Read the full article here.

Royal B.C. Museum CEO sounds off on their importance: 'It's how we teach, how we learn, how we educate, how we get to know one another'

Read the full article here.

When Margaret and Barry Sharman tied the knot in Enderby on July 20, 1968, it was the beginning of a "wonderful" life together, and nearly 57 years later the Penticton couple still has fond memories of that special day. 

But until recently, memories of their wedding were all the Sharmans had. Like many young couples getting married, money was tight for the Sharmans, such that they couldn't afford to pay their wedding photographer for their nuptial photos. 

Thanks to the Enderby and District Museum (and a little luck), the Sharmans have now seen their wedding photos for the first time.

Read the full article here.

There are many ways to get from A to B, and some options make the journey more fun than the destination. Visitors can head off the beaten path and explore the unexpected ways people move throughout the region at Sooke Region Museum’s latest exhibit, Detours: Bypass the Expected, running through December 2025.

Showcasing the history of transportation methods, whether by water, wheels, foot, or air, the exhibit features some intriguing artifacts from the museum’s collection, diving deep into three areas of transportation: industry, commuting, and recreation.  

In Detours, visitors can learn about a uniquely “Sooke” item, the Flowline Tricycle. This tricycle was specifically made to ride the Flowline so it could be inspected efficiently. This employed ‘hand-cycling,’ which is better for keeping balance than pedalling. On this trike, the arms work while the feet steer and keep the rider stable.

Read the full article here.

The Central BC Railway and Forestry Museum (CBCRFM) is welcoming Baptiste Marcere as their new Executive Director. Marcere will be succeeding Katherine Carlson after she became the Executive Officer for the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) of Northern B.C.

Marcere is from France and has earned a Master’s degree in Environmental Sciences. Marcere will be bringing his experience from past appointments as the Executive Director for the LaMaison Gabrielle-Roy in Winnipeg and the North Peace Cultural Centre in Fort St. John. According to the CBCRFM, he has also worked closely with First Nation communities in Manitoba.

The CBCRFM adds that they are excited to have “Baptiste’s passion for community engagement and history to support the development of tourism and education in the region. Being bilingual, Baptiste will also be able to serve visitors and stakeholders of the Museum in French.”

The Museum of Anthropology is gearing up to present the first exhibition dedicated to the vibrant culture, history, and ongoing revitalization efforts of the Nuxalk people from Bella Coola. Nuxalk Strong: Dancing Down the Eyelashes of the Sun, opening on February 21, is co-curated by Nuxalk Nation cultural director Dr. Snxakila Clyde Tallio and Museum of Anthropology curator of the Pacific Northwest Dr. Jennifer Kramer.

The exhibition offers a deep exploration of the Nuxalk community’s journey to reclaim sovereignty, rebuild cultural practices, and safeguard their treasures for future generations. Visitors can witness the strength and resilience of a nation reconnecting with its ancestral belongings through a collection of over 70 items, including masks, regalia, raven rattles, and mountain goat wool robes. Many of these items are on loan from institutions such as the Royal BC Museum, Burke Museum, Glenbow Museum, and private collections. A significant highlight is the return of cultural treasures originally gifted to ethnographer TF McIlwraith in the 1920s, which will be repatriated to the Nuxalk Nation at the exhibition’s close in 2026.

Read the full article here.