Introduction:

There are many forms in which the history of a place can be captured, preserved, and understood. Traditional sources such as books, manuscripts, government documents, and business records provide information of obvious usefulness. Maps and photographs provide valuable graphic and visual documentation. One archival resource that is often overlooked, however, is the medium of recorded sound.

Historical sound recordings can range from on-the-scene recordings of actual events to dramatic re-creations of those events; and from fact-based documentation about people and events, to poetic, fictional, musical (and even whimsical) interpretations. They can take the form of unedited field recordings, radio broadcasts, published sound recordings, or – most frequently – oral history interviews that focus on specific historical themes.

The BC Archives has been collecting sound recordings since 1974, and now holds about 13,000 audio tape and audio disc items. In the spring of 2005, as part of the Royal BC Museum's Living Landscapes Northwest initiative, the archives launched a major project to compile detailed descriptive information about its sound recordings into a comprehensive database. In April 2006, this on-line Sound Recordings Index became accessible to the general public through the BC Archives website. While the recordings themselves are only accessible on-site through the Archives reference room, this initiative will provide greatly expanded and keyword-searchable access to content descriptions, names, subject headings, etc. During the first phase of this initiative, the focus has been on sound recordings relating to northwestern British Columbia.

The Collections:

Sound recordings provide a unique medium for capturing the history of a region like BC's northwest corner. The historical themes documented include: First Nations cultures; European immigration and settlement; transportation links (such as pack trains, coastal shipping, river navigation, and railroads); the development of resource industries and the growth of resource communities; the influence of world events such as the Depression and the Second World War; local, regional and provincial politics; the economic, social and environmental impacts of mega-projects; and the role of organized labour.

CBC Radio producer Imbert Orchard on a field recording trip, 1971. [BC Archives I-67699]

The largest oral history accession at the BC Archives is the Imbert Orchard/Living Memory Collection, donated in 1975 and 1985 by radio producer Imbert Orchard (1909-1991) and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It comprises almost 1,000 interviews recorded throughout the province in the 1960s, and focuses on immigration and settlement in B.C. in the years before the First World War. The scope, high quality and early recording date make this collection a foundation for the oral history documentation of British Columbia. The Orchard collection includes about 150 interviews from northwestern BC. These interviews document the history of the Bulkley, Nass, Skeena, Portland Canal, and Central Coast regions, the Queen Charlotte Islands, and the operation of coastal freight boats.

Orchard used these interviews as the raw material for numerous CBC radio documentaries – most notably, for his popular regional history series People in Landscape(1968-1972). Individual episodes included Aspects of Haida Life, Grand Trunk Pacific, Growing Up at the Cannery, Journey to Ootsa, Journeys of a Homesteader, The Land of Astace, Logging on the Queen Charlottes, Minskinisht, Missions of New Caledonia, Port Essington, and School on the Nass. Orchard also created a number of feature documentaries about the northwest region, such as Far Western Islands, Kitselas , Morning at Metlakatla, North of 53, Pioneer People of the North, and Skeena: River of the Clouds.

Among the miscellaneous recordings received with the Orchard Collection were some invaluable interviews with the Rev. Robert Tomlinson (1870-1959), who was interviewed in the 1950s by his wife, Roxy Tomlinson. In the course of eight hours of recordings, Tomlinson recalls Christian missionary work among the Tsimshian and Nisga'a at Metlakatla, Kincolith, Kispiox and Minskinisht -- including the career of his father, the medical missionary Robert Tomlinson (1842-1913).

The Union Steamship S.S. Cardena at Anyox. [BC Archives D-01851]

Through its Sound Heritage series of publications (1972-1983), the BC Archives was able to encourage recording projects in subject areas not well documented by other sources, such as ethnic history, labour history, local history, and specific occupations. In 1975-1976, for instance, author Peter Chapman recorded 16 interviews dealing with life on the B.C. coast, the fishing and canning industries, and in particular, the role of the Union Steamship Company in serving isolated coastal communities. Chapman later edited these interviews into Sound Heritage vol. 6 no. 2, entitled Navigating the Coast: A History of the Union Steamship Company . An important complementary collection about coastal shipping was added in 1981, when Ken Drushka (d. 2004) , author of Against Wind and Weather: The History of Towboating in British Columbia, donated 22 oral history interviews that he had recorded as research for his book.

Rose Harbour whaling station, 1918. [BC Archives E-01609]

Many other aspects of coastal history have been documented through oral history projects. In 1982, Joan Goddard , an historical researcher then living in Portland, Oregon, conducted several interviews on the whaling history of British Columbia. Her interviewees, whose fathers had worked in B.C.'s whaling industry in the early 20th century, shared their childhood memories of whaling operations and family life at Rose Harbour and Naden Harbour whaling stations on the Queen Charlotte Islands in the years 1912-1918.

The Canadian Airways base at Fort St. James, ca. 1939. The aircraft shown are a Junkers ABK, a Bellanca, and a Fairchild 71. [BC Archives H-06557]

Civil aviation also played an important role in the development of northwestern B.C., and is covered by parts of two separate collections: the Paul Stoddart collection and the Pioneer Profiles Project. In 1977, Vancouver writer and poet Paul Stoddart interviewed his uncle, Harold Davenport, who had been a bush pilot on the B.C. coast. Subsequently, Stoddart was commissioned to record interviews with other B.C. aviation pioneers; these interviews formed the basis for The Magnificent Distances, a Sound Heritage book on the province's bush pilot era. Like the Stoddart material, the Pioneer Profiles Project (recorded by the Canadian Museum of Flight and Transportation) has many compelling stories about aviation on the B.C. coast. Both collections include interviewees with former pilots who flew federal fisheries patrols out of Swanson Bay in the 1920s, watching over the area between Prince Rupert and the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Another Sound Heritage publication, Fighting for Labour , draws on the Howie Smith collection. Smith's interviews deal with the history of the labour movement throughout British Columbia , and related social issues, from the 1900s to 1978. It includes a few interview dealings with trade union activities in Prince Rupert and Anyox, including the 1914 confrontation known as the "Battle of Kelly's Cut".

In 1977, 26 interviews were recorded for the Terrace Public Library oral history collection. These interviews deal with the history of Terrace, Kitimat and vicinity, the experience of French-Canadians and European immigrants, and the impact of World War II on the region. The BC Archives has copies made from the original tapes, which are held by the Terrace Public Library.

The one-room schools that were integral to rural community life in British Columbia are documented in a large collection of interviews recorded by Joan Adams and Becky Thomas for their book Floating Schools & Frozen Inkwells (1991). Housed at the BC Archives, these lively interviews include recollections of schools and communities such as Francois Lake, Glentanna, Kitsumkalum, Ootsa Lake, Princess Royal Island, Round Lake, Smithers, Stewart, Telkwa, and Wistaria.

In some oral history collections, family history and community history are closely intertwined. One such project was undertaken by Georgiana Ball, who grew up on her family's Diamond B guest ranch, near Glenora on the Stikine River. Her father, George Ball, was engaged in mining, trapping, guiding, and carrying the mail between Telegraph Creek and Atlin. Georgiana's great personal interest in this region led her to record interviews with several of its residents. Specific topics of discussion include Tahltan and Tlingit medicine, culture, war and people; the history of the Stikine region; and the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898.

The Hazel B. No. 2 on the Stikine River at Glenora. [BC Archives D-07662]

In addition to the large oral history projects listed above, there are many smaller accessions of one or two recordings that also offer valuable insights into the northwest region. For instance, Salvatore Billeci 's 1952-1955 interviews with Stuart Thompson (of Rippon, California) document a sealing expedition to the northwest coast aboard the Carmencita in 1904. The Carmencita's master, Captain Alexander McLean, is believed to have been the prototype for 'Wolf' Larson in the Jack London novel The Sea Wolf. Another unique document is a disc recording of the New Metlakatla Choir performing Handel's “Holy Art Thou”, made by Prince Rupert radio station CFPR on 17 January 1950. The choir was visiting from New Metlakatla, Alaska, a village on Annette Island south of Ketchikan. It was settled around 1887, when Anglican missionary William Duncan and a group of his Tsimshian followers moved there from Metlakatla, B.C., near the mouth of the Skeena River.

But the material described above is really just a sampling of the sound recordings housed by the British Columbia Archives at the Royal BC Museum. The new on-line Sound Recordings Index will play a key role in making this material much more accessible to interested listeners and researchers.