PREFACE

The Central Okanagan Records Survey, sponsored by Okanagan College, was made possible through a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Canadian Studies Research Tools grant. A team consisting of two academic historians, a professional archivist, and a British Columbia software company, Eloquent Software, was involved in designing and implementing the project.

The purpose of the Survey has been to identify and make accessible to scholars and to the public the documentary record of a significant part of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, the Central Okanagan. The Survey includes records of archival value held by public repositories as well as, to a lesser extent, those in the possession of private agencies and the general public.

A comprehensive regional research tool in computer and hard copy format has been developed, providing identification and description of archival documents and establishing automated access to those resources through GENCAT, a Canadian software program based on REVELATION which is highly rated in the cultural field. One of the advantages of a computer-based inventory is that it makes possible periodic updates as more archival material becomes known.

This is a significant project for a variety of scholarly and archival purposes. Scholars are turning increasingly to the local level for source material in their attempt to understand community development in Canada. Canadian historians are focussing on social history topics which require a broad base of locally generated material, and are searching for types of archival documents which are not usually acquired by provincial or university archives. Other social scientists concentrating on local economic, political, social and cultural themes are also making increasing use of the historical record. The wide range of material that has been discovered should be directly useful to those interested in traditional local history as well as to those who, within a variety of scholary disciplines, wish to use local evidence to test timeless and placeless themes.

In addition, as archival sources which were hidden have become known or have been saved from destruction, local interest has arisen in preserving these materials for posterity. This has resulted in steps being taken, through a Steering Committee for Archival Development in the Central Okanagan, to encourage the preservation of local archival material and to create sound records management systems for the identification and preservation of archival documents.

The Central Okanagan Records Survey will have reached its full potential if it has acted as a catalyst for the establishment of comprehensive records management/archives programs, institutional responsibility, and a suitable archival facility for the area. That being the case, the "appalling neglect" of archival materials at the local level in Canada, documented in a number of provincial and federal government reports, will have been remedied in the Central Okanagan.

Thanks are extended to Professor Terry Eastwood, Director of the Master of Archival Studies Programme at the University of British Columbia, who offered advice on the conducting of archival surveys, and to Professor Peter Baskerville, of the University of Victoria History Department and one of the coordinators of the Vancouver Island Project, who also gave assistance. The support of Professors R. Cole Harris and Paul Tennant of the University of British Columbia was much appreciated.

Thanks should also be given to Okanagan College students Michael Gourlie, Marc Loiselle, and Michelle Elyzen, for their enthusiastic help

Archival Records   
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