Nelson Star - Local historian honored

A story about a B.C. journalist who went missing after speaking to Hitler has earned North Shore resident Frances Welwood the Anne and Philip Yandle award for best article in British Columbia History magazine.

Nelson Star - Local historian honored

Sad News for Historians

The Boston Phoenix is reporting that Google has decided to quit further work on Google News Archive, its plan to scan and index 250 years’ worth of microfilm copies of newspapers and turn them into a searchable database.

This is sad news for historians and genealogists. They purchased PaperofRecord.com and then continued the work and it seemed like an exciting prospect. The searching power of Google and digitized newspapers - what a gold mine.

However, the searching and filtering features were not as robust as with other Google projects. The project did seem well advertised and it was hard to determine what newspapers were in the collection.

Despite these problems, I found many interesting historical articles in their collection and was hoping to find more as the collection grew. I am disappointed that this project has been abandoned.

Thank you, thank you very much

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of joining the women of the Chilliwack Hospital Auxiliary to celebrate their 100 year anniversary. Founded in May 1911, the women of the Auxiliary have baked pies, made jam, knitted, sold raffle tickets, fund-raised, forged friendships, and had fun.

The amazing legacy of the women that came before and the dedication of the current Auxilians was evident in the Coast Chilliwack Hotel on May 14.

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet many of the women that I had read and written about in the book Commitment to Caring: Chilliwack Hospital Auxiliary’s 100 Years, 1911-2011.

The fun was clear when 'Elvis' (Steve Elliot) hit the floor, hence the title of the post. Thank you for an enjoyable afternoon.

If you have time to volunteer and live in Chilliwack - considering joining these women in their work or if you have gently used clothing, household items, books or toys please consider donating them to the Chilliwack Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Shoppe.

BCHF announces the Lieutenant-Governor's Medal for Historical Writing

April 11, 2011

The BC Historical Federation annually awards the Lieutenant-Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing to authors of British Columbia history.

1st Place: Sylvia Olsen, Working with Wool: A Coast Salish Legacy and the Cowichan Sweater
2nd Place: Dan Savard, Images from the Likeness House
3rd Place: Dorothy Faulkner, Elaine Park and Cathy Jenks, Women of Pender Harbour: Their Voices, Their History

Honourable Mentions:

• Alan Twigg, The Essentials: 150 Great BC Books & Authors
• Robert Budd, Voices of British Columbia: Stories from Our Frontier
• Jane Stevenson, The Railroader’s Wife: Letters from the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway

Congratulations to all the authors!