Absolutely Literate

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

100+ Years of Library Service Book Launch

100+ Years of Library Services to British Columbians

Vancouver Public Library
Library Square

350 West Georgia Street

Lower Level – Meeting Rooms

June 29th - 9:30am


Check it out.
http://thelibrarybook.bclibraries.ca/booklaunch/

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Summer Issue


The summer issue of British Columbia History should be arriving in mail boxes soon..........

WWII Japanese Internment Camps along the Upper Fraser by Megan Heitrich
Interviews conducted by the Northern BC Archives reveal a unique relationship between the Japanese men and the people of the surrounding communities.

SS PRINCE GEORGE Goes to War by Jon Johnson and Barbara Bavinton
The story of the SS Prince George, the only Canadian hospital ship to sail with the Canadian Navy and the six nurses who served on it is a story that has been missing from history.

An Unforgettable Afternoon by Irene Shirley
A sunny Vancouver afternoon in 1958 turns unexpectedly into an indelible memory linked to one of most significant events in the city’s 125 year history.

Athabasca Pass — BC — Alberta Heritage Trail by John A. Whittaker
As a member of the BCHF Historical Trails Committee, John has a propensity for the mountain pass trails and finds the trails through the Rocky Mountains difficult to beat.

1917 Car Trip by Henry Stevenson
The story of the Stevenson family’s six day car trip from Granum, AB to Nelson, BC when Henry was a baby of a year old was recounted many times by Henry’s father.

Archives & Archivists by Kobi Christian; edited by Sylvia Stopforth
Kobi Christian writes about The King’s Speech and Langley Centennial Museum

From the Book Review Editor’s Desk by K. Jane Watt

Book Reviews

Cabinets of Curiosities by Andy Motherwell, writes about Paul Krestenuk, a enterprising trader in a very remote and under-populated area of Quesnel in the 1930s and 1940s.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Arg, a good day for a pirate story

"Important News" ran the headline from the Dawson Daily News, July 2, 1909. The story goes on to say that the man named Kirkconnel was believed to be Francis Bailey and had been arrested in Whonnock. He had obtained a hundred and fifty thousand dollars of merchandise and sailed to Honduras. He was arrested there but had jumped overboard at night and swam ashore. "It was supposed at the time he had made a meal for the sharks."

The papers of the time are full of stories about the arrest and trial.

"FRANCIS G. BAILEY PUT IN JAIL HERE; Sailed with Pirate Ship Laden with Goods to Make Fortune in South America." read the headline from the New York Times July 30, 1909.

Read more about the "pirate of Whonnock" on the Maple Ridge Museum & Archives website and in digitized newspapers:

The British Colonist
New York Tribune
New York Times: July 8, 1908, July 2, 1909

Thanks to Annette Fulford for the newspaper links.

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