368_Sidney_BC-Archives-interviews_2011.mp3

otter.ai

12.02.2024

no

Outline

Archives and museum work.
• Karen Borden from the Girl Band Archive shared her experience and highlighted the importance of preserving the history of guiding.
• Jonas Kowski discussed the Girl Guide Archives, which is a small but jam-packed space with a vast collection of items, including badges and uniforms, and how they run alone covered events for girls to borrow old uniforms and participate in enrollment or tea ceremonies.
• Katie Hughes from BC archives has been working on a 10-year backlog of private records, including photographs and getting them ready for cold storage.
• Linda Bound from Pacific forestry center has a new volunteer who is providing valuable information and helping to sort out stored records.
• Eight people discuss nursing archives, reunion, and software beta testing.

Organizing archives and appraising historical items.
• Rachel organizes archives after summer break, hopes to appraise valuable items

Organizing and researching historical photographs.
• Coordinator works on linking donated portraits and photographs with family files and institutions.
• Research on Peter Emery's descendant led to discovery of family's history and connection to land and animals.

Archives and centennial planning at a school.
• Greg Evans thanks Amber for a workshop and provides updates on the archives' activities leading up to their centennial year.
• Committee members Sharon and Speaker 1 have four major projects each, with limited spare time for public inquiries due to the upcoming centennial celebration.

Field trips and archives in a museum.
• Brad and team help Northside High School with reunion booklet and interpretive signs, while also catching up on backlogged work.
• Speaker 1 expresses hesitation about organizing two field trips in the workshop next year, but is open to the idea of one field trip with new volunteers.
• Speaker 1 proposes April 19th for meeting, but wants to avoid conflicting with New York Arts Association conference.

Legal and historical preservation in a museum setting.
• Speaker 1 mentions a workshop on copyright law, with interest in the bill working its way through parliament (26:16)
• Speaker 1 and others discuss the importance of ensuring legal and up-to-date paperwork for donations and collections (27:02)
• Speaker 1 expresses interest in a workshop on copyright law, citing the importance of being ahead of the curve in a more litigious society.
• Unknown Speaker offers to work on organizing a workshop, with potential dates in the spring or fall, depending on the group's preference.
• Brad Morrison discusses the history of the Sydney archives.

The history and evolution of a local museum.
• North Sydney and North Saanich Heritage Association grew collection over 18 years, expanded museum with marine element in 1988.
• In 1998, the Historical Museum decided to separate from the Sydney Museum and move to a post office building, which was previously used as a storage facility.
• The museum has since undergone changes, including the addition of new displays and technology, and the hiring of a new archivist, Alison Foster.

Organizing and improving an archives collection.
• Speaker 7 describes the messy state of the archives, with papers scattered and difficult to access, taking 8 years to begin organizing.
• Archives manager Diane Middleton discusses the state of the archives after a year-long overhaul, with improved organization and increased visibility through newspaper coverage.
• Speaker 7 emphasizes the importance of organized archival methods for researchers.

Historical research and preservation projects.
• Speaker 7 discusses digitizing historical directories, land records, and photographs from 1860 to 1940.
• Speaker 7 shares their surprise at the large number of images in the collection, including a photo collection with over 5000 images.
• Don and the speaker have been working on interpretive signs for 4 years, with the speaker handling the research and credit for the project.

Unknown Speaker 0:03
It's given me it gets an I have a permit.

Speaker 1 0:08
That says it all right. So you're probably, for those of you who aren't into our spot, you're probably good to me, okay. 330 or whatever. But, but, but if we're at the museum at that point, we will be rattled look after your drinks and treats for you. So you come back and nothing's gone astray. So please don't worry about that he's as honest as the day as long. So that's to go around the table now. And I think we're all starting to get to know each other. But if you could identify yourself again, and what's going on within your particular art guides, anything special, new, challenging, whatever. So

Unknown Speaker 0:56
Karen Borden, from the girl band archive, it's fine.

Unknown Speaker 1:08
And you better get your story straight.

Speaker 2 1:13
Well, I'm Jonas kowski. And I've been to VR. Well, from the beginning, I was one of the people who actually started the Girl Guide archives. I should have more from Liberian archives. We have some of you have been to the Girl Guide archives, we have a small, very small space, but it's jam packed and 2010 being the 100 year of guiding it brought in a lot of stuff, which we're still working on, we've got boxes of stuff that we haven't looked at yet, all because we have the celebration year. And so it keeps us busy sorting out badges, I just got a bag today that's just probably has 200 badges in it, they'll all be gone through and we keep you know to have everything. And we also run alone covered. So girls can borrow old uniforms, not archival, separate, and they can borrow them, too. They have an enrollment or a tea or whatever. So we're actually we're actually an archives of museum and alone covers, all in a very small space. But we have fun. We enjoy each other's company. And we've been able to do a little bit of research, for instance, squabbles having 100 here, and the Girl Guides or square off are going to put a brick in there something a brick anyway. And they want to know what guiding started in the squat. And then we could tell them so took us all morning and actually held the first girl guide camp that was in this area. Very good. sized with Joan and

Unknown Speaker 3:05
Barbara, Brandon, and Mary crane Girl Guides.

Unknown Speaker 3:09
I'm Katie Hughes with the BC archives. And over the last, I guess, five months or so since I saw you last week, I've been working Ember and I particularly but also on sort of a 10 year backlog, private records. So we've been finding things that have been squirreled away all over and getting them into our new collections management system, which hasn't gone live to the public yet. So that's also something that we're working on. So that's been really quite fun. And we've also been working still on some photographs that are deteriorating negatives in color photographs and getting them ready for cold storage. So that's kind of been my focus for the last few months.

Unknown Speaker 3:49
I remember from FBT archives, I've been doing work with Katie and also running in after hours when we have leaks from our freezers and ice overflows of our standup phrases are getting a little old. So they're starting to be a problem. I'm looking into that. And certainly at

Unknown Speaker 4:09
least I was working with them on some cold storage things. But now I'm back in Access Services. I'm more in the reference room answering inquiries. And our main job right now is to enter finding aids into the new collection. slow process but it's getting there.

Unknown Speaker 4:34
And I'm Linda bound from Pacific forestry center. And just recently I've had a new volunteer come in that he's just a wealth of information and we've been cataloging his stories and he's helping us sort out some information that had just been stored and not archives. Getting lots of work done. I'm Frank Newman from Saltspring archives, just the process of for building a new archives should be completed by October maybe, hopefully

Unknown Speaker 5:08
Duncan with Saanich archives, we've been working on updating the look of our website and should have that ready to go in a few weeks, hoping to put a lot more material on our website digitized images of textual records, some detailed finding aids, and other things. Also oral histories, I've kind of held off on some of these hoping that our IT department could design a little searchable database for things other than photographs. But we're 146 People call and that was back in July or, or June event. So we're just going to push ahead and then have to use more PDFs, saving, finding things to PDFs and just trying to get them up on our website and available and work on it slowly

Unknown Speaker 6:12
I pretty much look after the reference

Unknown Speaker 6:17
hospitals in the nursing archive

Unknown Speaker 6:27
with the Jubilee nurses Archives Museum you mentioned about having a reunion we had one in May We are underneath the pile of things that will be this time next year as well as trying to keep up with inquiries from email, things like that and just ordinary flooding to the call history this past year and half now we're well into that several more than Jill can tell you about what else we

Unknown Speaker 7:18
came up with these two my partner's

Unknown Speaker 7:24
coming in and working with these two

Unknown Speaker 7:28
old photos to stay looking old and pristine

Unknown Speaker 7:38
and Arthur Robinson portraits and archives we're still beta testing software and

Unknown Speaker 8:00
educational program for our clients we don't have people who have a week before they retire sometimes they show up in the afternoon that they are leaving my office

Unknown Speaker 8:24
well while I was off for the summer because it's only 10 months I'm Rachel and August my archives was moved I came back in 17 that September with everything from the archives in one big pile in the center of the new roof. So most of it is now on shelves or in covered bag but then we also had they weren't moving things around within the institution. So a lot of people are in new space trying to figure it out. So there's a few technical things like figuring out my local computer hooked up and and getting it running and getting the computer to touch the email and and and then they're cleaning out another storage cupboard and we're doing it Friday I know you're not available that day but you want to go away and know and get whatever you think might be historic. So I grabbed anything that looks like a photo that looks like photographs and don't put envelopes negative prints, CDs, albums, paper files anything like that and then out of a pile in space that was previously everything. So now I have to appraise anything is actually a value that I have hoping that I didn't leave anything out. I kind of told them

Unknown Speaker 9:58
if it doesn't get in Fingers crossed.

Unknown Speaker 10:09
coordinator at this time your society we're continuing to move from, like having museums into a separate building. So lots of things got moved and

Unknown Speaker 10:25
put on a shelf in the

Unknown Speaker 10:27
last six months to actually finish, go through a couple of those piles on the shelves. But the biggest, one of the most important projects that has been happening over the last few years. And he and I have worked together on on it, we have a lot of portraits and other photographs, a whole area that were donated to accession, but not necessarily coordinate with any of the family file. So as we go through and have the original copy, so that the original can go into storage copies. And then the second part of that process is to link it, if possible with a family or with institutions or organizations so that it's all cross reference. We don't You don't have to rummage through piles of photos and frames. Duncan lifting in there somewhere while we found him. So that's that's and the other thing that's really fun for me, I guess, that keeps me from the summer. Museum as a request of a descendant of Peter Emery, who was one of the founders of the north of cultural studies, has three large portraits, the accession from the silk Museum and give given to us and that led to a whole lot of research about that family because we had almost nothing so back and forth from the relatives in swim Washington. And through that process, because it was linked to the land and to the animals and family. So all the constants

Unknown Speaker 12:30
and that's what keeps me there. There's another piece over here and I think it might fit over there

Unknown Speaker 12:49
past couple months to come in a couple hours a week. Circle political election is incredibly slow going. But

Unknown Speaker 12:58
it's been a really amazing experience. It's really I mean the opportunity.

Unknown Speaker 13:14
University School The most exciting monster online. All our yearbooks from 97 to the present online

Unknown Speaker 13:34
and a very small portion small portion

Unknown Speaker 13:46
in the

Speaker 1 13:54
Greg Evans the Archivist for briefly, first thing before I talk about a couple of things I'd like to thank Amber publicly for a wonderful workshop. Back on November seems so long ago 17th was very, very informative. Half of all of us thank you again for

Unknown Speaker 14:19
contact me. I can always drop by on my Fridays my day off. You need ID

Speaker 1 14:28
as for us, not too much report. I've been in a self imposed lockdown grading the budget for next year for 2012. Yes, what fun is that? I got kind of got off the hook a little bit last year, the very first year. The archives are now it's all down to me. So that's that's an interesting. The other thing to really report on I guess there's a lot going on in the archives but we are now only three weeks away from the start of our centennial year and it's just ramping up. I mean, we've been Very busy anyways, supporting the centennial committee in which both Sherry Robinson and I are members anyways, but also supporting other committees, and all of the departments of SkyMall now are all kind of getting on board with their things. So we become a resource for just about everybody in the school. So the first part of the year, you won't see too much in January and February become March and April of next year, events, initiatives, everything really starts falling into place. So as members of the committee, Sharon and I are not only there to support others, but we have our projects as well for which we are solely responsible. And we have four of them between the two of us, and they're all fairly, fairly major. That takes care of any spare time. So we're doing our best to deal with public inquiries. But with the centennial, as I said, around being that we can just feel that pressure behind or on the pin now for mayor and everybody to go up everything we're doing.

Unknown Speaker 16:03
We did our centennial in 2006. And I was amazed. All the departments, police took them to be in the centennial year and you figured out they want us to do a project really quick, we have to respond really quickly to photo scanning requests and 1000s of pages of documents. We're

Speaker 1 16:27
just waiting for that we have been great. The light library, and the library branch and Parks and Recreation have been on on this for months. I mean, they're right with us. We're lockstep. But there's three or four other departments and I hear rumblings now they're gonna go, we've got an idea. Same thing, I'm just waiting for the phone to ring. And you scan 306 photographs by noon tomorrow.

Unknown Speaker 16:59
kind of halfway through the year, it was all of the donations that start coming in, because of all the publicity.

Speaker 1 17:08
We think we're going to so we know what we're doing for the next year. So Brad, would you like to say a few words now? Or should we move on to the sections for next year, and then just turn the floor over to you?

Unknown Speaker 17:26
What we're doing in prison time. If you haven't realized, I'm Brad Morrison in New York Times manager, not an archivist, as long as they're in New York. Generally, we're extremely busy at present time working with the Northside High school, middle school, on the closing or actual school mark, to throw into somebody's anniversary. And we've taken on the position of helping them produce the reunion booklet. The major displays and Power Point displays their history. The problem with that is that we have a ton of material which we inherited their their archives and material possessions. And that's the reason why we've taken on this project with them. And thankfully, I've learned how to say no. Finally said no to this one. But the it's keeping us running, trying to get things trying to get this break. We're also preparing some interpretive signs a couple of examples of what we could have done with them, number of them tend to look at the layout of feudalism started laying out the thinking of 21 deaths occur. But that's basically what we're doing right now. Now also trying to catch up with the recession backlog which was my five year plan. We're both in first year and a half done. So we've got a long way to do

Speaker 1 19:31
it. So let's just take a few minutes, if you will, and talk a little bit about 2012 and field trips in the workshop. This year. Of course we did two field trips. And we went to the forestry center where Linda and art hosted us. We're here today in Sydney and we did the workshop with Amber. I guess my first question is, Is that acceptable? Something like two field trips in the workshop again next year if you want to do more

Unknown Speaker 20:14
let me just move in front of them so you get to do we're grateful that you do we are more

Speaker 1 20:20
than welcome I was given the time that I have as well to field trips and working with workshops was find that something a little fearful of the centennial year coming as I say I can feel my heart beat starting now ramp up a little bit but we'll be we'll be fine. I mean drinking is wonderful. Rounds everything off for me. But let me just throw this question if we were to do two field trips we have any volunteers today that would like to do same as we're doing here a meet and greet field trip look at your archives updates

Unknown Speaker 20:58
don't overnight find your museum archives

Unknown Speaker 21:08
okay that's great anyone else to post almost all

Speaker 1 21:24
we're looking for new victim operatives is what I meant to say. I mean, we don't have to have everything in place today we got one offer that would be great. We can always ask one field trip organize another one later later in the year.

Unknown Speaker 21:42
I've done my Norfolk schools next year to show

Unknown Speaker 21:59
his office turned around but

Speaker 1 22:03
yeah, that's that's a good idea. I can certainly make Can you Sure. Okay. Okay, well, why don't we maybe go there first with the signage pioneer archives for 2012 any month better than others? I know the schedule since I took over has been kind of all over the map I don't know if you had set times in the past but some early spring March or April April April

Unknown Speaker 22:37
beginning sometimes

Speaker 1 22:41
so maybe some time let's Yeah, I don't know when someone's bound to have a calendar

Speaker 1 23:00
that just after national time do you guys celebrate so with we went hang on I got a little calendar

Unknown Speaker 23:11
Sunday that would make sense.

Speaker 1 23:18
So if we stuck to Thursday format, how about let me just throw out 19th of April Thursday the 19th of April that sounds good we'll go into that room discuss it come back in know how you guys need

Unknown Speaker 23:39
to make sure that there's a couple of other people

Speaker 1 23:46
see any problem. So tentatively, if you want to mark it down of course you get lots of notice especially but I didn't get it

Speaker 1 24:03
this time I made a big note that you will you will be

Speaker 1 24:19
try to avoid him the New York Arts Association.

Unknown Speaker 24:25
Anybody here you guys might go but sometimes we leave it till after.

Speaker 1 24:33
Let's put it up the 19th things to look into the conference date. You folks and Sony will let you know early in the new year. That's a good point. We don't want to run a foul on a conference it because it will deplete our numbers. And there's not a lot of us to start with. Okay, so that's that's the first step we'll talk to Glen Lyon, Norfolk and maybe they'll they can do something in the, in the fall for us. Now as for a workshop by a number of people at the last workshop, expressed the view, that thing had been expressed actually earlier by the group that a workshop every year would be really great. We talked the last time about this at when we were hosted by Linda and art. And we had there was another number of subjects came forward from basic care and conservation of the collection, through to legal documents, and legalese and copyright and everything sort of in between. So subjects open to ideas, get a consensus today of so many we can start to work on

Unknown Speaker 25:47
copyright with the interesting because that bill is working its way through finally, and maybe it might be a during an election this time.

Unknown Speaker 26:16
Information

Unknown Speaker 26:22
and I attended a workshop at ABC workshop about three weeks ago in Vancouver at UBC US law in original order. And that was one of the aspects that we covered in the workshop is calculate changes coming up. And I believe there is actually a website that the government has posted showing some of the changes. Because it hasn't happened yet is still a little bit iffy. But by the fall

Unknown Speaker 26:45
it may very well.

Unknown Speaker 26:54
If not this year.

Speaker 1 27:02
Someone else was talking to me the November Sunday and I'm forget exactly who it was. But the concern was to do the whole Come on. very articulate. But in terms of the paperwork that we maintain, is everything legal? Is everything up to date? Is everything the way it should be? Because sometimes, I know my background is mostly museums. And I do know that we discovered several forms we used to use wouldn't stand up in the court of law today, in any way shape or form because they were developed so many years ago and general Canadian trust law has changed. So that's an area that some people are concerned about as well. When someone donates somebody has the language Correct? Is the former is it actually? Is it actually yours in the waiting? Right? There any appetite for anything along that line? Because there are people probably pulled in for a half day session or something? And I've had that happen to me. Is that for you? I am waiving rights moral and otherwise, can you do that? You can do that. And I know when I was with the BC Museum Association, we did a couple of workshops and many, many years ago, probably with 50% of the museum's our associates had at least one document that would pass the smell test. Because the law they had continued to perpetuate a certain system, only to find out that they could be challenged all the way along the line. We had a lawyer whose name I forget to two workshops in Nanaimo, and that was his specialty. Boy, did he ever open our eyes.

Speaker 1 28:58
I mean, I know it's a rather dry subject. But we've been talking about that in Esquimalt right now, because we've got forums going back to the inception of our archives 20 years ago, and I really don't know if the language is really very solid. Now, luckily, the vast majority of people never come back. But I've had in my museum career, people standing at my door walking back, saying, Well, I don't think so. And they're armed and ready. And they seem to know more than I did said, Well, we're taking that back. Thank you very much. So we could do a workshop on that. Because I mean, it is we people say we're living in a more litigious society all the time, and people need to be up to step ahead. I mean, I'm starting to sound paranoid now. But I think we do need to be a step ahead of everybody else. And we're going to be the keepers in the repositories of the community's history. So is there an appetite for something like that? No. Okay. Well, that's that's what I'm personally interested in as well. That's sort of where we're at. We're looking.

Unknown Speaker 30:09
Okay. I can start to work on that, if you like. Would you like something in the spring? Next fall? Sounds like the copyright changes aren't going to be passed or long time anyway.

Unknown Speaker 30:32
Something you want to aim for October sometime in October?

Speaker 1 30:45
Centennial comes to a great basket of the hands over sacred flames in the basket of live bands and people you've heard. Let's look, I think what I need to do is to find a couple of the resource resource person versus first, how about maybe late October, early November, something? Certainly after our big, grand fairs are sort of overnight. tranches over milk. Okay, I can work on that. Perfect. Good. That was using hold now, folks. Thanks very much. Okay, thanks. That's great. That's good. No, I know. You're paid to stay. I am. Yeah. So we're now on to item number three, presentation by Sydney, Sydney archives manager, Brad Morrison. So for an overview of the history of the archives, and then you can tell us how we will look into all of those things before we totally

Unknown Speaker 31:54
sit down. Pretty old, as you can see, I had to put on my real glasses because everyone's blind. notes here are basically broke down a whole bunch of stuff, I don't want to read it. You'll never understand why I read in a waste of your marbles and dates and things like that. I don't know what it is, I think it's genetic or something like that. It seems to me I can't separate history in this area, or whatever I try. I think it's genetic, because my family has been involved with every historical society that's been formed here except for the Earth. Forming, or the leaders that would be part of the Pioneer society for many, many years is Mitchell family, which is the farming family. You all passed when you're driving there are almost

Unknown Speaker 33:01
no. But essentially inserted at the beginning of this Chinese society, artifacts, society and believe it or not, this connection there was was made John who was the wife of Joseph, John, the son of David and Margaret, and David John and Margaret Mitchell was the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Mitchell, who came here and inconsistent. Here's simply 6618 68, as most people believe. The idea the archives came about in 1971. Not the art museum. When may John offered these counts as a collection of artifacts gathered up since the 1920s that consisted of hundreds and hundreds of photographs, artifacts, documents, it's just everything. artefacts comes down to household appliances, times from buildings, you name it, it ended up being items in which they offered to the town if the town would. Previously they were showing it as Museum in their basement. This was the result. The town came up to offer offered in February one and it was accepted by the town because they had just recently been Last fall, possession of the old custom building which Maryland mentioned, which is now down by the Mary Winspear visitor center within a few months, by May 30, is the same year, three months later, prepare, prepared to open and display their wares, which was a great success. And there was a lot of people really appreciated the north and south, the Sydney, the North Sydney and North Saanich Heritage Association, society where the sponsors took care of the volunteers and and ran the show for many years, then a group when they build a group called the friend of the museum, Brandon for a number of years. Essentially, the collection over 18 years in that time, grew amazingly, size. Well, at that time, I guess it really balanced us, we're almost doubled in size, because we started them every time their families and groups and donating items to the museum. And at the same time, the artifacts and documenting photograph collection started growing. In 1988, the was decided that it would expand the museum and make a marine element which was the Marine Mammal Center. So what they did was they built on addition to the building and created a script two years from 1988 to 1990. And they had basically huge scale, skeleton frameworks of whales at throat. And as this occurred in 1990, it was found that people, the Historical Museum, which we call the artifacts and things like that, the history of the essentialist is not the Sydney Museum and in archives is not just Sydney. That's our where our mandate is and has been since the start. Essentially, people would go in and look at it, and they would miss the entrance to the history portion and just walk by and that's all. So our numbers dropped drastically during the next few years. So it was decided in 1998, that they should review the situation. And they came up with concept that they should separate the historical museum. We don't know and that's when the post office became available. In the lower level. One of the worst places you can have our museum is like the archives here in the basement, susceptible for flooding and numerous other problems as the best we can do at present time. We're right now there's plans actually, to move us get us up on the street level, which will be great. Hopefully, it'll be done within the next few years. And figure five years before five years ago. So at the time when they moved in the year 2000 to the post office. The target was March 1, I believe the move by May 1, we had the museum all set up will amaze elements where you'll see when you go there were their wares could be displayed and asking for the amount of time they had to do it and the amount of money they had the job changes to the board board members of the society and present time we are looking into major changes in the museum changing all the displays and go into a different sort of format and get get the bells and whistles in there where you push a button you know tell you a story things like that. At the same time of the shortly after the zooming archives of the Diane web Are Alison foster took over the position as a volunteer archivists she trained archivist is many of you have met her and know her. And she has since left and now back in Australia. And she took on, took on the task of trying to sort out the mess of the archives. The problem with the archives at that time, I remember it was quite clearly because I used to go through the stuff back in the late 80s and early 90s, who is essentially in two filing cabinets in a very dusty room, large room. A big couple of big tables in the middle wooden chairs, and nothing has really taken care of the newspapers, anyone can grab and take one of the old newspaper piles, or even when people use it in photocopy the actual volume, causing major damage to the actual volume is an absolute restriction on people using these papers. Since the only ones that actually are able to deal handle these favorite collections, we have the complete collection of the Sydney review for making 12 up to 2002 for missing two years, which is a great resource for doing things quickly since has a microfilm the access in that. But like I said, unfortunately, the archives at that time was in a terrible mess, and then spent a considerable amount of time. It took her eight years. And the time she started to get to a point where he could start seeing what we had. And tentatively started the assessment of it, which is still in the process. We're 25% of our collection a session properly. myself and two other volunteers working on the message basically what we're doing is a session every day. And during the material. The problem what problem is it when I took over? Decision, we couldn't find anything. Somebody will make an inquiry. Where was it? There was no real order of working the problem and how that occurs. What if when Diane's list

Unknown Speaker 42:37
for one year, we've had, we've had every person that came in to be our case manager, Dr. Michael Green, he was an art, very evil art historian who had no understanding of documentary records at all. And nothing got done. Things moved to brown twisted, we didn't know where anything was, and it took has taken almost a year for myself just to figure out what we actually have. Since then, we've actually got things box labeled for fine things. Now, the long way to go. As I was saying when Graham blackmailed me into this, they have paid me send the middle of a real overhaul of our collection because it was in a terrible state. And it's getting better, a long way to go. But at least it looks I can't say anything more than that, as far as the Archives has. As Maryland stated.

Unknown Speaker 43:49
He stated that we have expanded our hours, from three days to six days a week, which is majorly changed our our numbers of people coming in. When Diane left, which was 2009. We were averaging between 15 and 20 inquiries a month. We're now between 50 and 70. And we're still the unknown commodity in Sydney. Very few people know about it yet. We have great communications with the newspapers, and with the seaside times who are constantly putting things out about the archives and trying to help us out. They've been helping us quite a bit. And still seems like well, you have an archivist and these are people who've been here for 20 years, 30 years, 40 years. So that's one of our goals. That's the reason why I've taken on one of the reasons why I've taken on this project Middle School, because we're expecting between 1015 100 people to come to this reunion. And if anything, that will get the word out. And the single vote in the archives is how we're starting to attract the younger generation of those who are under 30 years old, which is difficult to try to get most of us are in our 50s or older and we're once to do ask those who are not employed.

Unknown Speaker 45:40
But like I said, myself, I really enjoy the history of myself, I spent 30 years researching this area. The reason why they asked me to take over the position is basically the most knowledgeable person of the area. And I spent 20 years in organizations or learning organized organizing things. spent 20 years as an industrial Auction Manager, which dealt with cataloging everything, you name it, appraising, you name it. So this just goes directly into my line in the sense of what I enjoy, to do, organized to deal with things. And essentially, I do have a certain understanding of the art the archival methods for grad was I tell over people I do do one thing different than other archives is, I look at things as a researcher, and how a researcher would be easier for researchers to find the material. And that generally comes under what I call common sense. So common common sense dictates the methodology. I can give you an example of the tourists, let's say all books should go into boxes, and they should only be able to be accessed one at a time or whatever. Well, as a researcher, I would look at a shelf. If I called up a book, read the book. But if I was able to look at the shelf, I get the Sansaar. Guys, I can read what Oh, there's one I haven't seen before. And it just makes it much easier for the researcher. When it comes to library stacks. Well, of course, like the provincial archives, you can't do that have a lot more protection of the material and things like that. Smaller archives Sansaar this is a way in which it makes it much easier for us to understand, help the researchers.

Unknown Speaker 48:03
I'm working on five year plan, it's a five year and 10 year plan. And some of the things we were doing, we were working on digital databasing the directories of the area from 1860 to 1940. We're up to 1914. Now that's all of fancy linslade Only from North South Carolina, I can't help you on that. The other things we're working on is like Land Records, I have obtained copies of all the land titles, north and south Saanich up to 1920. I was actually put up the money, make copies of them at the land title's branch to print a process of databasing all them. This will incorporate information which touched on ownership when it was changed hands How much was paid for all these developments. We're also working with DeSantis archives and working on databasing with property assessment rolls from 1890 1889 to 1906. The only ones that exist on the area

Unknown Speaker 49:42
no meeting at nine starts at nine. Then it jumps a couple of years. Three minutes every year after I was born in 1878. Find my copy to be transparent,

Unknown Speaker 50:07
sharing information because volunteers are entering, volunteers and staff are entering.

Unknown Speaker 50:16
Chelsea and he is working on the fullest. I'm gonna say the word port

Unknown Speaker 50:25
scanning sometimes

Unknown Speaker 50:31
2000 to 25 historical photographs, pre 1960s of this conceptual insula in our collection, we have an incredible amount of photographs. During the teens and early 20s of Sydney itself. It really surprised me how many images there are. And many of the time their families within the were gaming board on a daily basis. In fact, we just group just last week, and there were a little grouping when an interesting family then we also have what is referred to is the Dominion experimental farm collection, which is their photo collection, which is well over 5000 images, which is, is that I have two people working on especially now. Some of the images are really great, they show the landscape and everything else, but most of them are plant roots. So there's a lot of stuff which person like me has no value. But once or twice a year, we'll have someone come in wanting to look it has to be dealt with. And last, but not least, a whole bunch of other things. We also have a young man who is physically handicapped, who is assisting us a newspaper clippings from from the newspapers, clippings of the area and that and also set the protocols into the worldwide web where we get automatic updates of anything that occurs in north north and central Saanich. Sydney, I can go over both 20 different terms and anything that comes in newspapers on the web to automatically email to us. And it makes it really easy where we can then just make a digital copy and deal with that printed out later when we can which will this is where as you everyone knows what do you do with this digital age? How do you say this? What do you do with it? What do we do with reference I don't know I can't but that's about it

Unknown Speaker 53:09
and then bigger ways to do that by quarter rafter and make our way over because it's gonna be about 15 minutes quick little gathering for coffee and things like that afterwards. You're gonna have to get into your vehicle but leave five minutes before

Unknown Speaker 53:29
commissioners they're not as bad as I say they are in the area and they have parked the vehicle

Unknown Speaker 53:46
break into small groups.

Unknown Speaker 53:50
These have done well right now. Like I said those two are this design stage.

Unknown Speaker 54:02
Here we've already done nine, nine of them on the seaside we have just too much we're doing on your quality of the layout, basically what they are. There's gonna be some changes yet. If the text is not included, I've already written the text is now seeing that the actual signed design designer, clean it up, make it look better. Everything will be various digital things don't go create the original structures of Harvard school or grad school. We're on the Euro club when it's saying Fenwick sisters were victims and the only one I'm sorry. And really 20 females in this story, the rest of Satan was survived were males. And there were 21 victims of the period when individuals that actually is debatable whether it's 21 and 20, I think have discovered that there's only 20 Because one of the individuals is recorded me. Did I find I found them on a membership three months later in Victoria. So it is, it has a questioning, we're still gonna take 21 interpretations. This is one of the projects which we've been working on for a long time. It started started about four years ago, when Don terrorists off I don't know if any of you know him. He used to be the research officer at the BC heritage branch. He became the president of our society. And since then, since then, he is no longer we have a new president and he he instigated the doing these interpretive signs. Don and I get the research material each ago, care of all the problems in the credit the photographs and things like that this particular one is my job to do it.