The City of Vancouver Archives has digitized almost 7,000 black-and-white 35mm negatives, taken in 1978 and 1986 as part of two separate heritage surveys.
Writing about the new online collection, the Vancouver Courier reported, “It’s a treasure trove of images, documenting thousands of Vancouver heritage homes at time when few considered a house’s heritage. According to city archivist Heather Gordon, the archives has been digitizing its photographic holdings since 1997, mostly through grants and donations from groups such as Friends of the Vancouver City Archives. Digitizing the heritage inventory from 1978 and 1986 is part of the archives’ 2017 grant from the BC History Digitization Program.”
A search of the City of Vancouver Archives’ new digitized collection of houses can lead to the discovery of an ancestor’s home.
A third of the images are from 1978, and two thirds were taken from 1985 and 1986 when the Vancouver Heritage Advisory Committee hired work students to take photos and document pre-1950s homes and structures around the city. While the 1978 survey focused solely on houses, the 1986 survey was expanded to include monuments, churches, community centres and lots.
Use advanced search
If one of your ancestors lived on a street in Vancouver, and you want to see if an image of their house is in this collection, use the advanced search. I struggled a wee bit to find advanced search until I read About Searching that explains how easy it is to use. A search of “Maple Street,” for example, produced 106 results of which about half were photos and half were maps.
The 1985-1986 heritage inventory (4,375 photos) and 1978 heritage inventory (2,543 photos) are on the City of Vancouver Archives website.
Learn more about the collection in the Vancouver Courier article.
These are a wonderful addition to researching my parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles as well. Having been born and raised here in Vancouver, these images are familiar in their design and areas of the city. Fascinating to pore over them. 🙂