The University of British Columbia Library’s Irving K. Barber Learning Centre announced the 18 organizations that will receive almost $180,000 in funding this year to digitize unique provincial historical resources. Access to the digitized items will be made available online for free.
This year’s projects benefitting from the BC History Digitization Program include the digitization of newspapers and publications from various BC regions, video works from the 1970s by Vancouver artists, the Ann Gomer Sunahara fonds, documents and videos relating to women’s labour history, the last phase of the British Columbia Sessional papers project, bird taxidermy, and product packaging.
To qualify for the digitization program, organizations must provide matching funds for the projects.
Altogether, since it was first launched in 2006, the BC History Digitization Program has provided more than $1 million for more than 100 projects throughout British Columbia.
The Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the University of British Columbia Library launched the BC History Digitization Program in 2006. Photo: Skyezx. Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Council Committee Minutes
City of Coquitlam $3,666.43
The series from the Coquitlam Council and Office of the City Clerk fonds consists of the minutes of Council Committees from 1946 to 2017 including: the Board of Variance, Parks and Recreation Committee (by the mid-1990s the Leisure and Parks Services Committee), Land Use Committee (originally the Town Planning Commission), Bargaining Commission, Burke Mountain Commission, Civil Defense Commission, Committee of the Whole, Court of Revision, Financial Commission, Historical Society Commission, joint Council for Three Municipalities Committee, Land Sale Commission, Library Commission, Safety Committee, Sanitation Committee, Street Lighting Commission, Public Hearings from 1959 to 1978, Public Works Committee, Water Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeal.
Steffens-Colmer Studios and Don Coltman Company Photographs Digitization Project
City of Vancouver Archives $15,000
These photographs belong to the Steffens Colmer Studios and Don Coltman Company Photographs series within the Williams Bros. Photographers fonds. Con Coltman was the manager of the Vancouver-based Steffens-Colmer photograph studios that closed in 1955. This project will digitize 5,300 photographic negatives from the Steffens-Colmer Studios and Don Coltman series.
TCR Open Access Archive
Capilano Review Contemporary Arts Society $15,000
The TCR Open Access Archive will digitize and make available online The Capilano Review magazine’s entire 45-year publication history, from 1972 to present day.
Association of College and University Employees Local 1 Digital Collection
CUPE 2950 – Clerical, Library and Theatre Workers at the University of British Columbia $9,500
This phase of the project will be digitizing 9,750 pages of materials. The majority of the fonds is text-based and consists of meeting minutes, newsletters, correspondence, photos, newspaper clippings, and other organization records from across the Locals.
JHSBC Publication Digitization Project
Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia $2,500
The JHSBC Publication Digitization project is an opportunity to share widely online, in digitized, searchable, and indexed format, the prolific work that the JHSBC accomplished in its early years; bringing back into the spotlight the publications the Scribe and the Chronicle, and the resources they can provide. Through the digitization of about 3,400 pages of unique research and writing, the JMABC will be able to open a new wealth of information to research to one and all.
The Legacy Project
Karen Jamieson Dance Society $1,210
This project will digitize 25 VHS containing roughly 26 hours of documentation, three Betamax containing two hours of documentation, and one Sony Helical open reel with roughly 30 minutes of documentation. This material has been selected from around 175 VHS, Cassette, Mini-DV and Betamax because of the importance and rarity of the documentation these carriers can contain. The performances, interviews, and practices recorded will provide vital insight in to Vancouver’s cultural heritage over a 20 year span.
The Politics of Racism Project
Nikkei National Museum $12,043
The Nikkei National Museum’s Politics of Racism Project (PRP) aims to digitize the Ann Gomer Sunahara fonds, a recently acquired donation that consists of original sound recordings and her groundbreaking research. The oral histories feature significant individuals. The PRP also aims to digitize and make accessible materials from the Jitaro and Sumiko Tanaka collection, the Roy Ito collection, and the Henry and Yvonne Wakabayashi collection.
The North Pacific Cannery Archival Image Digitization Project
Port Edward Historical Society $6,450
The North Pacific Cannery Archival Image Collection contains about 4,000 images of fishing and canning activities, primarily on BC’s north coast, and the development of the North Pacific Cannery site into a museum and National Historic Site.
Prince George Newspapers Digitization Project
Prince George Public Library $8,500
The Prince George Free Press was published from October 31, 1994 to May 1, 2015. This independent community newspaper included local news, community events and classified ads. It offered a different voice and different perspective from the Citizen on local and mainstream news. This project will digitize issues from 2004 to May 2015, when the Prince George Free Press ceased publication.
The Women’s Labour History Project Video Interviews
VIVO Media Arts Centre $4,000
The WLHP (1978-1995) was a non-profit society led by Sara Diamond and included a dynamic staff of women who have since moved on to significant careers in the arts, media industry, social activism, and Indigenous rights. This project will digitize 34.5 hours of interview footage on 93 U-Matic and Betacam videotapes.
‘Perry the Poster Man’ Collection
Simon Fraser University Library $8,803.33
Since 1978, Perry Giguere, aka ‘Perry the Poster Man,’ has made a business out of putting up promotional posters all over Vancouver, always holding on to an extra copy or two at the end of a job. The result is a comprehensive archives of about 150,000 posters documenting cultural, social and political activities in Vancouver over the past four decades. Digitization will focus on 800 posters of varying sizes, techniques, and subject matter pre-selected from the total collection of nearly 1,400 posters dating from about 1980 to 2015.
Thompson-Nicola Historical Newspaper Digitization Project
Thompson-Nicola Regional District Library System $15,000
The Kamloops Daily Sentinent, also known as the Inland Sentinet, was the longest running newspaper in Kamloops, spanning from the 1880s to 1987. This project will digitize as much of the Inland Sentinel as possible, starting in 1885 and finishing in 1942.
Vancouver film and video artists of the 1970s
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery $11,740
This project aims to digitize video works from the 1970s by Vancouver artists Glenn Lewis, Eric Metcalfe, Michal Morris, and Vincent Trasov. These four artists were founding members of the Western Front artist-run centre in 1973 and were influental in the interdisciplinary art scene of the time. The project will digitize about 22 hours (97 items) of footage.
Digitization of BC Sessional Papers, 1965; 1970-1982
UBC Library – Humanities and Social Sciences Division & Digital Initiatives $5,470
This project proposes to continue digitizing the next selection of the British Columbia Sessional papers consisting of 28 volumes (1965; 1970-1982). So far, with the generous support of the BCHDP grant, we have digitized 90 years (1876-1967) of the Sessional Papers and we hope to complete the entire run of the papers which end in 1982. In addition to the papers, there are also accompanying fold out maps and charts.
Digitizing the Nanaimo Daily Free Press (1874-1928) and Cowichan Leader (1905-1928)
Vancouver Island University $15,000
The proposed project plans to digitize the years out of copyright for two local papers on microfilm: Cowichan Leader, 1905-1928 (eight reels of microfilm) and the Nanaimo Daily Free Press, 1874-1928 (50 reels of microfilm). The anticipated output is 34,800 digitized images (600 images per reel).
Digitization of the Victoria Daily Colonist newspaper (1971-1980)
University of Victoria Libraries $15,000
Thanks to previous funding and support from the Ike Barber Learning Centre at various times, the University of Victoria Libraries has already digitized the Daily Colonist newspaper from 1858-1970. With this year’s funding, they will digitize the microfilm reels from 1971 to 1980.
BC Bird Taxidermy and Product Packaging Digitization Project
Museum of Vancouver $10,000
The Museum of Vancouver will digitize two categories of artefacts with significant British Columbia stories to tell. The collections selected are bird taxidermy and product packaging. The artefacts selected includes 206 taxidermied birds and 1,236 pieces of product packaging.
Early Vancouver Photography Studios – Glass Plate Negatives
Vancouver Public Library $11,140.42
The Vancouver Public Library will digitize the remaining 2,050 images from VPL’s Glass Plate Negative Collection and add them to their online historical photographs database. The collection depicts street views, buildings, landscapes and panoramas of Vancouver and British Columbia from the 1890s to the 1920s.
