Intrepid Sisters on the Move

Many thanks to guest blogger, Barbara Towell, for contributing the below post! Barbara is E-Records Manager with Digital Programs & Services at UBC Library and an avid cyclist.


Clara and Kitty Wilson. Uno Langmann Family Collection of B.C. Photographs. UL_1591_0087

On Monday, July 17, 1939, twenty-something sisters, Clara and Kitty Wilson, left their comfy family home on the west side of Vancouver and embarked on a two-week self-guided cycling holiday to Vancouver Island. This journey was one of a decade of summer cycling tours they undertook in British Columbia. They documented their trips through a series of photos and letters home that have been brought together in a wonderful photo album, now fully digitized and available on UBC Library’s Open Collections and forming part of the Uno Langmann Family Collection of Photographs. For Kitty and Clara Wilson, the summer of 1939 was one of leisure, adventure, letter-writing, and fun.

86 years after Clara and Kitty’s trip, my partner and I plan to recreate that ride, tracing the sisters’ tire marks, staying in the places they stayed, seeing the sights they saw. Our tour, like many of Kitty and Clara’s, begins at the Plaza Hotel in Nanaimo (now called Fairmont Hotels and Resorts), and carries on north to Campbell River. Some of the hotels and camps where Clara and Kitty stayed still exist, but most are gone. All the natural monuments remain however, and we plan to visit the waterfalls, rivers, and maybe the potholes mentioned in the letters. As for the buildings, I hope to find at least the addresses of where these places once were. In short, we plan to do just what Kitty and Clara did all those summers ago: enjoy a journey powered by legs and bicycles.

The Route

Kitty and Clara began their ride on July 17 and arrived in Campbell River on July 23, 1939. Their trip took place along what is now known at Highway 19A Ocean Side Route, which was at the time, primarily a gravel road. The highway was only fully paved in 1953, as part of WAC Bennet’s highway improvement plan. The sisters averaged just over 40K per day; theirs was a leisurely pace. Kitty herself said it best in a letter home: “We walked up every hill that was more than a foot high and still made good time.” I like the attitude conveyed in the letters; some days they just didn’t feel like riding, especially once they got to Campbell River where they were spoiled by the proprietor of their lodgings, Mr. Danby. They were on holiday after all.

The Gear

We don’t plan on sourcing and riding the same kind of bikes Kitty and Clara used (this isn’t that kind of recreation), but judging by the photographs, the sisters appear to be riding 1930s Dutch-style bikes that weigh-in at more than 20 kilograms each. They named these bikes Rastus (Clara), and Ginger (Kitty).

We Leave Nanaimo. Uno Langmann Family Collection of B.C. Photographs. UL_1591_0047

Kitty and Clara did not itemize their gear, but I can see from the photos that they traveled light: one small suitcase each strapped on to their bike’s luggage rack. Given the heft of Rastus and Ginger, packing light was necessary. I believe they brought their bikes on the ferry that docked at what is now Canada Place in Vancouver then took the CPR Princess Elaine to Nanaimo. It would be another twenty years before BC Ferries established the same routes to Nanaimo.

The Lodging: Auto Camps

There are still evidence of tiny cabins dotting the seaside on Vancouver Island. They were an invention that developed together with the expansion of the road network. I never knew what an auto camp was before I started reading the letters, but in 1939 they were everywhere. The sisters wrote to the proprietors of the auto camps along their route in advance ensuring they had a place to stay.

The Letters

Kitty and Clara wrote and received letters from their family daily, care of various post offices along their route. To the 21st century reader, the sisters’ address and the manner in which they write paints a veneer of white British middle-class privilege and youthful ease. Their letters are full of comic misspellings, nicknames, and devil-may-care kinder-pomp. In contrast to the casual and nonchalant attitude taken up in the letters, the sisters planned this trip carefully. Two young women cycle-touring the dirt roads of Vancouver Island was not a common sight in 1939, and the people they told had opinions about their adventure. The sisters maintained an attitude about their trip that strikes me as particularly modern; they didn’t seem to be especially influenced by people’s opinions of how to spend their leisure time.

These two were not ordinary.

I hope you will join me in part two of this blog as we recreate the ride Kitty and Clara embarked upon 86 years ago, compare the sights, and perhaps get to know these intrepid sisters just a little.

Snapshots of British Columbia’s Ghost Towns: Part 1—The Corbin Miners’ Strike

One of our most popular blog posts of all time examines the captivating story of northern British Columbia ghost town Anyox, a former company-owned mining community abandoned in 1935.

Anyox, B.C. (early 1900s)

This week, we bring you Part 1 in a two-part series exploring lesser-known British Columbia ghost town stories. To kick off the series, we’re taking a look at the Corbin Miners’ Strike of 1935.

Ghost Towns in Open Collections

Fragments of Corbin’s history, as well as those of other B.C. ghost towns are present throughout UBC Open Collections, including in the Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs, and the B.C. Historical Newspapers and B.C. Sessional Papers collections. These materials help to provide a richer picture of these once-bustling communities, illuminating both their prosaic and extraordinary events.

A distant view of Premier, B.C., now a ghost town (1925)

The early years of the British Columbia labour movement

As British Columbia became increasingly industrialized through the mid-1800s, workers often faced abysmal working conditions: unbearably long work days, inadequate wages, and no health or unemployment insurance, to name a few. In 1850, miners in Fort Rupert, B.C. chose to strike against the Hudson’s Bay Company for breaching their contract of employment. This would be the first of many miners’ strikes in B.C. throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, with some ending peacefully and others turning violent.

The Corbin Miners’ Strike of 1935 is a uniquely compelling tale in British Columbia labour history. While many labour movement stories tell of brave workers putting their bodies on the line, the fearless front line that led the Corbin Miners’ Strike was comprised not of the town’s miners, but of their wives.

Simmering tensions in Corbin

Corbin, B.C., located near the Alberta border on Ktunaxa territory, was founded in 1905. Owned and operated by Corbin Coke and Coal, the mining town suffered harsh winters made even more arduous by its isolation.

Scene at Corbin, B.C. (1909)

In 1935, after years of working in poor conditions for low wages, Corbin’s unionized coal miners decided to strike. Utilizing a common tactic of the time, Corbin Coke and Coal hired scabs—employees who had agreed to work despite the strike—rather than negotiating with the union.

Communications between the Corbin Miners’ Association and the Deputy Minister of Labour (January & February 1935)

Black Wednesday

As Corbin Coke and Coal knew they would face resistance to bringing in scabs, they contracted both private security services and the local police force to accompany their new hires in crossing the picket line. On the morning of April 17th, 1935, the striking miners and their wives set out to block the scabs from entering the worksite. The company’s small army of hired police and security encircled the strikers, and the women of Corbin, who held the frontline of the protest, stood face-to-face with a large snow plow.

The violence that ensued was shocking. The snow plow advanced at the line of women, but they were surrounded and had nowhere to go. First-person accounts describe the snow plow crushing women’s legs and even dragging one woman hundreds of feet. Police beat the protesters, causing broken bones and severe bruising. The horrific incident would become known as Black Wednesday.

Nelson Daily News (April 19th, 1935)

The events of Black Wednesday unsurprisingly brought publicity to the strikers’ plight. Nelson, B.C.’s local newspaper reported that miners from other Canadian communities planned to travel Corbin to march for May Day, an international day for workers’ rights, in solidarity with the striking miners. The strikers had also found a strong ally in Fernie MLA Tom Uphill, who advocated for the miners both to the government and on public radio.

Nelson Daily News (April 30th, 1935)

Despite this mounting public awareness, the sacrifices paid by the strikers, and especially the women of Corbin, were unsuccessful in swaying Corbin Coke and Coal. Less than one month later, the company closed the mine for good, and the town was subsequently abandoned.

Corbin, B.C. (1909)

The enduring spirit of Corbin, B.C.

Today, Corbin is a fascinating ghost town made more attractive by its beautiful surroundings, making it a popular travel destination for history buffs and outdoor enthusiasts alike. But the events of Black Wednesday have also established it as an important site in Canadian labour history, where its women are remembered as “militant participants in [British Columbia] labour struggles”.

Stay tuned…

… for our next blog post, where we dive into the history of Barkerville’s Chinatown.

View of storefronts in Barkerville (date unknown)

References

Burton, M. B. & Verzuh, R. (2016, September 8). Coal Mountain: Where women paid in blood. The Tyee. https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2016/09/08/Coal-Mountain/

Durtnall, B. M. (2023, October 22). Black Wednesday: Miners’ wives & the 1935 Corbin, B.C., strike. HubPages. https://discover.hubpages.com/education/Black-Wednesday-Miners-Wives-And-the-1935-Corbin-BC-Strike

BC Labour Heritage Centre. (n.d.). Working people: A history of labour in BC. https://www.labourheritagecentre.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/2025-Update-History-of-BC-and-Working-People-1840-1914-revised.pdf

Access Issues with AMS (American Mathematical Society) forcing users to login twice

Users trying to access AMS (American Mathematical Society) books or journals are currently being forced to login twice to access content.

After logging in via the library website and landing on the AMS page, AMS will send users to a ‘Access through your institution” page when trying to access full text. If you search for “UBC”  as your institution and login with your CWL you will gain access.

As a direct workaround to access or share an individual title, you can place this URL prefix in front of the AMS URL that you want to access: https://go.openathens.net/redirector/ubc.ca?url=

eResources is working with AMS to get this issue fixed ASAP.

2025 Professional Development Award Recipients

From left to right: Matthew Barrett, Kyra Wheatley, and Aleha McCauley.

UBC Library has two annual professional development awards for its staff, which are the Suzanne Dodson Award and Diana Lukin Johnston Award. UBC Library is pleased to announce that Matthew Barrett, Aleha McCauley and Kyra Wheatley were named this year’s award winners.

The awards were presented during the UBC Library Summer Recognition Awards Ceremony, held on Tuesday, June 10. Congratulations to this year’s professional development award recipients, and thank you to everyone who participated by submitting nominations.

Suzanne Dodson Award – Matthew Barrett

The Suzanne Dodson Award encourages Library Assistants to be at the top of their game and provides professional development funds to support those who demonstrate a commitment to their profession. Matthew Barrett is this year’s recipient and he will be starting his Master of Library and Information Studies degree at the UBC School of Information this September.

Diana Lukin Johnston Award – Aleha McCauley and Kyra Wheatley

The Diana Lukin Johnston Award supports professional development opportunities for librarians, which furthers their internal capacity to grow, explore and flourish. The two recipients for this year are Aleha McCauley and Kyra Wheatley.

Aleha will be participating in the Fostering Change Cohort Program led by the Association of College & Research Libraries, a cohort-based learning experience to equip librarians with the skills needed to lead and sustain transformative change.

Kyra will also be pursuing her Master of Library and Information Studies degree at the UBC School of Information. She is starting this September.

Congratulations to this year’s Professional Development Award Recipients!

Xwi7xwa Library hires first archivist

A photo of the interior of Xwi7xwa Library

When Jesse Carson joined Xwi7xwa Library earlier this year as its first full-time archivist, he was already familiar with some of the challenges—and the stacks of boxes—that awaited him.

Founded in 1993, Xwi7xwa Library was intended as a repository for both published and archival materials related to Indigenous communities external to UBC, as well as individuals and organizations at UBC like the First Nations House of Learning. Over the ensuing decades, these materials have accumulated at the library, but the boxes piled up without a full-time archivist to process them and manage the materials in a holistic way.

Enter the archivist

As Canada’s only Indigenous branch of an academic library, Xwi7xwa is recognized for its innovative services and community impact. In 2023, Julie Mitchell, the Associate University Librarian responsible for Xwi7xwa Library, was able to identify limited term funding for an archivist position at Xwi7xwa Library and successfully advocated for this role to be posted. In 2024, a call went out to fill a new appointment at the library—a two-year term position that would work jointly with the Head of Xwi7xwa Library and the University Archivist.

A photo of Jesse Carson

Photo: Xwi7xwa Archivist, Jesse Carson

The archival collections at Xwi7xwa include materials related to the First Nations House of Learning, the Indigenous Teacher Education Program (NITEP) at UBC, and the history of Xwi7xwa Library itself. Unlike published books, archival materials—such as meeting minutes, photographs, or personal notes—are unique, often irreplaceable, and not usually meant for circulation.

One of the primary concerns with published materials at Xwi7xwa Library is interrogating the source: “There’s a very active effort here to ensure that Indigenous communities and Indigenous peoples are represented in their own words and in their own ways,” says Carson.

Managing archival materials introduces a whole new set of considerations particularly around informed consent, data sovereignty and permissions. Part of Carson’s work will be to develop and recommend policies and procedures for not only the processing and preservation of Xwi7xwa Archives, but also the culturally appropriate handling of materials, managing access and implementing an Indigenous and decolonized approach to the archives.

Building a history

“I’ve been slowly going through everything and starting the process of accessioning, appraising and planning how to process and preserve these materials,” says Carson. “That’s probably going to be the lion’s share of the first year or two as far as managing the archives—catching up on that massive backlog.”

Asked whether he’s uncovered any hidden gems in those boxes, Carson notes that his favorite finds are usually not visual, but instead consist of correspondence and meeting minutes: “One of our larger collections is the history of Xwi7xwa Library itself. We have a 30-year history of people discussing what an Indigenous library at UBC is going to look like and the documentary history of those discussions… These records address a lot of interesting institutional history, both for UBC and for the First Nations House of Learning.”

The importance of honouring this history is echoed by Kayla Lar-Son, Acting Head of Xwi7xwa library.

“As acting head of the branch I often reflect on how Xwi7xwa is upholding the UBC Longhouse teachings, and thinking about what the original vision was for Xwi7xwa while also remaining relevant in today’s world,” says Lar-Son. “We are so incredibly fortunate to have Jesse acting as the inaugural archivist for Xwi7xwa library. His hiring allows for us to move closer to the original vision of the archives, and having materials accessible for all community needs. Having a dedicated archivist for the branch also allows for us to further honour the individuals whose academic and lives’ works are housed within our archives.”

 

A photo of Kayla Lar-Son looking at archival materials on shelves in Xwi7xwa Library

Photo: Acting Head of Xwi7xwa Library, Kayla Lar-Son

On representation and collaboration

Before joining the team as an archivist, Carson spent two years working at Xwi7xwa as a student archivist while completing his Master of Archival Studies at UBC’s School of Information.

“I recognize I am of a settler background and someone who is not Indigenous, and I think it certainly impacts the way that I do the work,” notes Carson, who also asked, as part of the hiring process, to make the position title reflect that transparency. As a result, the title was changed from Indigenous Archivist to Xwi7xwa Archivist.

There’s sometimes a view of archivists as solitary positions, but Carson says that’s not the case at Xwi7xwa, and the collaborative environment was a big reason he was excited to come back to the library. “The work that I’m doing is much easier and much better by virtue of having access to all the great people that I’m working with.”

Here for a Good Time, and a Long Time: Ephemera in Open Collections

Ephemera, by its very definition, was never meant to stick around. Defined as items that have been preserved despite the fact that they were not intended to be at their time of production, the term is used to describe commonplace paper objects like flyers, menus, event tickets, postcards, and more.

Valentine’s card (1919) from the Tremaine Arkley Croquet Collection

While some ephemera may seem kitschy or frivolous on the surface, it can also be a form of historical documentation, providing a glimpse into its period of creation. Ephemera can act as a portal to a bygone era, demonstrating the aesthetic, linguistic, and cultural trends of its time.

Broadside (1988) from the R. Mathison Collection

History & Context 

“Ephemera” etymologically originates from the Greek word “ephēmeros”, meaning “lasting only a day”. Usage of the word can be traced as far back as Aristotle’s works, and by the mid-1800’s, “ephemeral” had been widely adopted to describe generic, printed items.

Cigar label (after 1888) from the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection

The categorization of materials as ephemera is not as simple as it may seem. Scholars agree that its scope is ever-shifting, and that as cultural trends change, so does our definition of the term.

Archivist and writer Rick Prelinger argues that ephemeral objects become less ephemeral the more historical significance they’re prescribed. Nevertheless, the categorization endures, and special collections libraries and archives continue to preserve these “minor transient documents of everyday life”.

Ephemera in Open Collections

As one can imagine, ephemera from many different regions, eras, and social contexts exists within UBC Open Collections, providing additional context to the historical photographs and documentation with which it resides.

Menu from the Cabin Cafe (1912) from the Uno Langmann Family Collection of BC Photographs

Below, we take you on a tour through some of the ephemeral wonders of Open Collections.

Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection

The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection contains ephemera related to the lives of Chinese Canadians in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including letters, business records and even election ballots.

These items provide insight into the social and cultural values of Chinese Canadians at this time and illuminate the history of local Chinese families, businesses, and organizations.

Card for Pan-Pacific Women’s Conference (1937)

Also represented in the Chung Collection are the early years of the Canadian Pacific Railway company. Ephemera from this period includes menus, pamphlets, baggage tags, and travel tickets.

Ticket envelope (around 1938)

These items are often eye-catching and colourful, revealing the aesthetic sensibilities of their time. They also reveal the era’s prevailing cultural desires—to travel, to be worldly, to explore.

However, some ephemeral items related to the Canadian Pacific Railroad illuminate the darker nature of Canadian travel at this time, with several pamphlets and posters employing colonial, orientalist, and otherwise harmful racist tropes to advertise domestic and international journeys. These materials depict Indigenous and non-Western people as exotic or “other”, while insisting that settler Canadians are more than welcome to travel to their homelands. Just as ephemera can shed light on the past’s more innocuous trends, it can elucidate its problematic cultural mores, too.

Note: As with all content in Open Collections, inclusion of these materials in the Chung Collection is not an endorsement of their messaging. They have been retained for transparency and to demonstrate the social conditions of their time. 

R. Mathison Printing Collection

Another treasure trove of ephemera is the R. Mathison Collection. Robert Mathison Jr.’s Vancouver print shop produced materials for local businesses from 1886-1890.

Wall calendar advertising printing services (1886)

The collection includes business cards, advertisements, and raffle tickets, and enables its viewer to imagine the Vancouver business landscape of the late 1800’s. It also provides a fascinating look at the marketing trends of the time.

H. Colin Slim Stravinsky Collection

The H. Colin Slim Stravinsky Collection documents the life of Russian composer and conductor Igor Stravinsky through letters, scores, and photographs. Ephemera in this collection includes concert programs and sheet music, as well as Stravinsky memorabilia like stamps and postcards.

Sheet of 100 postage stamps depicting Igor Stravinsky (1982)

These materials are evidence of Stravinsky’s cultural impact, and, more broadly, of the enduring cultural impact of classical music during the early to mid 20th century.

The everlasting allure of ephemera

Whether you’re a history buff or a kitsch collector, an ephemera-guided journey through time can be a source of great wonder and delight. The value of these materials lies in their ability to illuminate the seemingly mundane, but nonetheless meaningful quotidian events of eras past.

Bumper sticker (between 1968-1973) from the Berkeley Poster Collection

While it may seem fundamentally contradictory, it’s safe to say that ephemera is here to stay.

“ATYPON – Access Denied” error impacting Wiley, Sage, AAS, Science Journal and more

Users will see a “ATYPON – Access Denied” error when trying to access a large number of publisher websites.

ATYPON is a platform provide that many publishers use to allow them to authenticate users. Multiple Universities are seeing this problem.

As a workaround, please use the OpenAthens Proxy by placing this text in front of the URL you are trying to access – https://proxy.openathens.net/login?qurl=

ATYPON is working on the issue and will get this resolved as soon as possible.

New Books at the Law Library – 25/06/17

LAW LIBRARY level 3: HV1559.C3 L37 2024
M.D. Lepofsky, Swimming Up Niagara Falls! The Battle to Get Disability Rights Added to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (CNIB Beyond Print, 2024).
Online access: https://doi.org/10.22329/wyaj.v39.8579

LAW LIBRARY level 3: KF3821 .H35 2025
M.A. Hall & D. Orentlicher, Health Care Law and Ethics in a Nutshell (West Academic, 2025).

LAW LIBRARY level 3: KF4290 .B87 2025
S.L. Burr, Entertainment Law in a Nutshell, 6th ed (West Academic, 2025).

LAW LIBRARY level 3: KF4550.Z9 W53 2025
T.E. Baker, Constitutional Analysis in a Nutshell, 4th ed (West Academic Publishing, 2025).

LAW LIBRARY level 3: KF5402 .G4 2025
R.M. Levin & J.S. Lubbers, Administrative Law and Process in a Nutshell, 7th ed (West Academic, 2025).

LAW LIBRARY level 3: KF8205 .C36 2025
W.C. Canby, Jr, American Indian Law in a Nutshell, 8th ed (West Academic, 2025).

Records management at UBC: What are university records and how do I manage them?

An illustration of a laptop, books, folders and papers, together against a blue background.

Excerpted and adapted from What does the Records Management Office do? on the UBC Records Management Office (RMO) blog.

Each time you write an email, buy material for your unit, or propose a new project in a departmental meeting, you’ve created a record. That email, that purchase requisition and payment receipt, and those meeting minutes are all types of records that may need to be referenced again at some point in the future.

Besides UBC’s human resources, records are one of the most valuable resources at UBC. They provide evidence of decision-making, detail rights and responsibilities, show legislative and institutional compliance and document our celebrations—in short, they represent all the work we do. UBC’s university records encompass all recorded information—physical and electronic—created through administrative activities. The Records Management Office (RMO) at UBC provides services that can help faculty and staff improve their record keeping practices.

Do I need to keep every record forever?

Records come in several flavours. In general, records can be:

  • transitory (temporary, not important after a while)
  • operational (important for years to satisfy administrative, government, audit or legal commitments), or
  • archival (important to the history of the unit and should be kept permanently at the University Archives).

At UBC, we don’t keep all of these records types indefinitely; instead, records are managed according to UBC’s Retention Schedules, which are published on the RMO website. A Retention Schedule guide is available here (insert link to blog post)

How do I know what types of records I have?

The Records Management Office can help you identify any records of archival value and can work with your unit to conduct annual record surveys to identify what types of records currently exist within your unit, and what to do with them. Reach out to the RMO team to get started.

Looking for more records management tips and best practices? Find more on the RMO website.


The Records Management Office (RMO) at UBC provides a unified approach to records management, supports overall effective information management, and leads the transition to electronic records management at UBC in an efficient, secure, and sustainable manner. Learn more about available services, training and best practices on the RMO website.

How language revitalization boosts Indigenous health

New research shows that reviving Indigenous languages may do more than preserve culture—it may also improve public health.