"To glimpse this diversity is to feel some of the meaning of being Canadian."?R. Yorke Edwards
R. Yorke Edwards was a pioneer in the field of heritage interpretation in Canada. First with BC Parks and then with the Canadian Wildlife Service, throughout the 1960s Edwards developed an approach to the interpretation of natural and cultural history wi …

This book brings to light the fascinating story of a community and place: Tod Inlet, near Victoria, BC. From the original inhabitants from the Tsartlip First Nation to the lost community of immigrant workers from China and India, from a company town to the development of parkland, the wealth of history in this rich area reflects much of the history …

"Our well beloved dead who died that we might live."

In the town of Merritt, in British Columbia's Nicola Valley, stands a granite cenotaph erected in memory of 44 men who died soldiering in the First World War. Those men came from a Nicola Valley that had been suddenly and dramatically settled just a decade before by the will of railway executives …

The vivid, personal accounts of four women who lived and travelled as settlers in early British Columbia.

??a cloud passing away from the face of the moon revealed a band of wild horses bearing down upon us at a full gallop. As they came near and saw us they divided into two groups, passing by on either side. Had the moon not come out they would pro …

An intimate portrait of privilege and struggle, scandal and accolade, from the Old World to the new colonies of Vancouver's Island and British Columbia.

At the age of 33, Sarah Crease left her home in England to travel with her young family to a farflung outpost of the British Empire on the Pacific coast of North America. The detailed journals, lett …

In 1858, reports of gold found on the Fraser River spurred tens of thousands of people?mostly men?to rush into the territory we now call British Columbia. They came with visions of fortune in their eyes. The lucky ones struck it rich, but most left penniless or died trying for the motherlode. Some stayed behind and helped build the colony and the p …

First published in 1965, The Indian History of British Columbia: The Impact of the White Man remains an important book thanks to Wilson Duff's rigorous scholarship. It is an excellent overview of the history of the interaction between the First Nations of British Columbia and the colonial cultures that came to western North America. In its 55 years …

In 1913, the BC government hired G.B. Milligan and E.B. Hart to each lead a small expedition that spent 18 months exploring the northeastern part of British Columbia. These expeditions helped provide the first detailed information of this region. Unfortunately, World War I began just as these men completed their work, and the information they gathe …

Gerry Andrews (1903–2005) had many adventures in his 102 years. He was a rural school teacher, a forester, a soldier and a surveyor. His developments in aerial photography dramatically changed forestry in BC in the late 1930s and assisted the Allies in the D-Day landings. As BC's surveyor-general from 1951 to 1968, he supervised the mapping of th …

In 1934, in the middle of the Great Depression, millionaire Charles Bedaux spent $250,000 in an attempt to cross northern British Columbia in five motorized vehicles. The Bedaux Expedition ranks as one of the most audacious and unusual events in the province's history. Bannock and Beans tells the story of this extravagant failure from the perspecti …

Frank Swannell contributed greatly to the shape of British Columbia by surveying and mapping large portions of the province over three decades. He also took thousands of photographs and kept detailed journals of his travels. In his second book on Swannell's adventures, Jay Sherwood presents central BC through the eyes and words of one of BC's most …

In Up-Coast, award-winning author Richard A. Rajala offers the first comprehensive history of the forest industry on British Columbia's central and north coast. He integrates social, political, and environmental themes to depict the relationship of coastal people and communities to the forest from the late 19th century to the present. The account b …

In the mid 1840s, 50 years after first contact with Europeans, the Songhees people amalgamated on a reserve across the harbour from the newly built Fort Victoria. Grant Keddie tells the story of the old Songhees Reserve through the eyes of outsiders, expressed in newspaper reports and private journals, and depicted in sketches, paintings and photog …

The men who worked British Columbia's mines have passed into history. Coal Dust In My Blood is a moving account of one coal miner's life, in plain, evocative language. But this book is much more than a personal memoir. Bill Johnstone's mining career spanned several decades and he worked in a wide variety of positions. His broad insights reveal impo …

Historian Peter Corley-Smith chronicles the provincial museum's accomplishments from 1886, when 30 prominent citizens petitioned the government to establish a provincial museum, to its centenary in 1986. From its modest roots, the museum has grown to become one of the most renowned in North America. But this is a story about the people with the vis …