Fonds contains documents, photographs, photocopies, and maps collected by Arvid Hardin throughout his ten years in Kitimat. Areas of focus include high school life, the Kitimat Army Cadets, and the creation of Hirsch Creek Park, the Kitimat Community Centre, and the Kitimat trail system.
Arvid Hardin (born c. 1941) lived in Kitimat from 1953 to 1963. He graduated from Mount Elizabeth Secondary School in 1959, served as an active member of the Kitimat Army Cadet Corps, and was involved with the creation of Hirsch Creek Provincial Park. Around 2008, he collaborated with E.E. 'Bill' Duyvewaardt and other former Kitimat Cadets to write a 'historical profile' of the Cadets and their activities.
Custodial History
Materials from accession 2009.15 were donated by Arvid Hardin to the Museum on June 10th, 2009.
Materials from accession 2022.18 were donated by Arvid Hardin on May 10th, 2022.
Scope and Content
Fonds contains documents, photographs, photocopies, and maps collected by Arvid Hardin throughout his ten years in Kitimat. Areas of focus include high school life, the Kitimat Army Cadets, and the creation of Hirsch Creek Park, the Kitimat Community Centre, and the Kitimat trail system.
Conservation
Many pages old and yellowing. Staples, paper clips, and other metal fasteners removed from all papers in March & May 2022.
Storage Location
Box 39
Photo storage
Related Material
Artifacts donated by Arvid Hardin include a proclamation (2009.15.6), gazette (2009.15.7), and high school certificate (2009.15.11).
Collection of slides, photos, and documents from John McLachlan regarding early smelter and Kitimat.
Slides - Three Kodak Carousels - colour
10 8 x 10 photos colour & b&w
Photocopies - Offer of Employment
Letter of Acceptance, Personnel
Introduction Form, Decaration of Regular
Employment, Job Description, three
colour photographs and paper framed b&w photograph
John McLachlan arrived in Kitimat in 1953 as a 23-year-old immigrant and went on to work at Alcan's Property Engineering Department for almost 40 years. He started out as a land surveyor and cartographer in the town's early years and ended his career as a Senior Legal Draftsmen.
Custodial History
Jean Lunny
Scope and Content
Collection of slides, photos, and documents from John McLachlan regarding early smelter and Kitimat.
Slides - Three Kodak Carousels - colour
10 8 x 10 photos colour & b&w
Photocopies - Offer of Employment
Letter of Acceptance, Personnel
Introduction Form, Decaration of Regular
Employment, Job Description, three
colour photographs and paper framed b&w photograph
Two photographs: Matt Gooding's boat that was build in Arvida and shipped to Kitimat showing in the Kitimat harbour and "My first fishin in the Kitimat River with Doug Cohoon."
1 photograph print : b&w ; 3 x 5
1 photograph print : b&w ; 9.5 x 6.5
Scope and Content
Two photographs: Matt Gooding's boat that was build in Arvida and shipped to Kitimat showing in the Kitimat harbour and "My first fishin in the Kitimat River with Doug Cohoon."
Collection of photos from Kemano (originals and copies). Very early & interesting photos of Morrison-Knudsen Construction in Kemano showing camps, harbour, powerhouse, tunnel, transmission line, skid, camps at Horestky, camps throughout the transmission line.
Collection of photos from Kemano (originals and copies). Very early & interesting photos of Morrison-Knudsen Construction in Kemano showing camps, harbour, powerhouse, tunnel, transmission line, skid, camps at Horestky, camps throughout the transmission line.
Electrician Bill Frahler wired approximately 2000 houses in Kitimat camps and townsite between 1954 and 1958, working first for Johnson-Crooks then Straits Construction, both U.S.contractors.
Gabriel (Gabor) Nyeste was one of the leaders of the Scouts of the First Kitimat Troop (Boy Scouts). He moved to Kitimat to work on the Alcan project and left in the early 60s. He passed away in Kamloops in July 2020.
Custodial History
Donated by Gabriel Nyeste, Aug 6 1983.
Scope and Content
Pictures, clippings, letters of early Girl Guide and Boy Scout Movement in Kitimat, B.C. 1955-1961.
Newspapers, correspondence, information compiled by the Northern Sentinel Press Ltd. in the creation of newspaper articles. Information compiled from Kitimat General Hospital Society, BC Centennial Committee, Kitimat Public Health, Canadian Red Cross, Lehndorff (City Centre Mall owners), Canadian Association of Smelter and Allied Workers - Local No.1, United Steelworkers of America, Kitamaat Village Council, District of Kitimat, Kitimat Community Council, Kitimat Chamber of Commerce, Kitimat Scholarship Association, Board of School Trusteees, Delta King photographs, Kitimat Steelworkers Union Members photographs, Miss Kitimat photographs.
Given to museum by Rosalina Cordeiro - Editor of the Northern Sentinel Press Ltd.
Scope and Content
Newspapers, correspondence, information compiled by the Northern Sentinel Press Ltd. in the creation of newspaper articles. Information compiled from Kitimat General Hospital Society, BC Centennial Committee, Kitimat Public Health, Canadian Red Cross, Lehndorff (City Centre Mall owners), Canadian Association of Smelter and Allied Workers - Local No.1, United Steelworkers of America, Kitamaat Village Council, District of Kitimat, Kitimat Community Council, Kitimat Chamber of Commerce, Kitimat Scholarship Association, Board of School Trusteees, Delta King photographs, Kitimat Steelworkers Union Members photographs, Miss Kitimat photographs.
Notes
Was 992.6 Photographs described at the item level.
Collection of items from the Kitimat Chinese Canadian Association, showing activities, events, and community involvement, Photos + albums, VHS videos, and letters.
The Kitimat Chinese Association was founded in 1985. Their purpose was to strengthen ties between the Chinese-Canadian community and the rest of Kitimat by sharing Chinese culture and contributing to community events. They held three annual gatherings - Chinese New Year, Christmas, and a summer picnic - and participated in other activities such as Multicultural Day, Canada Day, and Canada Cancer Society's Relay of Life. The association disbanded in December 2008 as most of the members got older and retired.
Custodial History
Donated by Huey-lin Wu
Scope and Content
Collection of items from the Kitimat Chinese Canadian Association, showing activities, events, and community involvement, Photos + albums, VHS videos, and letters.
Collection of Lyle Wilson artifact and photo donations. Includes a folder containing documents pertaining to donated items. Also includes a book "The Haisla People" with infomation about the Haisla and families and clans, and another book "Paint."
Lyle was born into the Beaver Clan but was adopted into his father's Eagle Clan in a move to bolster the group's diminishing numbers. The event had an immense impact on Lyle's life and inspired much of his art. In 2012, Lyle created a solo exhibition Paint, a life-long exploration of Haisla art, language and culture. Lyle's primary artistic influence was his uncle, Sammy Robinson. Lyle would watch the older man and copy him, whittling his own pieces. But it wasn't until Lyle attended the University of British Columbia (UBC) that he contemplated art as a potential profession. He initially focused on art education but found the studio more alluring. Eventually, Lyle left UBC to study printmaking at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design, where he developed a personal style in graphics and three-dimensional wood and jewelry compositions. Lyle was an artist in residence at the UBC Museum of Anthropology (MOA). His pieces are shown at institutions in Canada and Japan.
Scope and Content
Collection of Lyle Wilson artifact and photo donations. Includes a folder containing documents pertaining to donated items. Also includes a book "The Haisla People" with infomation about the Haisla and families and clans, and another book "Paint."
Notes
Lyle Wilson has made this large donation over many years to have a lasting presence at the Kitimat Museum & Archives. Documentation is 2021.26 and artifacts each have individual accession numbers and records with locations identified.
996.1.1
2001.1.1,3-9,12-14
2001.31
2001.31.1
2006.9
2006.18
2007.21
2008.11
2009.21
2016.65.2
2018.19.1-4
2019.2.1-3
Fonds consists of two files of materials collected and produced by the Kitimat Valley Naturalists:
F1) Contents of the secretary-treasurer's duotang, 1996-1998. Includes meeting minutes, correspondence, receipts, financial documents, mailing lists, 1997 annual report, photocopied map, events schedule, Federation of BC Naturalists membership info, sign-up sheet for Douglas Channel boat trip, correspondence from Creston Valley Wildlife Area, materials re: Gisela Mendel Native Plant Garden, draft write-up for Iron Oxbow Wildlife Viewing Area along the Kitimat River, and ephemera from the inside front cover of the duotang (receipt from Fed. of BC Naturalists, business cards for Aurora Charters and Reid Crowther Consulting Engineers).
F2) Materials related to Pine Creek Protective Covenant, 2003-2014. This covenant was established by Rio Tinto Alcan, the Haisla Nation, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, to protect the Pine Creek hiking trail and its watercourse near Minette Bay. Folder includes correspondence, signage text, Land Title Act forms, maps, and a Master Watercourse Crossing List from Coastal GasLink.
The Kitimat Valley Naturalists are a non-profit organization with the goal of learning about and enjoying the natural history of the Kitimat Valley. They were founded in 1996 and are still active as of 2023. Their projects include an annual Christmas bird count, construction of bat condos, monitoring amphibian numbers, and mapping eelgrass beds in the Douglas Channel.
Custodial History
Items were donated by Susan and Walter Thorne, longtime members of the Kitimat Valley Naturalists, on February 16th 2023. The fonds was arranged and described by Museum staff in April 2023.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of two files of materials collected and produced by the Kitimat Valley Naturalists:
F1) Contents of the secretary-treasurer's duotang, 1996-1998. Includes meeting minutes, correspondence, receipts, financial documents, mailing lists, 1997 annual report, photocopied map, events schedule, Federation of BC Naturalists membership info, sign-up sheet for Douglas Channel boat trip, correspondence from Creston Valley Wildlife Area, materials re: Gisela Mendel Native Plant Garden, draft write-up for Iron Oxbow Wildlife Viewing Area along the Kitimat River, and ephemera from the inside front cover of the duotang (receipt from Fed. of BC Naturalists, business cards for Aurora Charters and Reid Crowther Consulting Engineers).
F2) Materials related to Pine Creek Protective Covenant, 2003-2014. This covenant was established by Rio Tinto Alcan, the Haisla Nation, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, to protect the Pine Creek hiking trail and its watercourse near Minette Bay. Folder includes correspondence, signage text, Land Title Act forms, maps, and a Master Watercourse Crossing List from Coastal GasLink.
Notes
Three reports collected by the KVN - "An Assessment of the Kitimat Iron Oxbow Proposed Wildlife Viewing Area," "Blue Carbon - The Case for the Conservation and Enhancement of Estuarine Processes and Sediments in BC," and "Coastal Wetlands Habitat Assessment and Classification for Northwestern British Columbia" - have been added to the Museum's Reference Library.
Conservation
Removed from original duotang/folders. Staples removed.
Storage Location
Box 29
Arrangement
F1) has been left in original order, apart from ephemera which was removed from the inside cover of the duotang.
F2) has been arranged in roughly chronological order.
Alice Dicker's father, Benard, came to Canada to work in 1955. He was a forman D-shift for Alcan. He married Anna in 1959. Alice and her sister Claudia were born in Kitimat and the family lived here until 1969, at which time they returned to Germany.
Custodial History
Alice Dicker Sent this Collection of 41 photographs from Hechingen, Germany.
Scope and Content
41 photographs of Kitimat construction and life, for example: The garbage gobbler, snow days, parades, signs, hospital beach, Nechako candy store
