Slide showing the firehall at smeltersite. Firetruck is visible in the center, and to its left is a target on a tree. To the left is also a building and other equipment. Behind, there are other buildings and powerlines, with the forest even further back.
James McNay was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, on January 31, 1907. Between 1951 and 1953, he worked in the payroll department for Alcan. He had to leave his wife Effie and his two young daughters, Margaret and Diane, aged 6 and 5 in 1951, at home in Surrey, B.C., during his 3-4 month stints in Kitimat. To fill some of his free time and show his family where he was and what Kitimat was like, he spent many hours walking in the area with a 35mm Kodak camera. He photographed the scenic beauty of the area and parts of the construction of both the smelters and the town. He died in Surrey on August 7, 1983.
Custodial History
Donated by Margaret McNay. Images were taken by her father and sent to their family in Surrey in the 1950s.
Scope and Content
Slide showing the firehall at smeltersite. Firetruck is visible in the center, and to its left is a target on a tree. To the left is also a building and other equipment. Behind, there are other buildings and powerlines, with the forest even further back.
Jamieson came to Kitimat from Vancouver to work on the Alcan project in 1952. With his first pay cheque he bought a small "Pony Kodak" camera at the local store (Hudson Bay?), and started taking coloured slides of the Kitimat from 1952-1953. Left Kitimat at the end of August 1953 to move to Montreal.
Scope and Content
Slide of "hotsprings" (smoldering fire) behind sandhill.
Photograph showing a large row of men using many buckets of water to put out a bushfire. An old model of fire engine can be seen off in the background, with many fallen and burnt trees.
Photograph showing a large row of men using many buckets of water to put out a bushfire. An old model of fire engine can be seen off in the background, with many fallen and burnt trees.
Jamieson came to Kitimat from Vancouver to work on the Alcan project in 1952. With his first pay cheque he bought a small "Pony Kodak" camera at the local store (Hudson Bay?), and started taking coloured slides of the Kitimat from 1952-1953. Left Kitimat at the end of August 1953 to move to Montreal.
Scope and Content
Slide of clearing fires in neighbourhood A at townsite of Kitimat.
Photograph of a man in a red coat firing a rifle. Appears to be a rifle range, there are board walks behind them. Two other men in red coats are to the left, one only slightly visible at the edge. Another man in a white coat is on the right. Background is thick forest.
From the years 1953-1958, Mike Kinnear took photos during his school years, until graduation, while working for Fred Ryan Ltd. after school and holidays. Photos for him was a hobby, and he took many photos of the smelter and townsite as it grew around him. Mike also took a number of photos for the Kitimat Northern Sentinel, during the Ken Brumley and Pixie Meldrum years as editors. Mike and his family left Kitimat in 1958, but he spent the best part of 40 years in the photographic field, mainly in the retail/wholesale part of the photo industry.
Custodial History
Donated by Margaret and Mike Kinnear.
Scope and Content
Photograph of a man in a red coat firing a rifle. Appears to be a rifle range, there are board walks behind them. Two other men in red coats are to the left, one only slightly visible at the edge. Another man in a white coat is on the right. Background is thick forest.
