Settling In: Highlighting 50 Years of Kitimat's History Exhibition, was shown at the Kitimat Museum and Archives in 2003. "To the youngsters, Kitimat presents a pleasing blend of modern, urban, recreational facilities in a wild-west, wilderness setting. To the adults, it offers physical grandeur, unexcelled hunting and fishing, neighbourliness, dependence, and the genuine friendships of a new community." Canadian Geographical Journal 1959 What makes a town? What makes Kitimat unique? In the final analysis, Kitimat citizens have made the community. This exhibition attempts to show the public face of Kitimat.
Settling In: Highlighting 50 Years of Kitimat's History Exhibition, was shown at the Kitimat Museum and Archives in 2003. "To the youngsters, Kitimat presents a pleasing blend of modern, urban, recreational facilities in a wild-west, wilderness setting. To the adults, it offers physical grandeur, unexcelled hunting and fishing, neighbourliness, dependence, and the genuine friendships of a new community." Canadian Geographical Journal 1959 What makes a town? What makes Kitimat unique? In the final analysis, Kitimat citizens have made the community. This exhibition attempts to show the public face of Kitimat.
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 opening to the Kitimat Yacht Club basin. Sailboats and the Alcan dock in the distance.
