Photographs of the first climb up Clague Mountain by the Kitimat Outdoor Club (1956). Also pictured is Babine Lake from the look out, a muskrat habitat at Kildala School, and finally an image of the outside of the Kitimat Hotel.
1 photograph print : b&w ; 20 x 25cm
1 photograph print : b&w ; 13 x 9cm
4 photograph prints : b&w ; 9 x 13cm
1 photograph print : b&w ; 13 x 18cm
Custodial History
Photographs taken by Gisela Mendel in her role as museum curator.
Scope and Content
Photographs of the first climb up Clague Mountain by the Kitimat Outdoor Club (1956). Also pictured is Babine Lake from the look out, a muskrat habitat at Kildala School, and finally an image of the outside of the Kitimat Hotel.
7 photograph prints : color ; 12.5 x 18cm
1 photograph print : color ; 13 x 15cm
2 photograph prints : color ; 8 x 11.5cm
1 photograph print : color ; 6 x 11cm
1 photograph print : color ; 4 x 4cm
1 photograph print : color ; 12.5 x 9cm
Custodial History
Photographs taken by Gisela Mendel in her role as museum curator.
Scope and Content
Images taken from atop Clague Mountain looking down on Kitimat.
Notes
71.75.4 and 71.75.4.0 to 13 (Missing 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9)
This fonds consists of materials created or collected by Gisela Mendel throughout her time in British Columbia, particularly during her tenure as the Museum's first curator (1969-1981). It is divided into three series:
Series 1: Photographs - approx. 330 photographs, negatives, and slides taken by Gisela Mendel, showing the local area, flora and fauna, Museum displays, Kitamaat Village and its residents, traditional Haisla cultural activities, etc.
Series 2: Kitimat Flora Collection - 12 boxes of pressed and dried flora from the local area, with associated information.
Series 3: Logbooks and scrapbooks - logbooks from Clague and Squirrel Mountains (1957-1969), accounts of Mendel family outings (1963-1968), scrapbook/photo album from Stikine road trip (1999), textual material and photos on regional hiking rails from binder on assembled by Gisela.
Series 4: Maps - 23 regional maps collected and annotated by Gisela.
ca. 10.5 cm textual material (logbooks, scrapbooks)
23 maps
History / Biographical
Gisela Heimbach Mendel was the first curator of the Kitimat Museum and Archives (then known as the Kitimat Centennial Museum). She was born in Germany in 1922 and worked as a pharmacist in East Prussia when the Russians invaded. She fled the Russians and immigrated to Canada in 1952 with her husband, Hans, and their children. Unhappy with the geography of Southern Ontario - in her words, she was a "mountain woman" - she chose Kitimat as her home.
In her earliest years in Kitimat (beginning 1956), Gisela collected botanical specimens for the Royal BC Museum in Victoria. She served as the first curator of the Kitimat Centennial Museum from the building's opening in 1969 until her retirement in 1981, when she and Hans moved to Smithers. Gisela was responsible for not only showcasing local art and history, but building a strong and varied permanent collection of artifacts and archival items upon which future curators could build.
As she was working in a relatively young community, town history was not considered a priority so much as regional history, natural history and Haisla First Nations cultural traditions, which Gisela documented with great intensity. One of her projects was creating an ethno-botanical dictionary with the help of Haisla elders, identifying the Haisla names and traditional uses for various plants. In 1972, the Northern Sentinel reported that each weekend Gisela made the rounds of her secret botanical hunting grounds to replace the display of floral specimens in her exhibits. She was a tremendous record-keeper and journalist, had a great life of the outdoors, and developed many close friendships in Kitimat and Kitamaat Village. Her thirst for information was incredible, and the Museum and the community benefitted immensely from her passion for gathering and recording knowledge. In the 1990s she received the Award of Merit from the BC Museums Association in recognition of her work. She passed away in 2008.
Custodial History
Materials in this fonds were created by Gisela Mendel during her time as Museum Curator, or donated by her, her family members, or other community members following her retirement.
Scope and Content
This fonds consists of materials created or collected by Gisela Mendel throughout her time in British Columbia, particularly during her tenure as the Museum's first curator (1969-1981). It is divided into three series:
Series 1: Photographs - approx. 330 photographs, negatives, and slides taken by Gisela Mendel, showing the local area, flora and fauna, Museum displays, Kitamaat Village and its residents, traditional Haisla cultural activities, etc.
Series 2: Kitimat Flora Collection - 12 boxes of pressed and dried flora from the local area, with associated information.
Series 3: Logbooks and scrapbooks - logbooks from Clague and Squirrel Mountains (1957-1969), accounts of Mendel family outings (1963-1968), scrapbook/photo album from Stikine road trip (1999), textual material and photos on regional hiking rails from binder on assembled by Gisela.
Series 4: Maps - 23 regional maps collected and annotated by Gisela.
8 photograph prints : b&w ; 7 x 10.5cm
12 photograph prints : b&w ; 8 x 8cm
7 photograph prints : b&w ; 12.5 x 9cm
1 photograph print : b&w ; 7.5 x 6.5cm
Custodial History
Photographs taken by Gisela Mendel in her role as museum curator.
Scope and Content
Photographs of David Cordellas house ; Beaver Pond ; Schack close to Minette bay ; Various Fossils ; Copper River Fossil Beds.
Notes
76.15.1 to 14 , 76.15.15.2 to 5 , 76.15.16.14 to 16 , 76.15.17 to 27 (Missing 76.15.21 to 23 and 25)
: Series number assigned as is due to these photographs being found at a later time after the collection was already entered into the database.
Photographs show a log structure at Raley Creek (Jan 1980), Wadeene River Trapper's Cabin (Jan 1980), Eurocan pollution from Fire Mountain (11 Nov 1979), and Alcan from the Kitamaat Village (Feb 1980).
Photographs taken by Gisela Mendel in her role as museum curator.
Scope and Content
Photographs show a log structure at Raley Creek (Jan 1980), Wadeene River Trapper's Cabin (Jan 1980), Eurocan pollution from Fire Mountain (11 Nov 1979), and Alcan from the Kitamaat Village (Feb 1980).
Various types of wild plants in Kitimat such as Twisted Stalk, Queen's Cup, Fairy Bells, Baneberry, Elderberry, White Baneberry, White Heather, Rose Hips, Red-osier Dogwood, Wax Berry, Red Huckleberry, Thimble berry, Alaska Blueberries, Bunchberries, Cranberries, Sitka Mountain Ash, Creeping raspberry, and Mountain cranberry.
Photograph taken by Gisela Mendel in her role as museum curator.
Scope and Content
Various types of wild plants in Kitimat such as Twisted Stalk, Queen's Cup, Fairy Bells, Baneberry, Elderberry, White Baneberry, White Heather, Rose Hips, Red-osier Dogwood, Wax Berry, Red Huckleberry, Thimble berry, Alaska Blueberries, Bunchberries, Cranberries, Sitka Mountain Ash, Creeping raspberry, and Mountain cranberry.
Comprehensive collection of dried plants with names and info collected from Kitimat and surrounding area. Includes black binder with lists of the collected plants, as well as some additional samples.
The Kitimat Flora Collection was assembled by Gisela Mendel during her tenure as the Museum's first curator (1969-1981). Gisela had a lifelong interest in nature and the outdoors and knew the medicinal properties of many plants from working as a pharmacist in Germany. During her early years in Kitimat, she collected botanical specimens to send to the Royal BC Museum in Victoria and documented a new species of fern. As Curator, she identified natural history as a key area of focus for the new Kitimat Centennial Museum. The Northern Sentinel reported in 1972 that she gathered new floral specimens each weekend to replenish displays at the Museum. One of her largest projects was the creation of an ethno-botanical dictionary with the help of Haisla elders from Kitamaat Village, identifying the Haisla names and traditional uses for various local plants.
Custodial History
Collected by Gisela Mendel.
Scope and Content
Comprehensive collection of dried plants with names and info collected from Kitimat and surrounding area. Includes black binder with lists of the collected plants, as well as some additional samples.
