The fonds consists of minutes, financial records, correspondence, constitutions, and files pertaining to the Arts and Crafts Fairs, the creation of K.O.A.T.A. and a Juried Art Show. Also includes 4 rubber stamps, and an album containing clippings, pamphlets and photos, gallary forms, Kitimat Community Arts Council logo, and a guest book.
Founded in 1970, incorporated in 1971, the role of the Kitimat Community Arts Council was to increase and broaden the opportunities for Kitimat citizens to enjoy and to participate in cultural and creative arts activities. Some of these activities include Arts and Crafts Fairs, sponsoring cultural performances and lobbying for funding for the Mount Elizabeth Theatre building. The council also sponsored K.A.O.T.A., a store selling local arts and crafts. The council disbanded in 1994.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of minutes, financial records, correspondence, constitutions, and files pertaining to the Arts and Crafts Fairs, the creation of K.O.A.T.A. and a Juried Art Show. Also includes 4 rubber stamps, and an album containing clippings, pamphlets and photos, gallary forms, Kitimat Community Arts Council logo, and a guest book.
Notes
Title based on the contents of the fonds. 2 boxes + guest book.
The fonds includes minutes, correspondence, reports and plans, arts and crafts festival publicity, constitution, financial records, and scrapbook of the Kitimat Crafts Alive Society.
Kitimat Crafts Alive Society was formed in 1980. Its purposes included the promotion of arts and crafts in Kitimat by hosting and arts and crafts festival twice a year. The Society became inactive in 1983.
Scope and Content
The fonds includes minutes, correspondence, reports and plans, arts and crafts festival publicity, constitution, financial records, and scrapbook of the Kitimat Crafts Alive Society.
Photos and blueprints created to record the building of the Alcan Smelter site, original townsite. collection includes negative of Prime Minister Diefenbaker with potline workers.
Other items include Formation of Commission By Law documents, Correspondance, Meetings documents, Maps and Land Use Plans, Annual Heritage Tea 1994 photos (12), Hirch Creek Field Trip photo, Member Lists, Sitka Spruce park opening and stamp proposal, Radley Park sign proposal, Corduroy Road photos and related material, Points of Interest Signs documents, Designated Heritage Sites Registry 1992-1995, Louise and Bianca Chioccarello with giant stump near Chamber photos (4), Early Construction Photos, Photo List, Heritage Week Flag documents and clippings.
Photos and blueprints created to record the building of the Alcan Smelter site, original townsite. collection includes negative of Prime Minister Diefenbaker with potline workers.
Other items include Formation of Commission By Law documents, Correspondance, Meetings documents, Maps and Land Use Plans, Annual Heritage Tea 1994 photos (12), Hirch Creek Field Trip photo, Member Lists, Sitka Spruce park opening and stamp proposal, Radley Park sign proposal, Corduroy Road photos and related material, Points of Interest Signs documents, Designated Heritage Sites Registry 1992-1995, Louise and Bianca Chioccarello with giant stump near Chamber photos (4), Early Construction Photos, Photo List, Heritage Week Flag documents and clippings.
The Kitimat Heritage Advisory Commission was created in the mid-1970's by the Disstrict of Kitimat to protect and preserve the heritage of the town of Kitimat. The Commission consisted of one District Council Member, the Museum Curator (or Executive Director) and volunteers from the community.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of historical photographs and an aluminum plaque for the former Hudson's Bay store located at Smeltersite.
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.
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.
The fonds consists of the diary of George Anderson (1892-1899, 1921-1924) when he was in Kitamaat. The fonds also includes the 1892 diary of Cora Anderson.
George Anderson grew up in Ontario and, with his wife, Cora, came to Kitamaat in 1891 as lay missionaries. They were the first permanent white settlers in the area. They established a residential home for First Nation students, administered the local school and were responsible for providing religious services to the Haisla peoples until an ordained minister arrived in the area.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of the diary of George Anderson (1892-1899, 1921-1924) when he was in Kitamaat. The fonds also includes the 1892 diary of Cora Anderson.
Notes
Title based on contents of fonds. For conservation reasons, researchers are requested to use a photocopy of the original diary.
The fonds consists of Clague's correspondence with Jennie Lomas of Duncan, BC.
4 folders
1-1 Herbert Clague, correspondence, 1910
1-2 Herbert Clague, correspondence, 1911
1-3 Herbert Clague, correspondence, 1910
1-4 Herbert Clague, correspondence (typescript), 1911
Herbert (Bert) Clague was born in Sheffield, England, and gained a certificate in practical metallurgy from Sheffield University. In 1906, he came to Canada, first working in Montreal and Prince Rupert. He established his permanent home in Duncan, BC in 1910. Clague articled as a BC Surveyor and, during the summers of 1910 and 1911, conducted provincial government surveys in the Kitimat Valley. In 1912, he married Jennie Lomas of Duncan, BC. Clague Mountain in the Kitimat area is named in his honour.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of Clague's correspondence with Jennie Lomas of Duncan, BC.
4 folders
1-1 Herbert Clague, correspondence, 1910
1-2 Herbert Clague, correspondence, 1911
1-3 Herbert Clague, correspondence, 1910
1-4 Herbert Clague, correspondence (typescript), 1911
Notes
Title based on the contents of the fonds. Typescripts of the correspondence are available.
The fonds consists of correspondence of Margaret Butcher to various family members describing her life in Kitamaat (Kitimat) and actibities at the Elizabeth Long Memorial Home.
Margaret Butcher emigrated to Canada around 1915. In 1916, she accepted a nursing position at the Kitamaat Girls Home (later the Elizabeth Long Memorial Home) a facility in Kitamaat supported by the Women's Missionary Society (Methodist) of British Columbia. She remained in Kitimat until 1919, when she moved to California.
Scope and Content
The fonds consists of correspondence of Margaret Butcher to various family members describing her life in Kitamaat (Kitimat) and actibities at the Elizabeth Long Memorial Home.
Notes
Title based on the contents of the fonds. Copies from originals held in the BC Archives and Records Service (Add.MSS 362) : Photocopies 1983
Donor requested that copying be restricted to a few pages for research use, and that direct requests for complete copies be sent to the Provincial Archives. Copyright remains with Ms. Butcher's literary heirs. (See accession file)
300 digital photographs : colour ; various sizes received via e-mail 2018/09/13, transfered to server
History / Biographical
After fighting in WWII in Holland and seeing action, Walter Turkenburg was offered to go anywhere and he chose the West Coast of Canada, Vancouver. He arrived not speaking any English, and at some point made it to Kitimat where he worked on the Aluminum project (official employment status unknown). After working in Kitimat, Walter made his way back to Vancouver where he met his wife, Faye. Faye was from Saskatchewan where the couple ultimately ended up living.
Custodial History
Jerry Turkenburg sent these images to Phil Germuth, who then (with permission) sent them to the Museum. Jerry Turkenburg is the son of Walter Turkenburg.
Scope and Content
Colour photographs - 300 (digital images only.) Photographs of smeltersite, town construction, etc.
Notes
In 2019 Jerry Turkenburg called and spoke with Denise Pedro. He gave verbal permission to use the images as we see fit.
Fonds consists of over 200 photograph slides and photograph negatives from 1952 & 1953. Images are of Caisson dock construction, wharf and smeltersite construction.
Approximately 200 photograph slides and photographs
History / Biographical
Fred DeLory was an engineer on the Aluminum Company of Canada Ltd. smeltersite construction project f rom 1952 to 1953. He worked in an office that was located uphill from where the first pot lines were located. He went on to become a professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of over 200 photograph slides and photograph negatives from 1952 & 1953. Images are of Caisson dock construction, wharf and smeltersite construction.
Collection of folders and other materials relating to early Kitimat.
Misc items
985.65.1 - 1 menu - Kitimat Constructors Dec 25th, 1951
985.65.2 - official opening of the 1st Kitimat School, Sept 26, 1952
985.65.2 - 1st airmail despatch from Kitimat (Queen Charlotte Airlines Ltd)
985.65.3a - to Mrs. Whiting - 1st airmail left Kitimat - Sept 20, 1952
985.65.3b - Envelope signed by Postmaster
985.65.4 - Clipping - Postmark 'Kitimat'
Clippings
985.65.5 - Yacht Becomes 'Work' Vessel (Nechako)
985.65.6 - Alcan Asks Gov't Okay Kitimat to be Planned Town
985.65.7 - Terrace-Kitimat Rail Line Approved
985.65.8 - Striking Kitimat Men Here
985.65.9 - Beauty, Thrills in Aluminum City
985.65.10 - City Hacked Out of Wilderness
985.65.11 - 7-year Canasa, US Aluminum Pact Set - Kitimat Major Supplier
985.65.12 - Kitimat Power Repairs Rushed
985.65.13 - Conciliation Board Called for Kitimat
985.65.14 - Biggest Industrial Project is Speeded (Alum Co. Ltd, will be world's largest alum maker)
985.65.15 - B.C.'s Huge Aluminum Project
985.65.16 - Cdn Affairs: B.C. A Land of Infinite Borders
985.65.17 - Underground Powerhouse was carved from bedrock a quarter-mile inside DuBose Mtn
985.65.18 - Extract from "The Seattle Times" April 14, 1952 "Cheap Canada Aluminum Poses Problem"
985.65.34 - Kitimat Constructors Instructions to Employees, 1952
985.65.35 - The School 'The Apha' 1953 - Kitimat Smelter Site School
985.65.36 - Detailed Map BC Coast page one & two
985.65.39 - Book - The Alcan Story - presented by Dietrich-Collins Equipment Ltd
Delta King clippings
985.65.44 - Kitimat Gets Floating Hotel May 13, 1952
985.65.45 - Delta King Sails Back to Bright Lights April 29, 1959
985.65.46 - Gould's Latest Dream - The Delta King (Don't Count Barney Out)
985.65.47 - Delta King Returning
985.65.48 - Delta King May Find a Home - San Francisco Chronicle, June 13, 1964
985.65.53 - Water Sweeps into Reservoir as Alcan Pushes Huge Project - Oct, 1952
985.65.54 - Cdn West Coast, Carl Agar, a disciple of Igor Sikorsky, making aviation history
985.65.55 - Magazine Article: At Kitimat, Men Juggle Geography (fortune mag. 1952)
985.65.57-68 - coloured photos 1952 - sandhill
985.65-70 - clipping - construction world mag "Several Alcan Project Features Greatest in the World
Al Beaton's Books 'Casey Sez'
985.65.19-33
986.5.1 - Booklet - Electrical Eng. & Operating Aspects of Alcan's BC Project
986.5.5 - Kitimat Constructors Organizational Chart
986.5.3 - Resident Angler's License #21913K H.M. Whiting - 1953
986.5.4 - Kitimat Rod and Gun Association Life Membership - H. Whiting
Collection of photos and printed matter relative to early Kitimat (1950's). This collection was owned by Mr. H. M. (Hal) Whiting project manager for Kitimat Constructors builders of Kitimat.
Scope and Content
Collection of folders and other materials relating to early Kitimat.
Misc items
985.65.1 - 1 menu - Kitimat Constructors Dec 25th, 1951
985.65.2 - official opening of the 1st Kitimat School, Sept 26, 1952
985.65.2 - 1st airmail despatch from Kitimat (Queen Charlotte Airlines Ltd)
985.65.3a - to Mrs. Whiting - 1st airmail left Kitimat - Sept 20, 1952
985.65.3b - Envelope signed by Postmaster
985.65.4 - Clipping - Postmark 'Kitimat'
Clippings
985.65.5 - Yacht Becomes 'Work' Vessel (Nechako)
985.65.6 - Alcan Asks Gov't Okay Kitimat to be Planned Town
985.65.7 - Terrace-Kitimat Rail Line Approved
985.65.8 - Striking Kitimat Men Here
985.65.9 - Beauty, Thrills in Aluminum City
985.65.10 - City Hacked Out of Wilderness
985.65.11 - 7-year Canasa, US Aluminum Pact Set - Kitimat Major Supplier
985.65.12 - Kitimat Power Repairs Rushed
985.65.13 - Conciliation Board Called for Kitimat
985.65.14 - Biggest Industrial Project is Speeded (Alum Co. Ltd, will be world's largest alum maker)
985.65.15 - B.C.'s Huge Aluminum Project
985.65.16 - Cdn Affairs: B.C. A Land of Infinite Borders
985.65.17 - Underground Powerhouse was carved from bedrock a quarter-mile inside DuBose Mtn
985.65.18 - Extract from "The Seattle Times" April 14, 1952 "Cheap Canada Aluminum Poses Problem"
985.65.34 - Kitimat Constructors Instructions to Employees, 1952
985.65.35 - The School 'The Apha' 1953 - Kitimat Smelter Site School
985.65.36 - Detailed Map BC Coast page one & two
985.65.39 - Book - The Alcan Story - presented by Dietrich-Collins Equipment Ltd
Delta King clippings
985.65.44 - Kitimat Gets Floating Hotel May 13, 1952
985.65.45 - Delta King Sails Back to Bright Lights April 29, 1959
985.65.46 - Gould's Latest Dream - The Delta King (Don't Count Barney Out)
985.65.47 - Delta King Returning
985.65.48 - Delta King May Find a Home - San Francisco Chronicle, June 13, 1964
985.65.53 - Water Sweeps into Reservoir as Alcan Pushes Huge Project - Oct, 1952
985.65.54 - Cdn West Coast, Carl Agar, a disciple of Igor Sikorsky, making aviation history
985.65.55 - Magazine Article: At Kitimat, Men Juggle Geography (fortune mag. 1952)
985.65.57-68 - coloured photos 1952 - sandhill
985.65-70 - clipping - construction world mag "Several Alcan Project Features Greatest in the World
Al Beaton's Books 'Casey Sez'
985.65.19-33
986.5.1 - Booklet - Electrical Eng. & Operating Aspects of Alcan's BC Project
986.5.5 - Kitimat Constructors Organizational Chart
986.5.3 - Resident Angler's License #21913K H.M. Whiting - 1953
986.5.4 - Kitimat Rod and Gun Association Life Membership - H. Whiting
Photographer Arthur Renwick documented the setting of a conical net for eulachon on the Kildala River, 1982. The conical net is a traditional method of eulachon harvesting.
Scope and Content
Setting the conical net for eulachon with Tom Nyce, Fred Williams, Lloyd Starr, Sampson Ross. On the Kildala River.
Notes
Photographs are restricted, Arthur Renwick Jr. has requested they be used for Museum research only.
Title based on content of fond.
67 photograph prints : b&w ;
1 photograph print : sepia ; 12.5 x 9
History / Biographical
After coming to Canada as a Polish soldier under British command, Feliks Rewers (who was an avid photographer) was assigned to work at Kitimat in 1950. He worked three years and in his free time took many pictures.
Custodial History
Wanda Rewers
Scope and Content
Collection of 68 photographs taken during the construction of the town of Kitimat, the aluminum smelter, and other areas from 1950-1953.
Notes
Open table tennis championship trophy included in collection. Title based on contents of fonds.
