Editorially speaking...
Firstly, this tip for what looks like a great presentation by the Nanaimo Historical Society, for those of you who’ve purchased a membership as I’ve encouraged you to do in previous editorials.
𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗪𝗘𝗟𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗘....
Join us for this intriguing look at the accomplishments and contradictions of Joseph William McKay, best known as the founder of Nanaimo, BC, and one of the most successful Métis men to rise through the ranks of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the late nineteenth century. (Author photograph courtesy of HA Photography)
Click here for the Zoom link:
https://bit.ly/3Fg6FPy
Meeting ID: 896 7502 0774
Passcode: 979306
A membership with the NHS is a cheap investment and, thanks to COVID and technology (in this case Zoom) you can ‘attend’ meetings from the comfort of your home! For those of you who read the Chronicles early enough you may have time to enrol for this evening’s talk by Mr. Fraser.
Joseph William McKay was a fascinating and complex character who proved to be the right man in the right place at the right time. (My kind of guy.)
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I’m also pleased to report that the Lytton Chinese History Museum, destroyed in the fire that devastated that pioneer Fraser River community in June, is going to rebuild.
Lorna Fandrich who opened the museum in 2012, wants to continue to “preserve an important part of Canadian history and help the town move forward”.
“I still think people need to hear about the Chinese story in this area,” she told the CBC.
Although most of the 1600 artifacts in the museum were destroyed, “a search uncovered a few surviving pottery and ceramic pieces and she is hopeful more artifacts may still be found”. The revitalized museum will be more digital than the original as curator Fandrich has all of the lost artifacts on a digital database.
In addition to documenting the Chinese history of the area the Lytton Museum was a popular tourist attraction.
I wish her well.
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Apropos, Victoria City Council has finally given a green light—it’s been decades in the doing—to a proposal to rehabilitate the long-vacant Northern Junk warehouses near the Johnson Street Bridge. As you can see in the architectural rendering below, only the facades of the two gold rush area structures will be saved and incorporated (almost swallowed) in an otherwise new four-storey building.
It’s obviously a compromise, one that some would argue is worthy of the committee-designed camel, but it appears to be as close to salvation and restoration as the two derelict buildings will ever come.
One of many who mourn the ultimate routcome is Jacques Sirois, In a letter to the Times-Colonist he wrote that, given the power, “I would take over these two historic warehouses, restore them and use them as meaningful and stimulating public spaces to tell the stories of the last 5000 years of human occupation in Victoria Harbour, the Selkirk Water and the Gorge Waterway.
“These stories include, for example, the Spirit Rock of Camossung and the Island of the Dead, Victoria Harbour, as a gathering place for First Nations, the various gold rushes, the sealing fleet, Victoria Harbour as a gateway to the Arctic, historic lumber mills, shipyards and industries...
“All designed, packaged and done by competent historians and heritage professionals. They are numerous in Victoria.”
I guess it’s the old story of half a loaf...
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In August Shirley Lorene Berg of Genoa Bay passed away, aged 80. A pleasant lady with a claim to fame like no other.
If any of you’ve visited her home you’ll know what I’m talking about: A full-size sailboat hanging from the living room ceiling! Talk about a conversation piece!
I must tell you the story one day...
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Back to museums: COVID has not only impacted their attendance by the public but has presented them with some opportunities. Again, thanks to the wonders of the digital age, many have managed to remain ‘open’ throughout the pandemic by offering videocasts, podcasts and live-zoom presentations as I pointed out in this week’s virtual meeting of the Nanaimo Historical Society.
As a result, columnist Monique Keran recently reported in the TC, “we can now visit more museums, art galleries, historic sites, zoos and science and nature centres than ever before. We can travel the world.”
It’s called making lemonade when handed a lemon. Again, more power to them.
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