Farewell to Cloverdale

The final farewell was in the form of a surprise party. April invited former Manager Carol de Boeck  to join in the festivities. But the real surprise was seeing my wife Jenny! It was great to have her meet my work colleagues and reminisce on the events of the last 12 months.

Jen and I also shared our plans for a big 2 month road trip through North America following the work exchange. I’ll certainly miss working with a great bunch of people.  And a big thank you to Cloverdale manager April Cox for helping making my stay at Cloverdale such an enjoyable one!

British Columbia Genealogical Society

Founded in 1971 the BCGS is British Columbia’s peak family history society. As in Australia there is a State/Provincial Office effectively acting as headquarters, and a network of smaller branches throughout the Province.

Fortunately the BCGS is conveniently located in Surrey, so I took the morning off for a guided tour of the facility. It made for an interesting comparison with the Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG) in Sydney, whose library I toured in late 1997.

As with SAG there’s a helpdesk, though here only 1 volunteer to assist with inquiries. The BCGS kindly arranged to have one of their specialists, Alice Marwood, show me through the library. Alice is the Secretary and a Professional Researcher, specialising in First Nations.

The Collection contains 13,000 volumes and follows the dewey classification. Whilst this differs from SAG which has developed it’s own classification scheme, the arrangement is similar with books shelved geographically. For SAG this ranges from A-Australia to T Canada & U-USA (with everything else in-between). The BCGS Collection begins with British Isles countries at 941-942, followed by Europe 943-968, Canada and Provinces, USA and Australia/NZ. The presence of Russian and Ukraine material was interesting given Canada’s geographic proximity to these countries.

Collection strengths between the two libraries are similar –UK sources especially England and counties; Local Histories for UK and Canada/BC; Cemetery records for Canada /BC. As in all genealogy libraries journal exchanges are popular, with these titles sitting at the end of the book sequence.

There were also differences. Unlike Australia, Census records are a key source providing similar details to our Electoral rolls (name, address and occupation). There are literally hundreds of indexes to censuses for both Canada/Provinces and the UK on the library shelves. A separate section is also set aside for “United Empire Loyalists” ie. American loyalists who resettled in British North America (what was to become Canada).  There were plenty who swore allegiance to the King after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War so many researchers have these connections.  

census shelves

 

Loyalist Ancestry

The Other difference I found related to level of resourcing. SAG is very well resourced with a wide range of services and facilities available to members eg. PCs with CD-ROM and subscription database access, LDS microfilm ordering service, GRO certificate service, bookshop, seminars, field trips etc. This is to be expected in Australia’s most populous city (twice the size of Vancouver). The Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) serving Canada’s largest city, Toronto, would be an equivalent.

  

Nevertheless, BCGS like SAG provides the essentials: Quarterly Journals and Newsletters, Members Interests, Special Interest Groups, Research services etc. Members are also involved in special projects such as maintaining indexes and transcribing BC Cemeteries which form the bulk of the Society’s publications.

Harjinder & the Rodeo

For one week in May each year sleepy Cloverdale comes alive with a big event – the Cloverdale Rodeo. The event has grown to become the second largest of it’s kind in Canada (after the Calgary Stampede). It’s an integral part of the town’s Country Fair which this year celebrated it’s 120 year anniversary.

Library staff enter into the spirit of the event donning cowboy hats and on occasion feature in the parade through city streets. I was invited to participate but had to decline due to a clash with our family’s Alaska cruise. This didn’t prevent me from soaking up some of the spirit of Rodeo week, as Library Manager April Cox led the way with her cowgirl routine.  April took advantage of the festive atmosphere  taking me on her guided tour of Surrey Libraries, this time the Fleetwood Branch.

"Cowgirl" April with Harjinder & David

April manages Cloverdale Library (2 days) and Fleetwood (3 days). She timed the Fleetwood visit to coincide with the Citizenship ceremony of staff member Harjinder Thind. Harjinder is the Information Services Librarian at Fleetwood having recently immigrated to Canada. Fresh from the ceremony he was also in a celebratory mood, prompting an impromtu rendition of  “O Canada”

First Nations at Cloverdale

This is a follow-up blog entry to the one posted on 8 March which detailed a meeting at the University of British Columbia (UBC) between the First Nations Teams of Surrey Public Library and Fraser Valley Regional Library. At that meeting I was told of an Aboriginal Family History Group which had begun meeting at Fraser Valley’s Mission Library. 

The Ama  Liisaos Family History Group is dedicated to preserving the unique heritage of the Aboriginal people of the Lillooet River Valley in south western B.C., a tribal group known as the Stl’atl’imx Nation.

Group facilitator Sharon Syrette (Mission Library)

The group received a provincial grant to embark on a “Family Tree Project”. After contacting Sharon Syrette the faciliatator I received an invitation to observe the group in action. Here Sharon is getting the group to identify individuals in family photographs, then to date the photograph & finally to share stories about the people, places and objects in the photograph.  “Ama Liisaos” means “good angel” in their aboriginal language, and it’s their hope that people will join them as good angels in helping preserve their unique heritage.

When I explained how the resources of Cloverdale could assist them in their quest, they embraced me as a “good angel” and asked if I’d host hem on a visit of the Cloverdale Library.

Hosting Ama Liisaos FHG at Cloverdale

So back at Clovedale we gave them a guided tour and demonstrated the resources useful for compiling a family tree. Pictured is my colleague Laurie Cooke searching the BC Birth Death & Marriage Online Indexes, successfully locating the group’s Lillooet River ancestors. I then explained some of the challenges of First Nations research including how to locate records held by the Federal Govt who administered Aboriginal Affairs and created many of the records. The Reference Librarian at UBC First Nations Library was a great resource in my preparation for the workshop.

The group presented me with a parting gift. This book, entitled “Spirit in the Land” documents a unique aspect of their heritage – the construction of this Church. Built by the Stl’atl’imx people ostensibly for French Missionaries of the Catholic Church, it’s been recognised by the Canadian Govt. as a site of national significance – an engineering marvel crafted by people with no formal training in the building trade. In this book the elders tell the story of the building of the church to ensure this remarkable achievement is remembered by future generations.

The book is also the story of a people who lived here for 100’s of generations, their traditions and spiritual beliefs, especially their connection to the land, and how things changed when the Europeans came: the intervention of the Federal Govt. as self appointed guardians of indigenous people; the seizing of traditional lands; and the establishment of residential schools with little regard for indigenous beliefs and practices. In short, the same issues faced by our own indigenous people.

Ultimately, however, it’s a success story – of how the Stl’atl’imx people adapted to these changes and reclaimed their heritage. The church is an interesting symbol here. To the Stl’atl’imx people it brought the people together – in a paradoxical way – not only the building of it, but the annual visits by Catholic priests who conducted mass baptisms and weddings ensuring that the church became a meeting pt for the community. Today the Stl’atl’imx choose to come here to commemorate important life events – a tradition which has enhanced their own genealogical records.

Cloverdale in Spring

Cloverdale in the Spring is Tulip time. That’s Bob outside the library in his gear. He’s  joined the Ride to Conquer Cancer, a 200 km fundraiser from Vancouver to Seattle. Bob’s goal is to raise $2500 which is the minimum to participate. For Bob’s personal page, and info on how to donate click here

Cherry Blossoms bloom briefly in the Spring lining the streets of suburbs including Cloverdale. Reminds me of the Jacarandas in Australia which come out briefly, but spectacularly this time of year.

West Beyond the West: BC Digitization Symposium

This digitisation symposium hosted by the University of British Columbia (UBC) brought together libraries, archives and museums from across Canada.

UBC: First Nations House of Learning

The keynote address was given by the National Librarian and Archivist of Canada on the first evening. This was followed by a day long symposium of guest speakers and table discussions, identifying digitisation priorities for the province and recommendations for next steps. It was a privilege to be involved in such a landmark event and to witness how far advanced Canada is on the digital path.

Table talk: colleague BC Archives

In the morning session we heard from a pan Canadian panel representing the provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario each of which has developed a single search portal for it’s province bringing together the digital content. The title of the symposium “West beyond the West” referred to British Columbia’s portal.

But it was the keynote address, placing these developments in the context of the National Digitisation Strategy which was truly inspiring, clearly articulating where Canada is headed, on the digital path.

This is Ian Wilson the National Librarian and Archivist of Canada who gave the keynote. Ian heads up Library and Archives Canada (LAC) a union of the former National Library and National Archives who decided to come together, partly as a strategic response to the challenges of the digital environment, and the need to formulate a national digital strategy.

Ian Wilson, Librarian & Archivist of Canada

One of the first things LAC did was to bring together all the stakeholders in the digital environment and formulate a national strategy the centerpiece of which Ian Wilson describes, as the “Made in Canada” solution – as opposed to signing up with google which according to Wilson, their US and UK colleagues have done. What this means is that LAC have mobilised the heritage disciplines across Canada (libraries, archives, museums etc.)  to collectively agree not to digitise with google because google’s business plan is not in line with Canada’s best interests – ie. a business plan of free public access supported by advertising. What if the advertising stream dries up? Ian says google can change their business plan to pay for access/pay per view.

By contrast LAC’s business plan reflects Canadian values – values found across the heritage disciplines such as stewardship of, and free public access to, publicly owned information resources.

canadiana.org

One challenge to LAC’s “Made in Canada” solution is of course funding. One solution is a public-private partnership known as “Canadiana.org” whose goal it is to digitise everything ever published in Canada as a first step, before digitising targeted areas in the unpublished realm and other digital formats. The published realm consisting of 4-5 million volumes is seen as do-able considering google successes in the US Market comprising substantially more volumes.

Because of the funding issues Canada’s largest software firm has donated it’s state of the art digital technology free of charge to Canadiana.org – to enable it to digitise the nations cultural heritage – to do it once, and to do it well.

As a final comment on the symposium I should note the frequent references to family history and the genealogical community as a key stakeholder group driving the digital agenda. In his keynote address Ian Wilson said family historians fight harder than any single group for access to public records. He used as an example the 1911 Canadian Census where they fought an email campaign – the first in history resulting in legislation being enacted giving access to a key genealogical resource. When the census was made available on the LAC website it averaged 17 downloads a second and crashed the website. LAC had similar successes with it’s shipping and war service records as Canadians discover records relating not just to their country and community but their own family history.

Brenda Smith: BC Historical Federation, Education Chair & Family History Consultant

This is Brenda Smith of the BC Historical Federation. She spoke on behalf of local and family historians and was the final symposium speaker – so the genealogists did have the last word. And a nice piece of symmetry too, as Brenda is an educator of family historians and runs her genealogy programs at the Cloverdale Library!

Tracing Your Australian Connections

Several months into the work exchange I was asked if I’d like to be involved in Cloverdale Library’s seminar program and present something with an Australian theme. With “Tracing Your Australian Connections” I took a broad brush approach providing a brief overview of Australian history and focusing on immigration records (including Convict era transportation) as these tell us who came to Australia, when and why they came.

Contacting seminar registrants beforehand confirmed this approach with the primary question being “when did my ancestors arrive and where” (port of arrival). As I was able to demonstrate, the passenger arrival records also provided the link with the home country and place of origin, so is the obvious starting point for the Canadian researcher. A number of people were researching ancestors, direct and indirect (perhaps an uncle or great aunt etc.). The ancestor may have chosen Australia instead of Canada (Britons expressing preferences for different parts of the Empire to migrate to) OR once having immigrated to Australia or Canada, changing their minds and migrating again.

Of course people also wanted to trace what happened to their Australian connections once they got there – not only details of birth death and marriage (the bones) but also sources that document the life of their ancestors on Australian soil (the flesh). For the former I went to the NSW Registry’s website demonstrating how to search the records and taking the opportunity to compare the process with the Canadian equivalent, the BC Archives Online Indexes For the latter, the “Life Records” I discussed sources that trace movements of people (electoral rolls, directories, occupational records) and briefly mentioned sources that dig a little deeper such as newspapers, pioneer registers, local history and unpublished items (manuscripts/pictures) etc.

NSW State Library Family History Service (equivalent to Cloverdale's Family History Centre)

SLNSW Mitchell Library (where clients are referred to "flesh out" their NSW Ancestry)

The main theme that came through from the people I contacted prior to the seminar was the issue of access. The common questions here were: where are the records held and how do I access them; what research assistance is available; how much does it cost; what records are freely availalable online. With this in mind I started the seminar by talking about the State Library and it’s relationship with the State Archives as these are the two insitutions in Australia that hold many of the records of interest to family historians. Having addressed issues of access enabled me to focus on the main genealogical sources.

One of the privileges of working here is that I have responsibility for ordering material for the collection. The library had genealogy handbooks on how to research the records of various countries but nothing for Australia. For the seminar I ordered some key Australian titles which proved a useful resource throughout the session. It was also good to leave an Australian imprint on the collection in recognition of the exchange program and the unique relationship between the two libraries. Coincidentally, I’d become aware that Cloverdale already had Australian connections with another Aussie, Judith Argent, being a key member of the genealogy dept. for many years.

To be cont’d

Trace Your Roots with DNA

A few weeks back the Surrey Arts Centre played host to a significant genealogical event: Trace Your Roots with DNA. The Conference was the brainchild of my colleague, Laurie Cooke, who with the support of the British Columbia Genealogical Society (BCGS) organised the event.

DNA Genealogy expert Megan Smolenyak, with Cloverdale's Laurie Cooke

Laurie has a keen interest in “genetic genealogy” – DNA testing for the purpose of learning about one’s heritage. She recently received the preliminary findings of her own DNA testing…

To be cont’d

$50,000 for Cloverdale

 

Donor Mary Woods (seated) flanked by Cloverdale Library Mananger, April Cox (far right) and Surrey Library's Deputy Director, Melanie Houlden (far left)

A highlight in March was a recogntion event for local resident Mary Woods who donated $50,000 to Cloverdale Library. The generous sum was in honour of her late husband Frank who “just lived in the library”. The Woods’ former Turkey farm was located nearby at 176 St South and Frank also made good use of library resources to benefit the family business. The money will be spent in installments of $10,000 over 5 years for the benefit of the local community.

It was great to be a part of the Cloverdale team led by Manager April Cox in preparing the library for the big day. Another highlight was a slide presentation prepared by colleague Laurie Cooke. Laurie assembled the images from various sources to highlight Cloverdale’s local history (following photographs care of our neighbours, Surrey City Archives)

Surrey Archives Building (formerly City Hall) Remembrance Day 1929

Surrey Archives Building and Cloverdale Library Buiding (former Justice Building) 1960

Cloverdale Rodeo: Canada's second largest (after the Calgary Stampede)

Cloverdale: Today a popular film location

First Nations House of Learning

In September last year SPL formed a First Nations Team whose goal is to connect with the local First Nations community, planning programs and services of interest to the community in partnership with them. After expressing an interest in the team and suggesting the relevance of family history to this client group I was invited to become a member.

As at the SLNSW Cloverdale Library is committed to delivering genealogy services to aboriginal peoples, assisting those of “Indian”, Metis and Inuit heritage trace their ancestry. Here was an opportunity to explore this aspect of the service and actually make connections with First Nations peoples living in the City of Surrey. It also tied in with the “work-based project” the State Library required me to undertake in approving the work exchange.

First Nations House of Learning (Xwi7xwa)

On February 17 Surrey’s First Nations Team met with the Aboriginal Project Team from neighbouring Fraser Valley Regional Library (FVRL). The meeting was held at the First Nations House of Learning, University of British Columbia (UBC). As well as being an opportunity to learn from each others experiences, the meeting explored ways in which the two library systems could collaborate.

The First Nations House of Learning (“Xwi7wa” pronounced “whei-wha” meaning echo in the Squamish language) was a strategic choice of meeting place. Xwi7wa library staff as well as hosting the meeting gave us a guided tour, connecting us with the library’s collections and services. Head Librarian Ann Doyle explained the symbolism of the House of Learning Logo. It consists of a human face surrounded by two ravens. The face = First Nations peoples, the ravens a symbol of learning. Hence the raven is transforming the university to reflect Aboriginal culture. This sets the mandate for the Library.

Xwi7wa Library assists in the development of First Nations/Aboriginal programs at UBC. It provides information relating to indigenous issues to Aboriginal students, the university community and Aboriginal people and organisations. The Library is developing Special Collections that will serve as a repository of archival materials by and for the First Nations of B.C. Thus the library collects papers and manuscripts created by organisations and individuals preserving these for future generations. To find out more about the House of Learning, its mandate and objectives <click here>

The Meeting

The meeting between the two libraries involved sharing details of past and present projects and initaitives and concluded with next steps for working together.

Fraser Valley’s Aboriginal Project Team was formed in May ’06. The library began by running workshops for library staff in cross-cultural communication. A facilitator came from UBC to provide a first nations perspective. Initiatives since then have included a First Nations author program “aboriginal voices”; a film festival involving all FVRL Libraries; National Aboriginal Day events, as well as resources developed by the Project Team. These include a First Nations Kit : “Lift the Lid on the Past” (history of First Nations in the Fraser Valley) and a First Nations “Aboriginal Reads” brochure listing materials by and about First Nations people available at FVRL.

First Nation Teams: FVRL left, SPL Right (David's Cap, Julie, Deanna, Linda, Mary standing)

 

First Nations Teams (Photo taken by Mary Murphy, SPL Team Head)

While Surrey’s First Nations Team was formed only 6 months ago, the library had already built connections with the local first nations community through it’s support of the programs of “Kla-how-eya” the local Aboriginal Cultural Centre.

Team Head Mary Murphy, SPL’s Manager of Learning Services, was instrumental in forging this connection garnering library support for the Kla-how-eya Culinary Arts Program in 2006. The Program prepares it’s Aboriginal students for working in the food industry. The Program is a prerequisite for entrance into Vancouver Community College, as well as providing skills for job seekers. The library helps provide these skills by running a “Computer Training Series” which forms a part of the Culinary Arts Curriculum. Two members of the First Nations Team Julie Calendino and Deanna Scott are course instructors. These skills include teaching students to create their own blogs, posting their own recipes. For more on the Culinary Arts Blog <click here>

Since 2006 the connection with Kla-how-eya has deepened with the library’s involvement in a number of programs across the age spectrum. These include “Headstart” – storytimes twice a month at Awahsuk Aboriginal preschool; “First Nations Community Reads” – interactive workshops with a First Nations author drawn from her book about the history of local Coast Salish peoples; “Ready to Read” workshops for Aboriginal mothers at Kla-how-eya etc. Julie Calendino as well as initiating a number of these programs has leveraged Grant moneys from the British Columbia Library Assoc. (BCLA) and Greater Vancouver Urban Aboriginal Strategy (GVUAS) to purchase First Nations materials and attract First Nations authors to library events.

Genealogy

One of the team’s initiatives is a First Nations Genealogy Online Guide. The Guide will be geared to the needs of Surrey’s First Nations, but will be of benefit to Canadian researchers generally, especially those with British Columbian ancestry. The Guide is to highlight the holdings of Cloverdale Library where appropriate, as well as key resources of other agencies at local, provincial and national level. My colleague Laurie Cooke at Cloverdale has an abiding interest in First Nations genealogy and mentioned VPL’s recent Chinese-Canadian Genealogy Guide as an example of what can be achieved. I have drafted an outline for the guide and look forward to developing the content with Laurie in the time remaining on the exchange. With less than four months remaining this will be a challlenge. Competing priorities include a Genealogy Seminar I’ve been asked to deliver at Cloverdale in May – my chosen topic: Tracing Your Australian Connections: How to Locate an Australian in Your Family

One thing that has been achieved, with the support of the Genealogy team at Cloverdale, is the creation of links to First Nations websites from the library’s Genealogy portal (filed under “Ethno-Cultural & Aboriginal Groups”)

A positive outcome when discussing next steps for working together, was a genealogy contact given to me from Fraser Valley’s Teresa MacLeod, Manager of Mission Library. Teresa mentioned a facilitator by the name of Sharon Syrette whose received a grant to deliver genealogy workshops to First Nations people in the City of Mission from January – March. Will keep you “posted” on the outcome of this…