New URL for the original "Camera Workers" site

Due to the impending closure of the Shaw.ca web space on which I had hosted since 1999 Camera Workers: The British Columbia, Alaska and Yukon Photographic Directory, 1858-1950, I have integrated the original site with the newer version. The integrated site, based on the design of the original Shaw-hosted site, uses HTML frames coding.

The integrated site is at http://cameraworkers.davidmattison.com/cw1858-1950

As of March 3, 2017 I had transferred all data from volume 1 of the original site to the integrated site. When you click on the New Site link in the contents menu on the left, the new version of Camera Workers appears in the centre or main frame.

I will continue to migrate data from volume 2 and once that is completed the URL will change again to the newer version as a standalone application.

You can access the newer version as a standalone application at http://cameraworkers.davidmattison.com

The newer version runs on The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding (TNG) by Darrin Lythgoe.

The Darkest Hour (2014) novel: if Germany had won World War 2

Finished an absorbing first novel by British author Tony Schumacher called The Darkest Hour (2014). It's an alternate history where Germany won World War 2 and occupied much of England, including London. Set in 1946 in London, the work is very dark but compelling. It follows a former police sergeant and war hero, John Henry Rossett, who's being used by the Germans to round up Jews and deport them to the Continent. I thought I had the ending figured out, but I got fooled along the way as the novel took a different turn than I expected. Highly recommended for anyone into alternate  histories. This one also has movie all over it.

Fun with timelines at Histropedia

Histropedia, powered by Wikidata, a data storehouse for Wikipedia and other sister sites, lets you make your own timelines of various events. The only catch of course is that the information has to be accessible through Wikipedia and Wikidata. It's pretty cool concept nonetheless and I hope to make some timeline contributions.

Illuminating Shadows: The Calotype in Nineteenth Century America book

Carl Mautz Publishing has issued another terrific looking volume on the history of photography in the United States. Authored by David R. Hanlon, the book is titled Illuminating Shadows: The Calotype in Nineteenth Century America. The book weighs in at 246 pages and will set you back $50 U.S. There's also a collector's edition available for $200 U.S.

Uploaded "Farewell, Atlantis" to SoundCloud and the Internet Archive

"Farewell, Atlantis" is my 3-minute chillout tribute to 30 years of the United States space shuttle program. It's composed of royalty-free music loops sourced from Prime Loops' "Babylon Beats" and Bunker 8 Digital Labs' Downtempo Darkness Trilogy from Sounds To Sample. The vocal commentary was converted from the MP4 videocast (vodcast) on NASA's site (http://www.nasa.gov/mp4/573224main_ksc_072111_sts135_landing_pod.mp4).

I've enabled downloading for the complete MP3 (encoded at 192 kbits/s) on my SoundCloud account and in the Internet Archive Community Audio section.

After the Vancouver Great Fire photo, June 1886

Vancouver Sun journalist John Mackie published another article highlighting a couple of historical photographs he found in the newspaper's files. One is a painted version of the famous "Vancouver after fire" photo by J.A. Brock & Co. (H.T. Devine), the other photo being a vintage, original print. He quotes yours truly at the end of the article and gives a plug to my monograph Eyes of a City published by the City of Vancouver Archives in 1986, the centennial of the city.

There are obvious factual errors in the article when I looked at it on June 12, 2011 and I've alerted him to those issues in case they can be corrected in the online edition.

"Carrall Street, when it was wood", about rare Bailey & Neelands photos at Vancouver Sun

"Carrall Street, when it was wood" (April 2, 2011)

This is an article by John Mackie about a couple of rare Bailey & Neelands photos he found in the Vancouver Sun's morgue. He quotes a BC historic photo expert by the name of David Mattison.

Happy 125th City of Vancouver!

The City of Vancouver celebrates its 125th anniversary today, April 6, 2011. I'd like to wish all Vancouverites a very happy celebration.

STOP ... Premier Gordon Campbell resigns ... STOP

Yes, it's true and all over the media in BC and beyond, but Premier Gordon Campbell resigned today as leader of the BC Liberal Party and has called for a leadership convention at the earliest opportunity. Here's a link to a Google News Canada search that will bring up news stories about this event.

Friends of the BC Archives talk on early BC photographers from Great Britain

Yesterday (October 17, 2010) I gave a talk to the Friends of the BC Archives called "Wild and Picturesque: The British Contribution to Early British Columbia Photography." Much of my time over the past couple of months has been devoted to that project. Thanks in part to a wonderful editorial by Times-Colonist journalist and BC historical research booster Dave Obee on October 15, 2010, Old Photographs Help Us Explore B.C.'s Past, the Newcombe Conference Hall in the Royal BC Museum was filled to capacity. I knew many people in the audience from my years working on the reference desk at the BC Archives, so that made it easier and a more pleasant experience to share some of research into the lives of BC's 19th century photographers from the British isles. If you were there, thank you very much for turning out on a beautiful fall day!

Royal BC Museum launches new collections database

The Royal BC Museum has launched its new collections database. As of October 12, 2010, you can access new databases for Ethnology, Archaeology and Modern History. Databases that utilize existing search engines and have yet to be transitioned to the new system are the natural history collections and the BC Archives.

"Through Her Lens" Knowledge Network short on Hannah Maynard

I was hired to do some research and writing about 19th century Victoria portrait photographer Hannah (Mrs. Richard) Maynard for a video short, one of a series called "The Edge of the World," that's available for free online viewing on the Knowledge Network. The title of the short is "Through Her Lens". I'm credited at the end of the video.

For a treatment of Hannah Maynard within the developing cultural community of arts Victoria, see Karen Finlay's exhibition catalogue "A Woman's Place" (2004).

Warriors in the City public art fundraising campaign for 2011-2012, how about it BC Lions Society?

Update of June 24, 2010:

A highly reliable source in the Royal BC Museum confirmed for me today that the BC Lions Society has taken up this suggestion, which was also made by a RBCM staffer, and that the Warriors in the City will be standing guard in Victoria probably some time in 2011 to coincide with the exhibit.

Original post of January 29, 2010:

The Royal BC Museum is one of the four Canadian venues in the exhibit The Warrior Emperor and China's Terracotta Army that begins at the Royal Ontario Museum on June 26, 2010. Visitors to the Victoria Bay Centre, a downtown shopping center, may recall the shopping mall version of these clay pieces. This touring exhibit, however, is the real deal courtesy of the Chinese government. The RBCM will host the army of clay in late 2011-early 2012.

As part of that exhibition I'd like to encourage the BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities, who are currently sponsoring the Eagles in the City fundraising campaign, to consider the possibility of replicating either a warrior or perhaps a horse for a Warriors in the City fundraiser. Previous public art exhibits of this nature by the BC Lions Society included Orcas In The City and Spirit Bears in the City (the URL http://www.spiritbearsinthecity.com/ gave a MySQL database error when I tried it on January 28, 2010). The RBCM had sponsored the Eternal Egypt Orca which was decorated by staff member and artist Adrienne Aikens.

TimeTravelBC.com, it is all about heritage

The Heritage Tourism Alliance of BC, "a collaboration of some of British Columbia’s key heritage and tourism stakeholders, who work together to promote and celebrate the very best of BC’s heritage sites and experiences," have an interesting Web site called TimeTravelBC.com that makes it easy to find heritage travel experiences.

Happy 124th anniversary City of Vancouver, BC, Canada

Today is the 124th anniversary of the incorporation by provincial legislation of the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Chuck Davis' The History of Metropolitan Vancouver is a great place to discover more about the history of this amazing place.

A digital archive for Canada's 150th anniversary in 2017

Canada will be celebrating its sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary as a nation in 2017. Canada150 "is Canada’s largest history gathering project ever. It is a collaborative effort of organizations and individuals committed to recording Canadian family and community histories as our gift to our country on its 150th birthday--July 1, 2017." The project is aimed at the boomer generation and their children who "have rarely kept diaries, journals, letters or other documents. We may have thousands of photos stored on our computers but we have few documents that tell our stories. ... You and your parents and children need to record your stories and ensure that they are safely stored forever. Canada 150 is a national project to encourage them to do exactly that in time for our 150th birthday as a nation. By depositing our stories in our national Library and Archives Canada, we will give our families, community and entire country a gift that is invaluable. ..."

Letter to editor published in Canada's History (formerly The Beaver), April/May 2010 issue

The first issue (April/May 2010) under its new title of Canada's History, formerly The Beaver, contains a letter to the editor by me on the subject of Stephen R. Bown's article on the British spies H.J. Warre and Mervin Vavasour. If you follow this Google Search for Henry J. Warre you'll find some nice writeups with illustrations from sources such as libraries.

Niépce in England international conference, October 2010, England

British photographic historian Michael Pritchard posted an announcement on his site about an international conference in October 2010 in England on Niépce in England in October 2010. Details are also available through the first announcement brochure (PDF) he posted.

Any information you might have on Victoria photographer Gus A. Maves (1882-1942)?

I am researching Victoria photographer Gus A. Maves (1882-1942). Maves was originally from Toronto, Ontario. He was most active in Victoria between the 1920s and 1930s. He specialized in scenic landscapes for postcards and industrial photography such as homes (exteriors and interiors), gardens and agricultural activities. His wife Margaret did the coloring of his photographs and also "transformations" to turn a photograph into a piece of art. His BC work is preserved by the BC Archives, Royal BC Museum.

If you know of any examples of his work outside the BC Archives or have any information about him you can share, please contact me via the e-mail address on my contact page.

Red rock tapes could stay here (more info)

Update for February 13, 2010:

Red Robinson provided his reasons in a lengthy letter to the Times-Colonist editor on February 13 to my question about whether he had contacted the BC Archives or the Library and Archives Canada about acquiring the interviews he gave to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He said that organization will put them online, yet in the original Times-Colonist article it was stated that "A couple of years ago, he had them digitized." Since the interviews are already in a digital format and he was willing to relinquish them for full public consumption, he could have had the digitized interviews uploaded to probably the world's largest online repository of free, historic audio material, the Internet Archive's Audio Archive.

Mr. Robinson mentioned the Jack Cullen and Dal Richards collections. If he had checked the BC Archives Web site he would have discovered that they have some of their work already, along with many other examples from BC radio broadcasters (producers and stations) and musicians.

Original post of February 11, 2010:

My letter to the editor of the Times-Colonist newspaper appeared in the February 10, 2010 issue and online. It's my reaction to its story from February 6 about Vancouver rock and roll DJ Red Robinson donating his interviews with music industry personalities to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.