Auld Lang Syne is about goodbyes, endings, and beginnings, which might be why it came to mind for Dr. William Fraser Tolmie as he paddled the great #ColumbiaRiver one day in May 1833. #cdnhist #bcHist #oregon
buttondown.com/leftcoastdis...
buttondown.com/leftcoastdis...
Old Long Since
The song is also about beginnings, which might be why William Fraser Tolmie sang it as he paddled the Columbia River in 1833
buttondown.com
December 30, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Auld Lang Syne is about goodbyes, endings, and beginnings, which might be why it came to mind for Dr. William Fraser Tolmie as he paddled the great #ColumbiaRiver one day in May 1833. #cdnhist #bcHist #oregon
buttondown.com/leftcoastdis...
buttondown.com/leftcoastdis...
The wikipedia entries for much of BC history are pretty sad. Ive known this for years, but today I looked up a very well known fur trade figure who worked in the US and BC. The entries for his US time are quite fulsome, and then it basically says “also he lived in Victoria for 40 years.” #bcHist
December 30, 2025 at 2:29 AM
The wikipedia entries for much of BC history are pretty sad. Ive known this for years, but today I looked up a very well known fur trade figure who worked in the US and BC. The entries for his US time are quite fulsome, and then it basically says “also he lived in Victoria for 40 years.” #bcHist
I do appreciate that you've hashtagged this "bchist", Banff being British Columbia Irredenta...
December 28, 2025 at 9:38 PM
I do appreciate that you've hashtagged this "bchist", Banff being British Columbia Irredenta...
I stopped for coffee on a drive from Osoyoos to Vancouver this summer and am pleased to report it hasn't really changed that much #bchist #cdnhist
December 22, 2025 at 4:52 PM
The Gatineau Village des Valeurs is, oddly, a good source of vintage British Columbiana, including this seasonal offering today. Taking its place in my painstakingly assembled set of Sound Heritage, including @djduffy.bsky.social's "Imagine Please" #cdnhist #bchist #ThriftingThursday (a day early)
December 17, 2025 at 11:58 PM
The Gatineau Village des Valeurs is, oddly, a good source of vintage British Columbiana, including this seasonal offering today. Taking its place in my painstakingly assembled set of Sound Heritage, including @djduffy.bsky.social's "Imagine Please" #cdnhist #bchist #ThriftingThursday (a day early)
My latest Left Coast Dispatch:
Libraries At Their Breaking Point buttondown.com/leftcoastdis... #yyj #bcHist
Libraries At Their Breaking Point buttondown.com/leftcoastdis... #yyj #bcHist
Libraries At Their Breaking Point
With library funding in BC unchanged for almost two decades, the federal Liberal government is set to make things even worse.
buttondown.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:07 AM
My latest Left Coast Dispatch:
Libraries At Their Breaking Point buttondown.com/leftcoastdis... #yyj #bcHist
Libraries At Their Breaking Point buttondown.com/leftcoastdis... #yyj #bcHist
Not often that Kitchener, BC, a tiny community east of Creston, gets a shout out. I wonder how this ended up in Nebraska? #cdnhist #bchist #archives
(Photo of the Kitchener Hotel, about 1940, from BC Archives, and a street view of downtown Kitchener today, just because..)
(Photo of the Kitchener Hotel, about 1940, from BC Archives, and a street view of downtown Kitchener today, just because..)
December 16, 2025 at 8:03 PM
I chatted with Dr. Patricia Roy last week and she menrioned an upcoming interview with @gregorcraigie.bsky.social about her new book on BC Premier John Hart. And i managed to catch it this morning! #bcHist #Cdnhist
www.ubcpress.ca/john-hart
www.ubcpress.ca/john-hart
John Hart
John Hart - A Businessman in British Columbia Politics; Through biography, John Hart illuminates the political and economic history of British Columbia during the Depression and two world wars.
www.ubcpress.ca
December 16, 2025 at 3:49 PM
I chatted with Dr. Patricia Roy last week and she menrioned an upcoming interview with @gregorcraigie.bsky.social about her new book on BC Premier John Hart. And i managed to catch it this morning! #bcHist #Cdnhist
www.ubcpress.ca/john-hart
www.ubcpress.ca/john-hart
If you’re angry about the Cowichan decision, lay the blame where it belongs. For more than a century, provincial and federal governments have tried to dodge the issue of Indigenous Title — creating problems for First Nations and private property owners thenarwhal.ca/opinion-eker... #bchist #cdnHist
The Cowichan decision is a long time coming | The Narwhal
Governments of Canada and B.C. laid the groundwork for the Cowichan decision by ignoring the issue of Indigenous Title for more than a century
thenarwhal.ca
December 11, 2025 at 5:36 PM
If you’re angry about the Cowichan decision, lay the blame where it belongs. For more than a century, provincial and federal governments have tried to dodge the issue of Indigenous Title — creating problems for First Nations and private property owners thenarwhal.ca/opinion-eker... #bchist #cdnHist
December 4, 2025 at 8:23 PM
The memory of the Aroostook War lingered long. It was behind this (entirely serious and not-at-all-silly proposal from the BC Legislature in 1870 that Canada buy Maine (along with Alaska) #cdnhist #bchist
tinyurl.com/2hdx6uwt (starting at p. 70)
tinyurl.com/2hdx6uwt (starting at p. 70)
So #TIL that the US went to war with Canada in 1838 over the Maine border. After a year raising militias on both sides of the border, the governments settled the dispute without a shot fired.
#Northland
#Northland
"On a map the boundary is a line. On land, it passes through impossible places--ravines, cliff bands, bogs, waterfalls, rocky summits, whitewater--that few people ever see."
- Porter Fox, "Northland,"
canoeing the St Croix River north of Calais
- Porter Fox, "Northland,"
canoeing the St Croix River north of Calais
December 4, 2025 at 12:16 PM
The memory of the Aroostook War lingered long. It was behind this (entirely serious and not-at-all-silly proposal from the BC Legislature in 1870 that Canada buy Maine (along with Alaska) #cdnhist #bchist
tinyurl.com/2hdx6uwt (starting at p. 70)
tinyurl.com/2hdx6uwt (starting at p. 70)
December 3, 2025 at 10:20 PM
In 1894, @governmentofbc.bsky.social asked the Cdn govt to buy Point Roberts, allegedly a haven for unregulated fishing. Spoiler alert: nothing came of the request. (Welcome to Canada, @rubberduckmuseum.bsky.social!) #cdnhist #bchist #cdnpoli
(Images: @library-archives.canada.ca)
(Images: @library-archives.canada.ca)
November 25, 2025 at 5:01 PM
In 1894, @governmentofbc.bsky.social asked the Cdn govt to buy Point Roberts, allegedly a haven for unregulated fishing. Spoiler alert: nothing came of the request. (Welcome to Canada, @rubberduckmuseum.bsky.social!) #cdnhist #bchist #cdnpoli
(Images: @library-archives.canada.ca)
(Images: @library-archives.canada.ca)
November 25, 2025 at 3:35 PM
November 19, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Happy Douglas Day to those who celebrate! First marked in the 1920s and officialized by the Douglas Day Act, 1959 (at 9 words, BC's shortest provincial statute), in 2025 the day marks 167 years since the proclamation of the colony. If nets are your thing, party like Century Sam! #cdnhist #bchist
November 19, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Come on a journey with me…alllllll the way back to 2014…. buttondown.com/leftcoastdis... #bcHist #CdnHist #PublicHistory
Inspiring Public History
The Top 10 list of Inspiring Canadians contained no women, so I set out to correct that.
buttondown.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Come on a journey with me…alllllll the way back to 2014…. buttondown.com/leftcoastdis... #bcHist #CdnHist #PublicHistory
Reading this neat piece, I remembered seeing the front page of a Vancouver newspaper about a similar (copycat?) stunt. And a quick search turned up that @tomhawthorn.bsky.social wrote about it! #cdnhist #bchist
montecristomagazine.com/community/th...
montecristomagazine.com/community/th...
November 17, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Reading this neat piece, I remembered seeing the front page of a Vancouver newspaper about a similar (copycat?) stunt. And a quick search turned up that @tomhawthorn.bsky.social wrote about it! #cdnhist #bchist
montecristomagazine.com/community/th...
montecristomagazine.com/community/th...
i had no idea that bc's history of goat-themed roadside attractions extends back to the interwar years and the "el bar ranch" on the pacific highway in surrey.
oppositethecity.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/a...
searcharchives.vancouver.ca/el-bar-ranch...
#bchist #cdnhist @jmcelroy.bsky.social 🚙🐐📷
oppositethecity.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/a...
searcharchives.vancouver.ca/el-bar-ranch...
#bchist #cdnhist @jmcelroy.bsky.social 🚙🐐📷
November 2, 2025 at 8:50 PM
i had no idea that bc's history of goat-themed roadside attractions extends back to the interwar years and the "el bar ranch" on the pacific highway in surrey.
oppositethecity.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/a...
searcharchives.vancouver.ca/el-bar-ranch...
#bchist #cdnhist @jmcelroy.bsky.social 🚙🐐📷
oppositethecity.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/a...
searcharchives.vancouver.ca/el-bar-ranch...
#bchist #cdnhist @jmcelroy.bsky.social 🚙🐐📷