Page 6 West Vancouver Historical Society April 1999 GOING ON RECORD WITH OUR ARCHIVIST By: Anne Vernon Preben Mortensen, our new Archivist who In his short time with us has come to know many of the Society members, was pleased to come and share his expertise with our February meeting audience. Archives are much more than dusty mementoes In an old cupboard and Preben explained how archives and libraries Intertwine In the Important matter of preservation of our personal and municipal histories. Libraries and archives, despite what most people think, are not run on the same lines. Preben explained that you really cannot just drop into any local archives, especially small organisations like ours in West Vancouver, and expect to have both archivist and records immediately available to you. To give us a greater understanding of why this is, he painted a picture for us of what recordkeeping on a large scale can be like. Many large public institutions, such as the RCMP and BC Hydro have acres of records which have to be kept, both for reference and historical purposes. Papers and photographs come to us from families and local organisations. Just think of a large federal government undertaking. Preben chose as his example the Unemployment department. Each time a person goes into one of their offices a record has to be opened and/or added to. Imagine the incredible amount of paperwork (and despite computers there is still paperwork to be processed) which must accumulate each year. There are acres of buildings all over the country which contain nothing but records of past cases. Now think of our own archival department, small though it is. Our records are mainly personal papers which have been donated to us by people who wish to preserve some of the history of West Vancouver. Papers and photographs come to us from families and local organisations like the Hollybum Sailing Club, the Sketch Club, and others. We have over 12,000 photographs, many of which bear no note of who or where the subjects are. (This is where members who have lived in the community for many years, especially in the 20's, 30's or 40's, could help in possibly identifying the people and places involved.) There are also extensive records kept by the Municipality, credit for which goes, as our last issue mentioned, to the inimitable Rupert Harrison! These records are entirely separate from those of our own archives and are not available for inspection at the moment. However, once a Municipal Records Manager has been appointed, it is hoped that much material will come to us at Gertrude Lawson House as Rupert would prefer. If you are interested in any local West Vancouver community memories or photographs, just call Preben and he will advise you of how to get to the information you require. He is available at the Archives each Tuesday & Wednesday. Just call him at 925-7298. If you are thinking of donating any family papers or photos, the Archivist will be delighted. Your donations will be catergorised (with your help),and put into safekeeping for the delight of future generations. EMPLOYEES AT GREAT NORTHERN CANNERY CELEBRATING THE MOST SALES OF VICTORY BONDS PHOTO: JOHN GRAUSGRUBER