FRONT WORDS

1 A Dream Marches On Happy 90th anniversary to City of Vancouver Archives. Its collection captures the city’s story through 7.2 million photographs, 6,800 maps, 2,800 audio recordings, documents measured in kilometres and terabytes of digital material. How did it begin? Major James Skitt Matthews, born in Newtown, Wales, and raised in New Zealand, was appointed the first city archivist in 1933 and brought along his vast personal collection. Matthews had landed in Vancouver as a 20-year-old, in 1898, where he worked for Imperial Oil and, later, operated a tugboat business. Twice wounded during the Great War, he achieved the rank of major, and never gave it up. Matthews interviewed hundreds of people, including Squamish Chief August Jack Khatsahlano. Fiercely defensive about the collection, Matthews often sparred with mayors and bureaucrats—at…

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British Columbia History (Digital) - 1 Issue, 56.3 Fall 2023

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