About the Sechelt Community Archives
Hours of operation: Thursdays, 10am-5pm (by appointment Thursdays,
9-10am)
School and group tours can be arranged.
Location: 206-5760 Teredo Street, Sechelt, B.C.
(above the Royal Bank in Trail Bay Mall)
Contact: Ann
Watson, Archivist, 604-989-0571
The Sechelt Community Archives, an
institutional member of the Archives Association of
British Columbia, is housed in the Sechelt Public Library
and opened to the public in 1997.
Facinating photographs and documents of
historical Sechelt and district, and the Sunshine Coast in
general, are to be found in the Sechelt Community
Archives.
Geneologists, history researchers,
college and school students will find a wealth of
information:
- Biographical data
- First Nations history
- Pioneer family histories
- Photographs
- Local newspapers (clippings)
- Neighbourhood histories
The archives started because the late
Helen Dawe (1914-1983), who had been a librarian in
Victoria and Vancouver, left her estate, including her
collection of records, to her sister Mrs. Wilhemina Steele
who donated the collection, with a sum of money to
maintain it, to the District of Sechelt.
Helen Dawe had spent much of her
childhood in Sechelt and moved there permanently in 1969.
She devoted the next fourteen years to collecting
documents, maps, newspapers, photographs, artifacts and
other items of historical significance to Sechelt and
District and the Sunshine Coast and to writing about the
history of the area.
Provisions for an archives room were
included in the plans for a new library built in 1996 and
located in downtown Sechelt. An archivist was hired, the
collection reviewed, placed in acid-free files, envelopes
and boxes and Finding Aids prepared according to Rules for
Archival Description.
The Helen Dawe Collection consists of
thirty meters of textual records and approximately one
hundred and twenty artifacts. Over seventy individuals and
local organizations have donated an additional twenty
meters of records since the archives first opened and
previous and current issues of the local newspapers are
also kept in the archives.
The foresight of Helen Dawe to preserve
Sechelt's history and to provide the nucleus for building
a comprehensive record of the history of Sechelt and the
Sunshine Coast is commendable. The Sechelt Community
Archives continues her legacy and makes its historic
records assessible to the public.
The Sechelt Community Archives
acknowledges the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at the
University of British Columbia and the District of Sechelt
for providing funds to digitize approximately 5,000
historic photographs from the Helen Dawe Collection,
individuals and organizations and the Peninsula Times
Newspapers Collection. This project provides better
preservation of the historic records of Sechelt and the
Sunshine Coast and provides researchers and interested
individuals easier access to valuable information.
About the photos on this website
Permission to scan the photographs has
been received in writing or verbally from their donors.
Copyright
© The Sechelt Community Archives
