February 16, 2011
Heritage Week 2011: The Heritage of Parks and Protected Areas
In honour of the centennial of BC’s Provincial Parks, Heritage Week in 2011 will recognize the importance of all parks in the province. The local Historical Society, for its part, will look at the story of the parks of New Westminster. This presentation about the history of our local parks will include images of the city’s parks and offer anecdotes of their activities and events throughout the years. Archie Miller will be joined by Gavin Hainsworth for the program.

March 16, 2011
Uptown New Westminster: An Historical Overview
Uptown New Westminster is a prominent part of the city, whether one thinks of people and housing, or business and local commerce. Its history is intriguing as it began as a few stores mixed with houses, large tracts of land, and some important early roads and trails. This presentation will contain many images of the area over the years, show the importance of the arrival of Woodward’s Department Store in the early 50s, and include some wonderful descriptive accounts from the area’s development from past to present.

April 20, 2011
A Look At Sir John A Macdonald: First Prime Minister of Canada
Local author, Terry Julian, has written a wonderful book on the story of Sir John A Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada – a figure powerfully linked to the formation and early development of this country. The book, An Ordinary Miracle: John A Macdonald, chronicles his life including a visit to the Royal City. This biography, published in 2010, notes “much that is generally unknown in John A Macdonald’s heroic life is revealed and shows an energetic and visionary person in whom every Canadian should be knowledgeable.”

May 18, 2011
Questions And Answers – Images And Stories – Your Topics
This program will build on the success of the presentations of miscellaneous images that have become very popular in January Historical Society evenings. Those presentations are centred on suggestions and questions from members of the community who come to programs at the Library or who may come to see a short segment on a topic that they want to know more about. This program in May will continue this type of theme but with a slight change – fewer topics, more time for questions and answers. The items suggested so far for this presentation will likely include the following:

• The creation of Sapperton Landing Park (it was formally opened 10 years ago) and the site’s historical importance to the area.
  
• Some post 1898 photos showing the destruction but with a bit more description of what is seen in the photos.
  
• Some Ancient and Honourable Hyack Anvil Battery photos with a brief explanation of what happens with the anvils.

June 15, 2011
Sapperton I: Part of an Ongoing Series of Presentations on this Neighbourhood
Sapperton, the northern part of New Westminster, will be the focus of a number of presentations over the next couple of years. This first program will centre on a series of photographs are a little bit different and that allow some detailed description of what is recorded in the old photo. Included will be some views of early Hume Park with trails, wooden huts, and ponds; a number of aerial photos that allow the observer to pick out features long gone but still remembered; a number of images showing North Road near the Brunette River bridge; some photos of what was known as the “Sapper’s Barracks” along with its demolition; a selection of early pictures of the area around Braid and Columbia, and very likely some more. There will also be a story about the “peanut butter factory”. This ongoing project is the work of Archie Miller, Wayne Wou, and Carol McMeekin.

July 20, 2011
The New Westminster Fire and Rescue Service: 150 Years of the Fire Department
This year, 2011, the local Fire Department, now Fire and Rescue Service, is recognizing its 150th anniversary. This presentation will be a showing of many photos of fires in the Royal City along with early fire fighting equipment. New Westminster has a history filled, unfortunately, with fires, some of which were so large and dramatic that they actually determined how the city continued in some areas. Included will also be a description of the Service’s start in 1861 and its first fire hall.

August 17, 2011
The People of the Dufferin Street Cemetery
This cemetery was officially used for only a very short time in the early 1860s. It ceased to be used when the new burial ground far up the hill at 8th Street at 10th Avenue (the Douglas Street or Road Cemetery) was opened up. After sitting dormant, but not necessarily unused, for a number of decades, the Dufferin Street location was cleared by the Church of England who owned the site, any remains and markers moved to the new Church of England Cemetery in Sapperton, now part of Fraser Cemetery, and the land used for housing.

This presentation will look at those people buried in the cemetery, who they were, how they died, and so on, and also look at other pieces of information about the graveyard from its inception in the early 1860s to 1908 when it was cleared out. Much of this cemetery information comes from city research, Royal Engineer surveys and maps, walking tour research, Colonial Correspondence (BCARS), Church of England archives, and more and has been worked on since about 1969 when some of the Royal Engineers’ maps of the site were first obtained.

September 21, 2011
Expo’86: A Look Back 25 Years To The Fair
The summer of 1986 was a very special time in this Province as a world’s fair, Expo’86. was held in Vancouver. This presentation will look back 25 years to the fair with images of the event as well as noting the Expo reminders that are still to be seen in New Westminster. These include a number of items at Westminster Quay and along the Esplanade by the river. A short portion of this presentation will outline the history of world fairs from the 1850s to today. It is also hoped to have a selection of Expo’86 memorabilia on display, and perhaps some ‘sound heritage’.

October 19, 2011
An Historical Appraisal of the Columbian College
For a number of decades, from the late 1800s to the mid 1930s, Columbian College was a well-regarded institute of higher learning and part of the educational scene in British Columbia. The college aspired to be the main provincial university but political forces strived to deny it that opportunity. It was most prominently known in its location on First Street across the road from Queen’s Park near 3rd Avenue. The College featured many school buildings, large attractive grounds, a prominent main structure, and of course, a full calendar of subjects. This presentation by two educational researchers who also hold doctorate degrees in education, Gerry Thomson and Eric Damer, will look at many pieces of this school’s history that go together to weave a very interesting story of an early BC college. Gerry Thomson is a member of the Historical Society.

November 16, 2011
Sapperton Part II: Another Part of an Ongoing Series of Presentations on this Neighbourhood
This look at the ongoing Sapperton neighbourhood research will feature some photographs of the area and link them to a number of maps. The research has been connecting fire insurance maps and the structures that they depict to some photos of parts of Sapperton, starting with part of East Columbia Street. Lots of information is coming from this study and it is hoped that more photographs may be located to fill in areas where none are currently available. This ongoing project is the work of Archie Miller, Wayne Wou, and Carol McMeekin.

December 21, 2011
Early New Westminster Christmas And New Years: Food, Drink, Gifts And Decorations
As we look at some of the early celebrations in this city we are often surprised at what was available to the local community and its shoppers. This presentation will look at what was available to the early community in terms of the things needed for year-end, Christmas and New Years celebrations. The information, taken from a number of sources including newspapers and catalogues, will often surprise and frequently amaze, as you realize that we can still obtain the brands that they had in the shops of an early frontier Columbia Street in an early downtown New Westminster. This will all be linked with some seasonal photos regarding Christmas and the upcoming New Year. While some of the material in this presentation may have appeared in previous programming, much of it is new and offered here by popular request for the Holiday Season.