"Lord Save Us from the Et Cetera of the Notaries"

For millennia archivists have struggled with the question of how to appraise and preserve an archival record of local, unwritten custom. The British historian E.P. Thompson, in an effort to explain why respectable local citizens would blacken their faces and poach the King’s deer, [i.e. the origins of the 18^th century Black Act] and concluded that the common experiences of local custom supported resistance to the King’s expanding forests. As Thompson famously wrote, “at the interface of land and law is custom.” Common custom, he concluded, was a kind of unwritten ambience.

Similarly, when the French monarchy expanded across northern Europe in the 13^th century, jurists attempted to incorporate the indigenous, unwritten customs of independent communities. To accommodate this “law of the land” jurists with some knowledge of customary law, known as coutumiers, travelled across rural France documenting local laws in a process that eventually produced the French Code Civil and ultimately the template for the Civil Code of Québec. The coutumiers shared a common problem. How to document a living custom known only by oral tradition? Medieval scholar Philippe de Beaumanoir in his famous work, Coutume de Beauvaisis summarized the need to capture in text, practices known only in unwritten custom:

It is my opinion, and others as well, that for all the customs which are currently used, are good and profitable, to be written down and registered, so that they be maintained without change, for memories are fallible and peoples’ lives are short, and what is not written is completely forgotten

.

But coutumiers believed it was not enough to document local custom, the custom must be authentic to be trusted. Once again in the long history of archives, we find a primary goal underscored: to preserve records in a manner both authentic and reliable. To produce trustworthy records from oral testimony the coutumiers turned to a device from Roman Law: the Enquête par turbe. The enquete is a tribunal co-opting the elders of a community to derive a common custom on a subject.

Several wise men, in good repute, are to be called.... The custom having been proposed, they are to declare and honestly transmit what they know and believe and have seen to be the practice …. Upon the swearing of an oath, they are to stand off to the side, deliberate, and communicate their deliberations...

In the enquête par turbe Renaissance French jurists offer us an example of western law trying to apply textual parameters of legal reason around local cultures built on complex personal relationships of land and unwritten heritage. A common expression of the period summarized the perspective of regional French communities experiencing the enfolding French national constitutional program and their loss of cultural authority: “Lord save us from the et cetera of the notaries.”

Once safely recorded on paper, regional custom was secured in an archives and incorporated into national law. Charles DuMoulin, Parisian jurist and advocate for documenting unwritten heritage explained the purpose in discussing the documentation of the local common customs surrounding Paris:

 The text of these customs…have been rendered the most accurate possible. They are useful to reference the original custom, and should be deposited in registers, either in the Parliament of Paris, or in courts and administrative offices of the kingdom. They can even be conserved in specialized libraries and cabinets... they can be referred to in innumerable [circumstances] to reconstruct the verbal process. 

Centuries later, Sir James Douglas was confronted with a challenge not unlike the coutumier: to attempt to reconcile and incorporate indigenous custom into the assimilating textual form of colonial governance. One of his earliest efforts to document the unwritten traditions of First Nations came in the form of the Doulgas Treaties. Since Douglas’s efforts, not unlike the French coutumiers, we have witnessed numerous attempts to document the relationship between local indigenous custom, law and confederation. To what degree did Douglas and his contemporaries capture and articulate the unwritten land practices of indigenous peoples is best summarized by Wilson Duff’s pithy characterization of the Douglas Treaties as “innocent legal fictions”. This type of recognition and reconciliation continues today in the form of  projects such as the BC Treaty Commission.

Raymond Frogner,
Archivist
Royal BC Museum

Clouds of War

From the desk of Ann ten Cate, Reference Archivist at the Royal B.C. Museum

Sometimes opening a box at the Archives leads to a little gem of a document – and makes the the hair on your neck stand up. Last week, after having recently seen the film “The King’s Speech”, I happened to come across a letter written by Winston Churchill just before the First World War. The film ends in 1939, just before the Second World War and features a cigar-chomping Churchill, appointed for a second time as Lord of the Admiralty, prognosticating about the coming war with Hitler.

The item in our collection was written by a much younger Churchill during his first stint as Lord of the Admiralty in 1911, and was sent to Richard McBride, the Premier of British Columbia, at Christmas time. We only have a copy of the letter, as the original was kept by the McBride family, but the content and prose are so characteristic that I could easily picture Churchill at his desk at Blenheim dashing off this thank-you note. Churchill (1874 – 1965) was one of the world’s great orators and writers, and was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1953. I think you’ll agree that this unpublished letter shows both his amazing prescience and his wonderful ability with words.

Here’s the full transcript of the letter, from accession 90-0009:

Blenheim, 26 Dec 1911

My dear Mr. McBride,

I have received from your Agent-General an intimation of the arrival of a grizzly bear skin which you have with so much kindness sent me as a personal gift. I am very grateful to you for it, and if I may say so, still more for the friendship of which it is a token, which I highly value.

You will I know have been pleased to see my transfer to the Admiralty. I was delighted. There have been times when it would not specially have appealed to me: but now it absorbs my waking thoughts. The years which lie immediately before us are serious and critical, and it is only by the strength of our Fleet – which thank God was never so powerful, that the peaceful and free development of the component parts of the British Empire will be secured.

I have been most interested in the results of the Canadian elections, and their effect on Canadian Naval policy. I shall be ready to help the new ministry in any way in my power, with a full understanding of some, at least, of the difficulties and limitations of their position. I hope you will tell your friends so. They can consult the Admiralty in perfect confidence that we will do all in our power to make their naval policy a brilliant success: and we will not be hidebound or shrink from new departures provided that whatever moneys they think fit to employ shall be well spent according to the true principles by which sea power is maintained.

I shall not lose hope yet that I may be able to see your beautiful Columbia before another Christmas has passed away.

Meanwhile, accept my most sincere good wishes for you and yours in the year 1912. Yours sincerely,

Winston S. Churchill

For more Churchillian quotes, check out http://jpetrie.myweb.uga.edu/bulldog.html

....and a Happy New Year!

From the desk of Ann ten Cate, Reference Archivist at the Royal BC Museum

Continuing on with my festive theme, I went looking for some seasonal archival photographs which would show us how people celebrated New Year’s in the past. I was amused by this image [C-07336], which was inscribed “New Year’s Eve at Mrs. James Fell’s home.”

Unfortunately, this image came to the Archives more than 50 years ago, and very little information about the photo was collected at the time. We don’t have a date (possibly around 1900?), or the names of the people in the photograph (although I’m pretty sure that Mrs. James Fell must be the dowager at the front). Nonetheless, I think it captures an interesting moment – and one that wasn’t easily documented 110 years ago, as an interior, night-time shot was technically challenging.

It’s also surprising how much extra information we can glean just by studying the image closely. For example, the man on the left is smoking a pipe, and wearing a very smart dressing gown over his clothes to protect them. The gentlemen and ladies appear to be “in their best”, but the household looks fairly modest. The cane-seated chair on the right has seen better days and has holes in the back and seat. Two heavy curtains, used to keep heat downstairs on cold nights, are visible on either side of the staircase. The door to a hallway closet is open, showing a variety of household products – a sight not often documented in family photographs of this, or any, era!

When analyzing photos for content, it is also useful to ask the “Who, What, When, Where and Why” questions so that we understand the context of their creation. In this instance we know why the image was created – to record a celebration, and a gathering of friends and family. We know that all the people in the photo are connected in some way to Mrs. James Fell, and since the photograph probably originated with a family in Victoria I think it’s likely that it was taken inside this house, which is identified as James Frederick Fell’s house on Pandora Avenue in Victoria [D-04044].

We can make an educated guess about the year of the New Year’s photo based on the clothing, and the specific date (December 31) is implied in the title. All of this information “adds value” to the image, and makes it worth keeping.

Can you spot anything else in either photograph that you find noteworthy? Or do you know anything more about this family? Do let us know! You can email me directly at ann.tencate@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca. The more we know about images like this, the more valuable they become as research resources. (And if you print up any of your own pictures of this past New Year’s Eve, remember to label them lightly, and in pencil, with the date, place and names of the people in the photo. Rename and add information to your digital files too. You might save some future archivist or family historian a whole lot of head-scratching if you do!).

Eat, Drink and Be Merry

From the desk of Ann ten Cate, Reference Archivist at the Royal B.C. Museum


While you can’t eat, drink or be merry in the B.C. Archives Reference Room, you CAN indulge in some nostalgia, or do some research for your next cocktail party. The B.C. Archives library contains more than 80,000 published items that have a connection to the history of B.C. – and that includes a selection of cookbooks and guides written in B.C., often for a relatively local audience. A search in our library catalogue using the term “cookery” will lead you to some amusing titles, including my favourite, “Casseroles for Drinkers”. This small book, penned by A.S. Buveur (which is a pen-name and means “drinker” in French) was written by Charlie White of Sidney, B.C., and published in 1975. The long form of the title was “Fifty-plus recipes for casseroles that you can cook longer than you’d planned so you don’t have to interrupt cocktails and your guests’ fascinating conversation, just to serve dinner”.

Other classics from the 70s in our collections include “Man on the Range: or How to Survive in the Kitchen Without Really Crying” by Danny Boyd, or James Barber’s “Fear of Frying.” For those British Columbians with more adventurous tastes (or less access to a supermarket) Swede Gano of Anahim Lake, B.C. offered up “Moose on the Table” featuring recipes such as Basic Boiled Moose Six Ways and Mooseburger Meatballs Porcupine Style. And of course, in the 70s the vegetarian movement was gathering steam, witnessed by titles such as “Soy bean magic: delicious recipes with soy beans, flour & grits” by Gwen Mallard, who ran a vegetarian restaurant and was also a well known environmental activist in B.C.

Should you be planning a 50’s themed party, you might want to have a look at “What’s Cooking?” published by the Vancouver Kiwassa Club in the mid-50s. This was the decade when jellied salads were in their hey-day, and the book includes more than 20 recipes that use various combinations of Jello, marshmallows and salad dressing. The book was sold to raise funds for the Club, which provided a gathering place for girls in Vancouver. This recipe deserves copying verbatim. (There is no photo – you’ll have to use your imagination!)

Jellied Salad for a Buffet

Make red Jello, and when partially set put in a tube pan. Then put in canned orange and grapefruit sections. When completely set, put a partially set lime Jello, with diced celery and shrimp in it, on top of the red Jello. When ready to use, turn out on a large plate, decorated with lettuce or endive. Fill hole with thick salad dressing.

Your 50s party wouldn’t be complete without an assortment of cocktails on offer, and the Archives library once again can be your guide. If your guests need help washing down the Jellied Salad, they could try a “Harvard Cocktail” (brandy and Italian vermouth) or a “French 75” (gin and champagne). These cocktails, and many more, were published in a little black book by a B.C. liquor distributor, along with instructions about how to shake, not stir:

“Where a shaker is used always provide ice. Shake the shaker hard, don’t just rock it, remember you are trying to wake it up, not rock it to sleep”.

If you need to find out more about what we were all eating and drinking (or not) in British Columbia 100 years ago, have a look at “The New Temperance Cookery Book” by Mrs. Fanny Lea Gillette. The preface proudly states that “The book embodies many original and commendable features, among which is the elimination of the use of alcohol. It can be clearly demonstrated that spirituous liquors are not required in cooking.”

Savoury jellies had been perfected by the Victorians and Edwardians, and were given their own chapter in Mrs. Gillette’s cookbook because they promoted household economy, using up “bits of meats and vegetables which in themselves would not be sufficient for a course”.

The recipes and the ingredients in all of these books tell us a surprising amount of information about how British Columbians ran their households, and which comestibles were available and when. Some are not what you would expect - in 1911 the recommended garnishes for the savory jellies included capers, truffles, olives, pimentos and green peppers. Likewise, I hadn’t realized that the average housewife in the early 50s could buy canned “Vegeterian (sic) Vegetable Soup”.

And that is why we collect and keep these vintage titles – they give us an insight into the daily life of the average housewife (or party host!), and are just as important as the scholarly works that also fill our library shelves. A small exhibit featuring some of these cookbooks, plus menus and photographs, is on display in the Archives lobby for the winter of 2010/11.

B.C.'s First Aviation Death?

From the desk of Ann ten Cate, Reference Archivist at the Royal BC Museum

One of my favourite categories of records at the B.C. Archives is the inquest and inquiry files created by B.C.’s coroners. The older ones (1858 – 1971) are now considered archival records, and most may be viewed by the public. They are not for the squeamish or the oversensitive but do reveal fascinating information about the way people lived, and of course, died.

The indexes to these records are generally a sad catalogue of workplace accidents, suicides and deaths due to natural causes, all of which needed the involvement of a coroner because the death was unusual or unexplained in some way. But sometimes, when I’m casting my eye through the indexes, a particular verdict will jump out and demand further investigation. (I’m currently looking through some of the early index entries because the Victoria Genealogical Society is working on a database of the coroner’s records for the Archives).

Last month I noticed that on October 10, 1894 a man named Charles H. Marble had “drowned in the Fraser descending from a balloon by parachute”! Fascinating for so many reasons. What was he doing descending from a balloon? Was this an extraordinary event, or something that people in New Westminster were doing on a regular basis in 1894? It begged investigation, and a blog entry.

The full inquest record, contained in an accession known as GR-0431, Attorney-General Inquests, 1865 to 1937, includes the formal verdict of the coroner’s jury and various witness statements. The inquest was held at the Court House in New Westminster, over two days, immediately after the body was retrieved from the Fraser River. At that time it was standard procedure for the jury to view the body in person, before considering the evidence, so the inquest was held as soon as possible.

It transpired that poor Mr. Marble was an “aeronaut” who had been hired to put on a performance as an “aerialist” for the crowds who were attending the Royal Agricultural and Industrial Society of B.C.’s Exhibition at Queen’s Park. (This was a forerunner of the PNE). An aeronaut was what we would call a balloonist today – and an aerialist is a tightrope and trapeze artist. Although only 26, Marble claimed to be an experienced showman who would somehow manage to perform like a trapeze artist on a bar, while suspended from a balloon, which he would ultimately descend from by parachute!

I have not been able to find any B.C. photographs or films of this type of extraordinary performance, but Marble was obviously akin to some of the earlier daredevils like Charles Blondin, who is best known for walking across a wire tethered to the opposite sides of Niagara Falls in 1859. Blondin died safely in his sleep in 1897, a rich and internationally known figure. A 19th century engraving (right) shows an ascending balloon with a parachute attached.

Our poor Mr. Marble, who may well be B.C.’s first aviation death, drowned after he miscalculated the wind strength across the Fraser and quite literally didn’t make it to the other side. The inquest record reveals that he had been warned not to attempt to cross the river, and had been offered a life preserver, which he refused. The Police Chief, who was watching the performance, stated that he thought Marble “was doing all right” until the last few moments when it became clear that the balloon was descending too rapidly for Marble to make a safe parachute jump. Although he cut away from the bar, he fell into the water with the parachute on top of him. Other evidence tells us that the balloon was made of cotton, created in Seattle, and filled with hot air by a wood stove. The coroner’s jury was informed that the wages of an aeronaut varied from $10 to $25 per day.

The Daily Columbian (also available at the B.C. Archives) duly reported on the incident the next day, describing it as a “Fatal Balloon Ascent”. They recorded that Mr. Marble was a native of Los Angeles, who “had been at the work from boyhood”. His remains were claimed by friends from Edison, Washington – where he is presumably buried.

Exhibition Buildings, Queen's Park, New Westminster, ca 1905 B.C. Archives HP-035392

I don’t expect that this particular life and death will ever attract much attention, but perhaps I will be surprised. Is there a budding author out there who feels inspired by this man’s story? If so, you know where to come for the facts. You’ll find more information about the collections at http://www.bcarchives.bc.ca/

You May Need Us More Than You Realize

From the desk of Ann ten Cate, Reference Archivist at the Royal BC Museum

Future generations will, I am confident, appreciate the work we are doing with the archival collections here at the RBCM. As Winston Churchill famously said “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you can see.” Most people can see the value of the records for historians (family or otherwise). But I think it’s also important to recognize that archival records are used for very immediate purposes. As a reference archivist I help researchers who are working on a broad range of topics – everything from preparing environmental assessments to creating historical fiction.

And, even more frequently, B.C. Archives staff are helping people who need archival records for very personal reasons. Lately, I’ve had a run of requests for help in finding records which were absolutely critical to those individuals because they needed them to claim government benefits – or to confirm their own identity.

Winston Churchill in Beacon Hill Park, 1929, F-05216, RBCM-BC Archives photo

Here’s a sampling of their stories – with names withheld to protect the innocent (or not so innocent) as the case may be!

Back in 1990, Mr. X. was convicted of possession of marijuana. Just one plant – but it was enough to leave him with a criminal record. Mr. X was not a Canadian citizen, but a landed immigrant. Shortly after his conviction his home, and with it his proof of immigration status, were destroyed in a fire. Fast forward to 2010 – Mr. X is now eligible for Old Age Security, and needs to provide his immigration documentation. To get that replaced, he has to fill out “form IMM5541”, which requires that he attach a copy of the “pertinent court documents” relating to his past conviction. You can imagine his frustration...he has no court documents because they were all destroyed in the same fire that destroyed his immigration documents! His initial inquiries to the court system were not fruitful and he came to the B.C. Archives sounding pretty desperate.

In the end, it turned out we didn’t have the record – but we were able to determine that Mr. X’s court file still existed in the court system and were able to give him precise instructions on how to obtain it at a court registry. He’ll be able to get his Old Age Security benefits – and we’ve advised him to put his “pertinent court documents” in a safety deposit box for the next time Big Brother comes calling.

Last month, another male client came to us looking for a copy of his divorce order. This happens often – usually because the person needs it to remarry, claim pension benefits, immigrate or emigrate. As many of us know from personal experience, governments all over the world are tightening up and expanding their requirements for proof of identity. The Archives holds most divorce orders granted in B.C. from 1877 to 1990, and we do a steady trade in providing copies of divorce orders. What made this gentleman’s request unique was that he needed the order to prove that he had custody of his children – and would thus qualify for extra benefits under the Child Rearing Provision of the Canada Pension Plan.

A third case was especially touching – after being brought up in extremely difficult circumstances a young child was transferred to the custody of the Children’s Aid Society many years ago. Now, as an adult, this individual is looking for more information about his birth mother. He knows her name, and when she died, but now he wants any record that bears her signature or her name – simply to bring together all the evidence of her life, and of his own existence.

Children's Aid Society Building, Vancouver, ca 1895, G-02215, RBCM-BC Archives photo


Like the others, his request brought a very human dimension to the work we do here.

What I did on my summer vacation....

From the desk of Ann ten Cate, Reference Archivist at the Royal BC Museum

Like thousands of British Columbians, I’m just back from some time in the woods – so I thought it would be fun for this blog installment to look at the way that people camped in the past.

The B.C. Archives has hundreds of photographs of families and campgrounds, and I’ve chosen a few that may bring back some memories for those of you who spent your summer vacations gathered round a campfire, roasting weenies and marshmallows, and telling ghost stories.

Judging by these photos some parts of the recreational camping experience haven’t changed all that much over the last 150 years. It’s a chance to relax with family, practice some survival skills (like making coffee over a campfire!) and sleep under canvas. If you’re a hunter or fisherman there’s the added bonus of providing food for your family!

Here’s a quick look at some of my favourite archival images:

The Francis Claudet and Arthur T. Bushby families camping at Burrard Inlet, ca. 1868 E-03990

Francis Claudet was the son of an early French daguerreotypist, and was one of the first people to take photographs in B.C. He is at the centre of the photo, with Mr. and Mrs. Bushby on the right. Other photos from the same outing show that they took along some of their children, and a servant. These photos were carefully posed by Claudet and incorporate symbols that demonstrate their intrepid spirit – the axe, frying pan and kettle, the picnic on a blanket, and the tent. This was a long way from the average Victorian parlour!

The title on this one is “Gus Adams's camping outfit at Kaslo [D-07193]”, and it probably dates from around 1900. Looks like they had a good hunting trip! This was camping with a purpose.

This group seems to be the living embodiment of the phrase “happy campers”... they’ve got a guitar, a fiddle, a paddle and a rifle. What more do you need? We don’t know much about them, although the photograph is from the Nelson area and probably dates from around 1895. [B.C. Archives photo C-07816]

Car camping made it easier to bring along more stuff. I think there’s a rolling pin on the table in this photo of an unnamed family camping near Victoria around 1915 [B.C. Archives photo G-06889]. The emulsion on this photo has shrunk a bit making all of the people rather elongated. If you happen to know who they are, do let us know!

Even Emily Carr took to the woods occasionally, using a caravan as a mobile studio. Being Emily, she nicknamed it “The Elephant”. [B.C. Archives photo D-03842]




I expect that this will take a few people back to their childhoods. I can practically smell the camp smoke when I look at this one. This family was camping at Goldstream Park just outside Victoria, in 1950. [B.C. Archives photo I-26744]

Remember the 70’s when everything was orange? We’re not sure where or when this photo was taken, but I’d say this is pretty typical of that day-glo era. [B.C. Archives photo G-0001]


Insert your own camping photo here and carry on camping!

The Jeep, the Tesco's lorry and why the Busby family always looks both ways.

From the desk of Ann ten Cate, Reference Archivist at the Royal BC Museum.

Every document in the B.C. Archives has a back-story. One of my recent favourites centres on a file created by the Official Administrator’s office in Nanaimo for a man called Benjamin Busby, who died in the tiny community of Errington, BC in 1951. It’s what is sometimes known in archives lingo as a “fat file” because it is quite literally fat – nearly 200 pages of paper! Benjamin put the official administrative process into high gear by dying without a will (thus being declared “intestate”), having no immediate heirs - and owning a considerable estate (although he lived in a “shack” on a rural property). The file grew fatter and fatter as the documents necessary to properly divvy up the estate to various English relations accumulated.

His file lay sleepily in the Nanaimo courthouse (along with hundreds of similar files) until it was rounded up and transferred to the BC Archives in the 1980s. Fast forward 30 years to March 2010 when Dr. Ann Thurley wrote to the archives looking for the will of Benjamin Busby. She had a vague recollection that her father (Benjamin’s nephew) had received a bequest at some point in the 1950’s, and she was pulling together a family history.

After I copied and mailed the full file to her I got this excited email:

“It has arrived!..… As yet I’ve only had a cursory look but was very moved to find a copy of the original letter from the Army informing my Grandmother of my Grandfather [Walter’s] death….in France in WW1. He tragically died on November 10th, 1918, the day before Armistice Day, one of the victims of the Great Flu Pandemic. The original [letter] has obviously disappeared in the mists of time.” [GR-3002, Busby file, letter to Norma Busby]

Ann continues: “And what a superb collection of certificates and wills, all so methodically sent as proof of death and existence; and a coroner’s death certificate of my Father’s youngest brother who was killed in 1944 as a result of being hit head on by American GI’s in a Jeep only a few miles from his home, leaving two tiny sons.” [GR-3002, Busby file, death certificate for Norman Jesse Busby]

Ann was also curious about why Benjamin, her great-uncle, had emigrated to Canada. Perhaps the answer lies in the complicated set of family relationships he left behind in the small Cotswold village of Hook Norton.

Benjamin and Walter had another brother – Ralph. Also a soldier, he returned injured and was nursed by his widowed sister-in-law, Norma May. They fell in love, were not allowed to marry – but had a child together who was adopted outside of the family. The affair and the baby were kept secret. Sadly, Ann didn’t learn about this part of her family story in time to meet either the boy, who died in 1982, or his widow, who was killed by a Tesco’s lorry just one week before Ann tracked her down. [Photo: Norma May, her husband Walter and their children. Photo courtesy Ann Thurley]

Thanks to the records kept here at the BC Archives, Benjamin now takes a bigger role in the fascinating Busby family history!