RESOURCE BIBLIOGRAPHY

A guide to some useful resources for researchers into Gabriola Island history

Publications

  • Look first in the Gabriola Museum library. You might be surprised.

  • Government reports: annual reports to the Ministers of Mines, Lands, and other responsibilities were filed from as early as the 1880s, if not before. Copies are held in the BC Archives as well as in many government department libraries. They contain detailed information about Crown lands throughout the province.

  • Newspapers: The Nanaimo Harbourfront Library has microfilm on the second floor, including The Nanaimo Free Press back to 1874, and the Victoria Colonist back to 1858. The Free Press is also available at the Malaspina College Library, where copies are much cheaper. The BC Archives, in Victoria, has copies of most small provincial newspapers on microfilm, as well as Nanaimo and Victoria papers. It does not have Vancouver papers, which can be found in the Vancouver Public Library. It does not have the Nanaimo Herald, which can only be found in the BC Legislative Library. The Victoria City Library also has local newspapers on microfilm.

  • News clipping files from BC papers: At BCARS, Nanaimo Harbourfront, and other libraries, usually on microfiche. Copies of file cards in alphabetical order (people, places, events -- from the earliest Colonist to mid-20 cen. (NB: If you are looking for information on Henry Jones, these files will tell you only that there is an article about him in the Colonist of April 5, 1869, page 3. You will then have to go to the Colonist microfilm for 1869 to find the article.)

  • Directories: Many publishers (Mallaindaine, Henderson, Hibberd, etc.) Listings of names, addresses, occupations and tourist information from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Available at the Nanaimo Harbourfront Library as microfilm, and at the Victoria Public Library, the Victoria Archives, and the BC Archives as hard copy.

  • Local History in British Columbia by Maureen Cassidy, 1983: An excellent publication by the BC Heritage Trust -- a guide to researching, writing and publishing for the non-professional is the title but the odd professional has found it handy, too! It is (or was) available free of charge from the Hallmark Society in Victoria, may be available through the BC Arts Council. It contains a good bibliography of similar resources.

  • Western Canada since 1870, by Alan Artibise, 1978 (UBC Press). This is a very useful bibliography of books and articles, although limited by its date.

  • The Northwest Collection of the Vancouver Island Regional Library (VIRL) contains complete collections of the BC Historical Quarterly and the BC Historical News, as well as books by many early historians. The Reference Library contains many genealogical resources. Both are on the second floor of the Harbourfront branch.

  • British Columbia in Books, an annotated bibliography by Mary Lou Cuddy and James J. Scott, was published in 1974, so now 30 years old. Available in the Gabriola Museum library.

Websites


Databases at the Museum

Several databases at the Gabriola Museum are fairly easy to use. The old computer at the front desk downstairs is the simplest and most convenient.