In a new series of blog posts, Rare Books and Special Collections will be featuring a historic document, photograph or map related to one of the B.C. towns represented in the room names of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
Receipt from A.C. Christensen & Son, Bella Coola
To kick things off, we’ll start with Bella Coola which is a small town on the Central Coast of B.C. The Bella Coola area is famous for the MacKenzie Rock, where in 1793 Alexander MacKenzie wrote his name on a rock to commemorate completing the first recorded journey across North America. In the early to mid 20th century, the Bella Coola area was home to the Tallheo Cannery, which is where our featured document comes from. The Tallheo Cannery was built in 1912 by the Canadian Fishing Company. The archives of the Tallheo Cannery include administrative records such as correspondence, financial documents, and fishermen’s statements. The document shown is a receipt for purchases made by the Cannery from a Bella Coola store, A.C. Christensen & Son, who were dealers in “dry goods, boots and shoes, hardware and groceries.”
In the Barber Centre, the Bella Coola room is number 193, a meeting room on the first floor of the building.
Check back every two weeks for another B.C. town and another historic document!
Bella Coola room, Barber Centre(written by Sarah Romkey)