Over T

By: Aphra Hughes

Let me tell you about
Ramona Rose and her hid-
den treasure. Ramona Rose
is the new head archivist at
UNBC’s Archives, hidden
away on the third floor of the
library. It’s a quiet place: at
most there are a head
archivist, an assistant, and
two or three students. The
Archives were officially
opened on November 22,
2000 and are actually three
archives within one: the
records relating to the history
of the University, the
Northern BC Archives which
contains private records, and
also the records of the
University administration.
What sorts of articles go into
archives? Materials range
from textual, photographic,
and cartographic collections
to sound and moving picture
collections, and even
ephemera. For example, the
university archives have all
the papers from the Interior
University Society, the group
that founded UNBC, and
unique memorabilia. Ms.
Rose showed me interior
University buttons and sweat-
shirts, as well as the book
containing the 16,000 names
of all the people that signed
the petition to open a univer-
sity here. Ms Rose’s treasure
collection also includes over
two thousand five hundred
boxes of documents from
Cassiar, the mining town that

The Monetary Affairs
Commission was supposed
to meet on Thursday, March
22, 2001 to decide whether
the Northern Undergraduate
Student Society has the
money to give $4500 to the
International Centre, but
unfortunately the meeting did
not have quorum. This
money would be used to hire

Out of the spotlight

A look at the people behind the scenes

closed in 1992. Those are
held offsite, because there
isn’t room for them here. Ms
Rose has a Co-op student
working at the moment to cat-
alogue the contents, and Dr
Suzanne Leblanc of the
Women’s Studies department
is writing a book about
Cassiar. UNBC Archives are
holding material for other
organizations too, including
the Carrier Sekani genealogy
records, a joint project of the
Carrier Sekani Tribal Council
and the Catholic Church.
UNBC Archives also have an
extensive collection of oral
history tapes, and the Retired
Teachers’ Association has
donated materials on local
curricula, including all the
textbooks used in the school
district. The Northern BC
Archives has over five thou-
sand slides taken by Mary
Fallis. Mary Fallis was the
person whose efforts resulted
in the creation of Moore’s
Meadow Park (between
Tabor and Foothills north of
First), and her images are
mostly of flora and land-
scape, but some also show
historic street scenes of
Prince George. The archive
has a collection of Tommy
Tompkins’s films. He was a
documentary filmmaker and
naturalist who had a show of
his own on the CBC in the
1950s, all about northern
British Columbia. The archive
also has a collection of Ray

Williston’s papers and pho-
tographs. That'’s right, the Ray
Williston the lake was named
after. He was a Social Credit
MLA for Fort George, and
served as Minister of
Education and Minister of
Lands and Forests under
Premier Bennett. The collec-
tion includes over 17 scrap-
books compiled by Mr
Williston and over100 photos.
Some of the photos can be
seen in the display case at
the front door of the library;
have a look at Ray Williston
as a baby in 1914, or the
notorious Ben Ginter, who
owned Pacific Western
Brewery. Many of these mate-
rials are old and fragile and
require specialized storage
areas with temperature,
humidity and light level con-
trols. So do the materials in
Special Collections, which is

linked to Archives and holds.

published material that needs
special care because of age
or its special format, such as
maps. Archives also has a
gift room, where material that
has been donated to the
archives but hasn't been sort-
ed yet is held. Geoffrey
Wellers books and papers
are there right now. The hall-
way between the rooms is the
processing area at the
moment, which is a problem,
because it has windows. Ms
Rose has to keep the blinds
shut to control light levels for
now. Eventually, she hopes to

get UV coating on those win-
dows to protect her treasures.
| asked Ms Rose how she
retrieved materials from the
archives for researchers..
Archivists use an numbering
system which classifies items
with their year of acquisition

-followed by the number of

acquisition within the year in
sequence. This is all listed on
the computer, along with the
collection name, donor's
name and a description. One
of the trends in archiving is
toward a searchable data
base with digitized photos,
and Ms Rose is working
toward this goal, as well as
getting a website for the
archives. She also hopes to
hire more students. She
wants to have both intern-
ships, where students get
course credit, and jobs,
where students get paid.
Some of these would be sum-
mer jobs, others workstudy
positions running through the
school year. Ms Rose also
hopes to do more outreach to
the regional campuses,
assisting students with their
research projects and provid-
ing information on UNBC col-
lections. When you ask her
about herself, Ramona Rose
is much more reticent. Like
most archivists, she has a
history background. She
studied Canadian and
European history at Memorial
University, followed by an
Masters in Museum Studies

Where Does $4500
Of NUGSS Money Go???

employees to work for the
International Centre with the
international students. With
the financial constraints and
the financial commitments
made to the Over The Edge,
Women’s Centre, NUGSS
clubs, and sports; NUGSS
does not have the money to
give to this __ initiate.
Furthermore, the Director of

Finance believes that- this
would be an inefficient use of
student funds. The
International Centre should
use University funds to hire
students because they would
be working for the
International Centre, not
NUGSS. NUGSS has numer-
ous clubs and services rec-
ognized by NUGSS, but none

of the clubs receive money to
hire employees. The money
should be spent on capital
upgrades on equipment
(such as a cheaper photo-
copier for studenis than
UNBC offers) to enhance the
service given to students.
Also, | believe that the
University should fund this
initiate, and it may possibly

26. 2001

at University of Toronto and
another Masters in Canadian
women’s history at UBC. She
has lived in Prince George for
eight years and previously
worked at the Fraser-Fort
George Regional museum,
where she was Curator of
Collections, and as Archivist
at the Delta Museum and
Archives. Ms Rose is much
happier talking about her col-
lections. The Archives hold
the University’s art collection
and Ms Rose arranges sea-
sonal exhibits, such as the art
in the library display cases
and on the walls. When
asked how museums and
archives differ, Ms Rose
answers that they are some-
what similar, but differ in col-
lection types and in focus.
Museums tend to have three-
dimensional materials, and
their goal is exhibitions.
Archives are also concerned
with making collections
accessible, but their main
focus is research and publi-
cation. Ms Rose foresees
that the future will see a blur-
ring of the lines as archives
move to virtual displays fea-
turing their photos and sound
recordings. If you are doing
research on almost anything
related to Northern BC, visit
the Archives - | can guaran-
tee that you will be kindly
received, and Ramona Rose
will guide you to find hidden
treasure.

with the release of the
University budget expected
later this month.

Shane Schepens

Director of Finance &
Operations