March 3, 2000 For Immediate Release

The Prince George Retired Teachers' Association is establishing a BC Heritage Textbook collection at the University of Northern British Columbia Library. A public event recognizing the contribution will be held Monday, March 6, at 4pm in the Library atrium.

The materials have been collected by the Prince George Heritage Committee, which has about twenty members. They have been searching archives, collecting old textbooks, reading old newspapers, and recording oral histories - all to capture the evolution of curriculum development in Prince George. UNBC will be cataloguing the materials prior to the collection being accessible to students and the public. Currently, the collection numbers about 800 elementary and 300 secondary school items.

The new collection will provide an important resource for the development of UNBC's new bachelor's degree program in Education. Although still in development, the program will train new teachers with a focus on teaching in northern and rural areas.