November 18, 2003 For Immediate Release

An expanded Northern British Columbia Archives will be officially opening at UNBC on Thursday, November 20. Located on the top floor of the Geoffrey R Weller Library, the new Archives is 4300 square feet – nearly three times larger than its initial facility.

The opening ceremonies for the Northern BC Archives will be Thursday, November 20, at 3pm in its new home on the Library’s fourth floor. Media are welcome.

The expansion of the Archives has been necessary to accommodate a large and growing number of historical records that have been donated to UNBC. In fact, if all of the boxes of textual records were laid one next to the other, the line would stretch for nearly one kilometre. In addition, about 15,000 photographs are now part of the collection. All of the records relate to the development of northern BC.

“Our new facility includes environmental controls necessary for preserving historical collections and a larger area for public research,” says UNBC Archivist Ramona Rose. “There’s a real interest in preserving the North’s history and the Archives is already helping to ensure that our history has a home.”

Collections in the Northern BC Archives include Carrier-Sekani genealogical records, records from the Grand Trunk Pacific and Pacific Great Eastern Railways, papers from former BC Cabinet Ministers Ray Williston and Harry Perry, sound recordings from CKPG co-founder Jack Carbutt, administrative photograph records from Northwood Pulp & Timber Ltd., and the records from the Cassiar Asbestos Mining Corporation.

The public is welcome to tour the new Archives on Wednesday, November 26. At 1pm, UNBC professor Suzanne LeBlanc will talk about her new book about Cassiar and single-industry towns. Her research included 100 interviews and combing through the 2000 boxes of records from Cassiar that are located in the Archives. The book, Cassiar: A Jewel in the Wilderness, has been published by Caitlin Press of Prince George.