Cranbrook Visitor

SPECIAL WRITER COMING TO CRANBROOK.- Miss Helen Matheson, of U.B.C. Will Spend Some Time In District.

            The University of British Columbia through its historical Department, has, for several years, been conducting intensive research surveys throughout the province for the purpose of discovering, collecting and filing authentic information relative to life and conditions when the foundations of business, education, religion, and society in general were being laid down along the valleys and among the hills of British Columbia.  Much valuable work had already been done by individuals and governments.  However much still remains to be done, and what has been done must be coordinated.  Therefore the university plan includes:- hearing their own stories from the lips of the pioneers who still remain; gleaning from the files of local newspapers, items which in years gone by were printed as news, but which have now become invaluable as historical data; and also gathering from every other available source information and records which, with the passing of the pioneer generation will be entirely lost.  The results are tabulated and filed in the Provincial archives, where they will be conserved for reference when the romance of pioneer days and ways will have long since passed into the realm of tradition.

            These surveys are being made under the direction of Professor W.N. Sage, head of the Department of History.  The work planned for the present summer includes East Kootenay, and Miss Helen Matheson, an undergraduate of U.B.C., has been appointed representative for the Cranbrook and Kimberley districts.  Miss Matheson is not a stranger to the Kootenay, having resided in Kimberley for several years when her father, Rev. R.N. Matheson, was pastor of the United Church in that city.  Her mother, Mary Matheson, is well known across Canada as a writer of lyric verse.

            Pioneers and old-time residents are asked to enroll as active partners in this enterprise, also all others who have done work of a historical character will please place the results of their labors at the disposal of the university.  This cooperation is essential in order that the survey may be of greatest value, and serve to the highest degree possible the worthy object that prompted its initiation.