History Archives - The Collective Magazines

Cortes Island Museum & Archives

Photos courtesy of

Museum at Campbell River

THE HERRING GOLD RUSH OF 1979

For BC’s fishers, it was the year of money

Words by

Dave Flawse

Photos by

Jarrett Lindal

A LINK TO THE PAST

The history of the Grieve family barn.

Words & Photos by

Jim Whyte

FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS

The history of fire protection services in Cumberland.

Words by

Bevin Clempson

Photos by

Sara Kempner

CAMP ROAD SPECIAL

Putting down roots in a place where people and stories live.

Words by

Simone Gingras-Fox

Photos by

Luke Phillips

UNCOVERING THE MYSTERIES OF TWIN ISLANDS

Stories from Sheltering in the Backrush.

Words by

Jeanette Taylor

Photos courtesy of

FOSSIL FASCINATION

The Comox Valley has many ancient secrets for citizen palaeontologists to discover.

Words by

Mac Newton

Photos provided by

Experience Comox Valley

ECHOES IN CHINATOWN

How exclusion, discrimination, and racism took their toll on a thriving community.

Words by

Erica Keen

Photos courtesy of

The Keen Family

REMARKABLY UNSINKABLE

Denman Island’s Hilda Slayter Lacon was a stalwart survivor of multiple disasters.

Words by

Claire King

Opening photo by

Alan Hustak

THE TAIL OF THE KITE

Hamilton Mack Laing’s sudden involvement in the 1925 Mount Logan expedition.

Words by

Trevor Marc Hughes

Photo courtesy of

Richard Mackie

ALL HAIL THE MAY QUEEN

Cumberland settlers brought ancient traditions.

Words by

Meaghan Cursons

Photo by

Union Bay Historical Society

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN

How an infamous pirate’s luck ran out on Vancouver Island.

Words by

Simone Gingras-Fox

Photo courtesy of

WILD SPACES BELONG TO EVERYONE

Recreation in the great outdoors hasn’t always been an option for people of colour in Canada. Erica Keen reflects on her family's history and the importance of nature.

Words & featured photo by
Erica Keen

CHANGING TIDES

Goose Spit has an intriguing, complicated history.

Words by

Kerry Hale

Photo by

Luke Phillips

A LIFE LIVED WITH VOLUME

We dedicate this volume of the CVC to Thomas Dunn, who inspired family, friends, and entire communities to experience everything in a big way. He will be missed.

Words by

Jen Groundwater

Photo by

Nik Dunn

FROM SECRET KNOWLEDGE TO SELF-IMPROVEMENT

A brief history of freemasonry.

Words by

Kevin Flesher

Featured photo by

Jim Whyte

WELCOME TO HISTORIC CUMBERLAND

The newly renovated Cumberland Museum offers more stories and more points of view.

Words by

Cumberland Museum & Archives

Photo by

Sara Kempner

LEAVING OLD ENMITIES BEHIND

Sifting through his family’s hatred for Japan, Mac Newton finds room for empathy.

Words by

Mac Newton

Photos courtesy of

SUPERSONIC MEMORIES

Tour the Comox Air Force Museum with a former Canadian Forces fighter pilot.

Words by

Rick Zyvitski

Featured photo by

Sara Kerr

Don’t Look, SEE

Responding to the legacy of Sybil Andrews

Words by

Jenelle M. Pasiechnik

Photos by

Museum at Campbell River

Strathcona Park Lodge and Outdoor Education Centre

A truly Canadian story

Words by

Catherine Gilbert

Photos by

Myrna Boulding

INFLUENZA’S DEADLY TRAIL

At the close of World War I, the so-called Spanish flu claimed lives all over the world, even in the Comox Valley.

Words by

Photo courtesy of

The Cumberland Firehall

COURTENAY AFTER COVID

Twenty years after the pandemic, a local historian looks back.

Words by

Photo by

FED UP NO MORE

Edible Island and the evolution of alternative eating in the Comox Valley.

Words by

Mike Redican

Photos courtesy of

Susan Holvenstot

TURNING DOWN THE TEMPERATURE

Cumberland 2040: How Cumberland reached carbon negative

Words by

Photo by

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL LAND

The history and community behind Courtenay’s beloved Airpark.

Words by

Photos by

YOU’LL BE GLAD TO HEAR: UNION BAY 2040

A local writer imagines the letter his daughter will write him about her return to Union Bay 20 years from now.

Words by

Photo by

Alexandre Crouzet

WAIT ’TIL THE SUN SHINES, NELLIE

The hard work of logging Comox Lake—by hand and raft.

Words by

Cumberland Museum & Archives

Photo provided by

THE FOREST AS OUR WITNESS

There is a dark thread tangled into the rich and fascinating history of Cumberland. We follow along with those carrying the stories of the deceased into the former.

Words by

Ashley Hamilton-Macquarrie

Photos by

Shawn Pigott

GENERATION GAP

Words by

Cumberland Museum & Archives

Photos provided by

IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK

The economic boom of the early 20th century brought more than coal to the surface. This is the tight-lipped history of the Comox Valley sex trade.

Words by

Christa Petch

Photo by

CRUMBLING CANNERIES

The profits from a thriving fishing industry dried up, and businesses moved on. Some of the sites left behind are in hazardous decay, polluting our oceans and tarnishing BC’s coast.

Words & Photos by

Oriana Smy

HOME BASE

The history of CFB Comox tells of the West Coast’s strategic landscape and Canada’s defence strategies dating back to 1942.

Words by

Camille Douglas

Photo by

WHAT TIME LEAVES BEHIND

The Trent River’s unique ecology has made its banks host to many exciting fossil discoveries, by palaeontologists and casual visitors alike.

Words & Photo by

Pat Trask

LONG MAY YOU RUN

Dancing In Gumboots is an intimate portrait of a bygone era on the coast, telling the tales of bold and inventive women arriving to the Valley in the '60s and '70s.

Words by

Allie Jenkinson

Photos courtesy of

Jane Wilde

A SELFLESS PROTECTOR OF ALL THINGS WILD

Remembering the legacy of Ruth Masters and the priceless gifts—both physical and intangible—that she bestowed on our community.

Words by

Photos by

Friends of Ruth Masters

DEATH OF A WORKER’S FRIEND

From the UK to Nova Scotia to his final resting place in the heart of Cumberland, Ginger Goodwin’s life represents a voice for workers the world over.

Words by

Courtenay & District Museum

THE CONSTANT GARDENERS

A determined settler and a reflective musician find solace in a single piece of land, decades apart.

Words by

Katrina Kadoski

Illustration by

Laurel Meyer

COMOX MARINA

Changing Times & Tides.

Words by

Judith Wright

Photos supplied by

AT JOURNEY’S END

The radiant compassion and wisdom of Amida Buddha and the grace and forbearance of the Japanese who once lived here.

Words by

Photo by

LOSS OF THE COMMONS

Ghosts of Vancouver Island’s past.

Words by

Courtenay and District Museum 990.24.299

Illustration by

Laurel Meyer

THESE LEGENDARY WALLS. THESE STORIED WATERS.

Many of the Comox Valley’s iconic pubs have come and gone, but, like empty cans of Lucky Lager beside a gravel road, the memories remain.

Words by

Mike B

Photo courtesy of

HIDDEN TREASURES

Nikkei No Haka, Cumberland’s Japanese cemetery

THE MAN, THE LEGEND

An interview with William 'Bronco' Moncrief.

Interview by

Sydney Moncrief

FLOATING BELOW

The tragic end and beautiful rediscovery of the SS Capilano.

Words & Photos by

Eiko Jones

FINDING FORBIDDEN

Separating truth from fiction in the Comox Valley’s backyard.

Words by

Illustration by

Ian Adams

BRIDGING HISTORY

The Trent River Trestle connects Cumberland and Royston with more than steel and timber.

Words & Photos by

Bevin Clempson

WHERE THE TRAIL BEGINS

The reverent, irreverent, and occasionally inappropriate stories behind Cumberland’s eclectic trail names.

Words by

Ryan Parton

Photos by

Lorenz Jimenez

MEMORIES OF CHINATOWN

Cumberland, Vancouver Island

Words by