The Wilmer Gold Photo Collection: Diversity, Labour Activism, and Community in the Cowichan Valley

The finding aid for the Wilmer Gold Photo Collection is now available online through our website. Although the photos themselves are not yet available online, an inventory of what is available at the museum can be viewed here, and inquiries sent to kaatzaarchives@shaw.ca. This blog post contains just a small sample of the 1,500-photo collection.

‘Sometimes Strikes are Sort of Like Some Wars’: Letters to Jack Munro During the 1986 Strike

Henry here- I’m back in the Archive, woo! It’s been a while since I contributed anything to the I.W.A. Archive blog. However, upon returning, I found these freshly archived letters so interesting that I had to write about them. This blog post builds on John Mountain’s December 2019 “Digging into History”, which provided background on

“Records Belonging to Edna Brown, Leading Figure in the Women’s Labour Movement, (Re)Discovered at the Kaatza Station Museum and Archives”, by Henry John

Two weeks ago, under the direction of the all-knowing Al Lundgren, I stumbled across some historical gold. Rooting through the back-room storage space of the Kaatza Station Museum and Archives, we rediscovered a box that had been left gathering dust untouched for years. This box contains the records of legendary women’s labour organizer Edna Brown.

“Rail Logging Comes to an End at Caycuse and Nitinat”, by John Mountain, Digging into History, 2.10 (October, 2020)

I’m currently nosing around in IWA Past-President Bill Routley’s files which have recently acquired by the Kaatza Museum. The museum has decided to make Bill Routley’s files part of the massive IWA archive collection. And while digging around I discovered a piece about Caycuse and its halcyon days of the 1950s – I think the

“Part 2: Interview with Harold Pritchett, Founding President of the International Woodworkers of America” by John Mountain, Digging into History, 2.9 (September, 2020)

Deep Dig for September 2020 Harold: Founding President of the International Woodworkers of America – This month I have the second part of a two part story that speaks to the origins of the IWA from the mouth of its founding President Harold Pritchett. Harold Pritchett was born on May 9, 1904 in the city

“Part 1: Interview with Harold Pritchett, Founding President of the International Woodworkers of America” by John Mountain, Digging into History, 2.8 (August, 2020)

This month it’s a story that speaks to the origins of the IWA from the mouth of its founding President Harold Pritchett. In the mid-1930s there had emerged forces and circumstances which were to change the outlook of the North American trade unions and aid in the formation of the IWA. The struggle between the

Woodworkers in Rain City: The Records of I.W.A. Local Union 1-217, by Henry John

The records of the I.W.A. Local Union 1-217 (Vancouver) have now been arranged and intellectual control has been asserted over them through the creation of a Finding Aid. Although the Kaatza Station Museum and Archives do not currently have provisions in place to host researchers, if you would like to view the Finding Aid and

“Digging into History: An Interview with Early Union Activist Ernie Dalskog Part 3” by John Mountain, Vol. 2 No. 5 (May 2020)

Deep Dig for May 2020 Ernie Dalskog: An Interview with an Early Union Activist – This month, I offer the third part of an Ernie Dalskog interview by IWA Historian Clay Perry. In 1979, IWA Legislative Director Clay Perry sat down with Ernie Dalskog to talk for a few hours about his early days as

When a Woodworkers’ Union was at the Cutting Edge of Environmentalism, by Henry John

This blog post is based on findings discovered in the records of the International Woodworkers of America Local 1-217’s Vancouver office, currently housed in the Kaatza Station Museum’s IWA Archive in Lake Cowichan. For more information on this archive, follow this link or email hrljohn89@gmail.com. There was a day when forestry workers and environmentalists walked

“Digging into History: An Interview with Early Union Activist Ernie Dalskog Part 1” by John Mountain, Vol. 2 No. 3 (March 2020)

Ernie Dalskog: An Interview with an Early Union Activist Part 1 – In 1979, IWA Legislative Director Clay Perry sat down with Ernie Dalskog to talk for a few hours about his early days as an union activist. Clay Perry was considered an IWA Historian and in addition to holding the Office of Legislative Director