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.

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: What Happened to Hillcrest Lumber?”, by John Mountain, Vol. 1 No. 8 (August, 2019)

These first few blog posts are backdated issues of John Mountain’s historical newsletter “Digging into History”. As of March 2020, John had been working on sorting the collection for over a year and a half, publishing a newsletter every month detailing his findings. What Happened to Hillcrest Lumber? – I was a twelve years old

“Digging into History: The IWA Employee Assistance Program”, by John Mountain, Vol. 1 No. 5 (May 2019)

Our EFAP Started as the EAP  – The year was 1990 and one of the very few areas where union and management were seeing eye to eye on was to the ongoing development of the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Back then, the commitment by both sides to an EAP continued despite labour disputes during that

“Digging into History: Forest Labour Theses” by John Mountain, Vol. 1 No. 3 (March, 2019)

These first few blog posts are backdated issues of John Mountain’s historical newsletter “Digging into History”. As of March 2020, John had been working on sorting the collection for over a year and a half, publishing a newsletter every month detailing his findings. University Labour Studies Thesis – While peeling back the many pages that

“Digging into History: The IWA and Clayoquot Sound” by John Mountain, Vol. 1 No. 2 (February 2019)

These first few blog posts are backdated issues of John Mountain’s historical newsletter “Digging into History”. As of March 2020, John had been working on sorting the collection for over a year and a half, publishing a newsletter every month detailing his findings. Every magazine article or piece of writing created for public consumption normally

Introducing the IWA Collection

This blog is a collaborative effort, produced by Henry John and John Mountain as together they arrange the massive collection of International Woodworkers of America collection housed at the Kaatza Station Museum and Archives. Using this blog we will publicize updates on our progress, and will also write historical posts on important topics referenced in