The Bowen Island Museum & Archives have recently received funding which is allowing us to digitize more of the 9000 photographs in our archive and make them accessible online. As part of this endeavour, we want to continue expanding the scope of our photographs. One popular request that the Archives receives is from community members who wish to see their house as it was 10 years ago, or to see photographs of a business or street that they remember, but which has since changed or been replaced.
The Archives is in the process of creating a collection which will provide these insights. It will be a collection with photographs of homes, businesses, buildings and neighbourhoods that will showcase another side of how Bowen has changed and will continue to change over the years. We are hoping that this collection will help to preserve the memory of beloved homes and businesses, as well as serve community members present and future who wish to explore the history of their homes and of different neighbourhoods on Bowen.
To this end, we are soliciting donations of photographs from the community. If you have kept pictures of a business or home on Bowen, the Archives would love to add them to our collection.
We are also inviting the community to take pictures of their storefronts, buildings, houseboats, and homes, if they would like them to be added to the collection as well. Photographs can be hard copy or digital. We would love to see what you find important and what you think others will be glad to see 10, 20, or 30 years from now.
Furthermore, the Archives aims to make this an ongoing project, so that we can continue to document the island’s changes. Our current plan is to add a new round of photographs every five years, so keep an eye out for the next intake in 2026.
If you are interested in donating to the 2021 intake or you would like to know more, please email us at [email protected], call us at 604-947-2655, or drop by the archives! We will be accepting donations for this collection until Sept. 15. Donors’ names will remain attached to every photograph. Should you want to donate a photograph, please include any additional information you have about it, including when, where, and by whom it was taken, as well as information on the contents of the photo, such as the full names of any person photographed and information on the photographed home or business.
