This page contains an ongoing – but not exhaustive – list of primary sources related to gold-rush history in British Columbia. The list has been compiled and annotated by students in the Gold Rush Program.
Published primary sources
Photographs
Digital collections
Published primary sources
The module, “Doing Library Research,” focuses on finding secondary sources in a literature search. However, its search tips will also help you to locate published primary sources if these are held by your local library.
- Ballantyne, Robert. Handbook to the New Gold-Fields. London: Hamilton Adams and Co., 1858.
Published 1858 book with information about BC’s goldfields, including weather advisories, information about routes, etc. EBook available via Project Gutenberg.
- Hazlitt, William and Robert Ballantyne. Cariboo, the Newly Discovered Gold Fields. London: Darton & Hodge, 1862.
A returned digger’s narrative of the Cariboo that encourages others in Britain to travel to the goldfields.
- Kinahan, Cornwallis. The New El Dorado; or, British Columbia. London: Thomas Cautley Newby, 1858.
1858 published book referring to British Columbia as the “New El Dorado” for the first time.
- Mark, William. Cariboo, a true and correct narrative. N.p. 1863.
Narrative of William Mark’s trip to the Cariboo that documents his journey to BC.
- Pritchard, Allan, ed. Vancouver Island Letters of Edmund Hope Verney, 1862-65. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1996.
The letters of Edmund H. Verney give an account of travelling up the coast of BC. As a naval officer, Verney lays out how long it takes to travel up the coast and gives a good description of the environment and challenges of sea travel at this time.
- Reinhart, Herman Francis. The Golden Frontier: The Recollections of Herman Francis Reinhart, 1851-1869. Edited by Doyce B. Nunis Jr. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1962.
Personal narrative written by German prospector Herman Francis Reinhart, who travelled to British Columbia during the Fraser River Gold Rush (chapter VI) but remained, for the most part, in the United States.
Photographs
Alice Gorton’s discussion of colonial photography (in the Research Stories and Tips section of this site) includes some recommended collections of images, some of which can be accessed online and some of which can only be accessed in the archive. For information on searching or browsing digital collections, see the module “Doing Online Research.” For information on visiting the archive, see the module “Doing Archival Research.” Alice’s list includes the following recommendations:
- UBC Special Collections and Digital Collections
Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs
The Langmann Family Collection is a phenomenal and invaluable collection of more than 18 000 images, with a particular focus on late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century British Columbia. The UBC Library is is working to digitize the collection, in addition to making it available in the Rare Books and Special Collections reading room. So far, nearly 8000 images are available in the digital collection, linked above. If you are interested in digitized photo albums of colonial and early provincial British Columbia from the Langmann Family Collection, Alice’s recommendations are these:
– Frederick Dally’s album, “Views in British Columbia”
– Carlo Gentile’s album, “Early British Columbia Photos”
– Charles Macmunn’s albums, ca. 1870 and ca. 1880
– Charles Horetzky’s albums, “View in the Cascade Mountains: On Coast Exploration of 1874” and “Photographs Pacific Railway Survey British Columbia 1875“
The Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection
The Chung Collection is an incredible and again invaluable collection of documents, photographs, books, and objects that focus on British Columbian and Canadian history, with a particular emphasis on early British Columbia, immigration and settlement, and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. The UBC Library is working to digitize the material, and more and more items (including photographs) are added to the digital collection linked above. The whole collection is held in UBC Rare Books and Special Collections; you can find out more about it here. If you go to Special Collections, you also visit a free exhibition of outstanding items from the Chung Collection, which is one of my (Laura’s) recommendations when people ask me for hidden gems in Vancouver.
- BC Archives
The Royal BC Museum has spotlighted Frederick Dally’s amazing photograph collection here, along with related learning resources and articles.
Alice also notes that the Royal BC Museum houses over 23 000 photos of First Nations peoples in its audio-visual collection, most of which can be viewed by appointment with an archivist.
Digital collections of primary sources
For information on searching or browsing digital collections, see the module “Doing Online Research.”
- The UBC Library’s History research guide lists a number of databases, some related to British Columbia and others not. See the tabs for historical newspapers, primary sources, and digital texts.
- UBC Library’s Open Collections has many sources. Key collections include the BC Historical Newspapers (this includes the Cariboo Sentinel, which we explore in the “Doing Online Research” module) and the Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs (also discussed in the Photography section above).
- The Victoria newspaper, the British Colonist, has been digitized and made available by a team from UVic.
- UVic has also made available the official colonial government correspondence (otherwise known as the colonial despatches) between Victoria, New Westminster, and London. The site includes some typescripts and some images of the original documents.
- The Vancouver Public Library has digitized British Columbia city directories from 1860 to 1955.
- SFU Library’s digitized collections can be found here.
- UVic Library’s digitized collections related to British Columbia can be found here.
- UNBC Library’s digitized collections can be found here.
I continue to add to these lists. Please contact me if you have recommendations or if you find a link that no longer works.