The Mission Community Archives and Mission Museum will have a Remembrance Day exhibit at the Mission Leisure Centre from November 1st to 30th.
This year’s Remembrance Day service will start @ 10:50 AM Royal Canadian Legion Branch 57 located at 32627 Logan Avenue, for more information call 604-826-2331 or email rcl57@shaw.ca
In this feature documentary (1hr 24 m), co-directors Hayley Gray and Elad Tzadok explore through a collage of personal interviews, archival footage, and deeply rooted memories some of the efforts and challenges faced by Archives in British Columbia to preserve a more inclusive historical record. Featured are leaders from four underrepresented communities in Archives: Indigenous Peoples, South Asians, LGBTQ+ and Chinese-Canadians.
The film will be introduced by Archivist Val Billesberger who has endeavored to build an inclusive Archives in Mission, taking care to acquire and make accessible the records of historically excluded and minoritized groups.
Unarchived is produced and distributed by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).
To find out more about the film click here
An award winning eye opening film about the erasure of minority history and the communities who are challenging it. A ticket is required to see the film. Get yours today on Eventbrite!
CULTURE DAYS 2023…JOIN the Community Archives and local artists on September 23rd from 1PM to 4PM to celebrate art and memory! WATCH local artist Sandra Marshall create an artwork from an historic photograph of Mission Dairy Queen. HEAR Charis Young, an emerging multi-genre writer and student in the UBC Creative Writing Program read and discuss her archival poetry. CREATE your own Mission Memory Collage using historic photographs from the Archives. All ages welcome. Please register for our free event here.
We’re excited to be participating in the July 14th Summer Market at Fraser River Heritage Park!
Visit our booth between the hours of 4:00PM and 8:30PM where you can purchase quality items inspired by the thousands of historic images housed in the Mission Community Archives, including: vintage postcards, buttons, notecards, and a limited edition caricature map of Fraser River Heritage Park.
At the market we are launching a new postcard series that includes images of Mission’s first Dairy Queen, Mission Raceway, and the 1968 Soap Box Derby.
There will be a FREE DRAW for the framed panoramic view of Mission’s first swimming pool which opened July 13th, 1952 – one of the most popular posts on our social media to date!
SEE YOU at the Park on July 14th, 2023!
Be sure to visit the Archives booth at Fraser River Heritage Park on July 1st, where you can play Canada Day Bingo, the Mix & Match game, and more. Their will also be a free draw!
The City of Mission will be hosting the Canada Day event from 11AM to 3PM. For more information about the festivities click here.
Back by popular demand! This Saturday at 8AM we will be launching our 2023 Mission Canada Day Quiz video to our social media pages! Click here to test your knowledge.
During the month of June, the Archives Facebook and Instagram BLAST FROM THE PAST posts will feature photographs from the 1970s captured by a local documentary photographer by the name of Robert T. Nelson (1916-2007).
Our 1970s FLASHBACK posts will give you, the viewer, an opportunity to look back 5 decades and see what life was like in Mission. Be sure to check out and share with friends our 1970s FLASHBACK posts throughout June!
On Saturday May 6, 2023 in Fraser River Heritage Park from 1:00 – 3:00PM, there is a community celebration for Jenny Stevens (1936-2022), a long time Mission resident and community builder who served six terms on Council, from 1999 to 2018.
As part of these celebrations to remember Jenny Stevens (1936 ~ 2022), today the Mission Community Archives is publishing an interview with her done in 2003 through the Paths & Pathfinders: Women of Mission Program.
Housed in the Mission Community Archives, the in-depth interview includes information about her family background, childhood, education, dealing with and adapting to the loss of her vision, working as a physiotherapist, her family of 6 children, and her extensive community involvement, including: first being elected to municipal council. You may access Jenny’s extraordinary life story told in her own words BELOW.
The Mission Community Archives is once again accepting nominations for the Paths & Pathfinders: Women of Mission Program. Since the inauguration of the program in 1996, the Community Archives has recognized and built its holdings on more than 100 women who have helped shape the community.
We need your help in identifying who will be honoured in 2023. Within your organization, family or workplace there are undoubtedly women who are worthy of recognition. We encourage you to use a nomination form to let us know who they are.
Nominations for this year’s Annual Celebration of Women are being accepted until April 30th, 2023. To be eligible the nominee must have lived or presently reside in the City of Mission, Hatzic Prairie, Hatzic Island, Dewdney, Deroche, Nicomen Island, Lake Errock and/or McConnell Creek.
The nominator must submit, on two pages or less, biographical information about the nominee, including her length of residence in the community, field of endeavor and personal attributes along with 2 letters of support for the nominee from family, friends, organizations etc. Click Here to complete the 2023 Nomination form. The deadline is Sunday, April 30th. For further information, please call 604 837-7569 or send an email to the Archivist Val Billesberger.
[hurrytimer id=”2398″]
SPECIAL EXHIBIT OPENING: SAVING BLOCK 77
“We were very lucky,” said newly appointed Fire Chief Ken Lissimore ,“If the fire had spread into the adjoining theatre or apartment block, we could have been in serious trouble.”
On Monday, April 10th 1978 fire ripped through a two storey building in Block 77 near the western end of Mission’s main commercial section on First Avenue, sending thick, acrid smoke into the air. With literally only inches separating the buildings, it was the combined efforts of 35-30 firefighters from Mission, North Fraser and Abbotsford-Matsqui Fire Departments which contained the fire and prevented it from spreading throughout Block 77.
As part of SHINE BRIGHT MISSION festivities on Friday, March 3rd, the Mission Community Archives is opening a special exhibit about the 1978 fire: SAVING BLOCK 77. The exhibit features a series of photographs taken by local news reporters on the scene of the fire, providing a vivid account of the intense blaze and the teamwork by firefighters to suppress it.
A very special thank you to Mission Fire Chief Mark Goddard, Monique Weir (Emergency Program Manager), and Kim Thoms (Administrative Assistant) for their invaluable assistance with the exhibit. Join us for this historic tribute to our incredible first responders! You may view the exhibit at the Archives between 7PM and 9PM on March 3rd.
This year, through two new online exhibits by the Museum and Archives, the Mission District Historical Society invites you to discover how the camera, once a simple wooden box with a primitive lens and cap for controlling light, has undergone huge changes since its invention, and has come to play a key role in our society through its capacity to memorialize events, act as a keepsake and create visual narratives of our ever changing cultural landscape
PICTURE THIS! features the photographic works of Dr. Noel Hall (1930-2017), a self-taught photographer and highly esteemed member of the community.
Often the only photographer on the scene, Noel’s impressive archives of over 30,000 images were donated to the Archives in 2000 representing an unparalleled visual record of the community.
Presented through six theme-based virtual photo albums, PICTURE THIS! aims to transport viewers back in time to glimpse Mission during the 1980s and 1990s through aerial views of the landscape and a selection of images documenting community landmarks, pivotal events and more.
You may view the exhibit HERE, starting Feb. 20.
