Fonds consists of the personal, business and research records of May and Elmer Ellingsen. Textual records include personal and business correspondence; financial and legal records; information about local history; records and newsletters of various community organizations; records created by John Manson and by the St. James Ladies' Guild; maps; ephemera; and clippings about Cortes Island people and events. Fonds also includes photographs of the Manson family and other island people and places, and cassette tapes of oral history and music.
Fonds is arranged in 14 series: Correspondence; Financial records; Elmer Ellingsen records (business and personal); May Ellingsen personal records; Local history subject files; John Manson records; St. James Ladies' Guild records; Community organizations and services records; Cortes Island Museum & Archives Society records; Maps; Ephemera; Clippings; Photographs and Audio tapes.
Records from Accessions 2017.003 and 2019.002, which were processed after the other material had been arranged, have been interfiled.
3 meters of textual records
726 photographs
21 audio cassette tapes
Extent
252 cm
History / Biographical
Elmer Ellingsen (1913-2002) was born in North Vancouver to Sigurd and Gladys Ellingsen. After graduating from high school, he took a short course in business at Sprott Shaw College. In the early 1930s Elmer worked in logging and became a strong supporter of the trade union movement. He also had classical piano training in school, later turning to popular music; he played for many dances and parties until well into his eighties.
May Ellingsen (1914-2012) was born in Vancouver to George and Robina Freeman. Her maternal grandfather, Michael Manson, was the first person to pre-empt land on Cortes Island, in 1886. May grew up on Cortes and Hernando Islands until grade six, then moved to Vancouver with her family to finish her schooling.
May and Elmer met on Cortes in 1935 and were married on August 1, 1936. They built a float house and spent the next ten years in the Loughborough Inlet/Phillips Arm area where Elmer worked in his father's logging operations. While there, their children Shirley (1939), Bruce (1940) and Andy (1941) were born. In 1946 they moved to Von Donop Creek, where Elmer formed a logging partnership with Mike Herrewig and Scotty McKenzie. In 1950, he formed a new partnership with Erne Anderson for logging in the Whaletown area, and moved the floathouse to Manson's Landing lagoon. Two years later their floathouse was moved to its present location on Hague Lake.
After travelling from home to various logging operations, Elmer retired from logging. He bought a D8 Caterpillar tractor, backhoe and gravel truck and worked for the next forty years excavating, delivering gravel and moving things. He often worked with BC Hydro and BC Tel on pole installation, repair and maintenance.
Both Elmer and May were very active in community life. They sponsored weekly movie nights through the 1950s and square dancing in the sixties. May's many involvements included the Ladies' Guild, Women's Institute, Ratepayers Association, Post Office, Vancouver Regional Library development and Cortes Island Days. Elmer was a leading promoter of bringing ferry and hydro service to the island; he helped renovate Manson's Hall in the late 1970s, lobbied for road paving and helped initiate the Cortes Island Firefighters Assoc. in the 1980s. Both were founding members of the Cortes Island Museum and Archives Society.
Custodial History
Records were collected from the home of May and Elmer Ellingsen by Andy and Susan Ellingsen and by Bruce Ellingsen and donated to CIMAS. There are eight accessions in this fonds: 2007.001, 2007.002, 2007.003, 2007.005, 2008.002 and 2010.001, 2018.002 and 2019.002.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of the personal, business and research records of May and Elmer Ellingsen. Textual records include personal and business correspondence; financial and legal records; information about local history; records and newsletters of various community organizations; records created by John Manson and by the St. James Ladies' Guild; maps; ephemera; and clippings about Cortes Island people and events. Fonds also includes photographs of the Manson family and other island people and places, and cassette tapes of oral history and music.
Fonds is arranged in 14 series: Correspondence; Financial records; Elmer Ellingsen records (business and personal); May Ellingsen personal records; Local history subject files; John Manson records; St. James Ladies' Guild records; Community organizations and services records; Cortes Island Museum & Archives Society records; Maps; Ephemera; Clippings; Photographs and Audio tapes.
Records from Accessions 2017.003 and 2019.002, which were processed after the other material had been arranged, have been interfiled.
Back, L to R: Bruce Campbell, Duane Campbell, Bonnie Killian, Joan Disney, Peggy Newsham, Wendy Knudson, Kate Hathaway, Donna Norman
Front: David Blinzinger, Conductor; Bruce Ellingsen, Jack Killian, Fay Raymont, Velma Bergman, (ID), Rebecca Campbell
Back, L to R: Bruce Campbell, Duane Campbell, Bonnie Killian, Joan Disney, Peggy Newsham, Wendy Knudson, Kate Hathaway, Donna Norman
Front: David Blinzinger, Conductor; Bruce Ellingsen, Jack Killian, Fay Raymont, Velma Bergman, (ID), Rebecca Campbell
Meg Shaw, Otto Ellingsen, Marjorie Griffin, Olga Hynek, George Griffin, Ellen Musclow, Clem Bournazel, Joe Granger, Lottie McDevitt, Aurelie Granger, Eva Freeman
Meg Shaw, Otto Ellingsen, Marjorie Griffin, Olga Hynek, George Griffin, Ellen Musclow, Clem Bournazel, Joe Granger, Lottie McDevitt, Aurelie Granger, Eva Freeman
Fonds consists of material that was gathered by Thompson as she researched island history for museum exhibits and local history albums. It includes land title information about Cortes Island properties going back to the original Crown Grants, correspondence and notes about Cortes Island history, photographs, maps and ephemera.
Fonds is arranged in five series: Land Titles Research; Historical Information; Maps; Photographs; and Ephemera.
30 cm of textual records
40 photographs
12 maps
2 CDs
History / Biographical
Doreen (Huck) Thompson, 1944-2006:
Doreen’s grandparents, William Edward Huck and Mabel Wells Huck, arrived on Cortes Island in 1915. Widowed in WWI, Mabel and her four children left Cortes for Vancouver in 1923. Her son Harry, Doreen’s father, returned to Cortes in the 1930s. He married Edith Launchbury in 1937 and had two children, Doreen (b.1944) and Ed (b.1945, d.1993). Doreen and Ed were raised in Whaletown and attended school there and at Manson’s Landing.
Doreen graduated from Vic High in Victoria before marrying Bob Thompson in 1962. From 1961 to 1963, Doreen lived in Teakerne Arm in a floathouse Bob had built on the shore of the Whaletown Lagoon and then moved to the shores of Heriot Bay on Quadra Island. Her children were born in 1964 (Janny) and 1965 (Debby). In 1970 the family and the house moved to Cortes Island where both daughters attended school to Grade 10.
Doreen spent a few years living in Alberta and Victoria in the early 1980s and then returned to Cortes Island. Doreen developed a deep knowledge of the history of the island and she devoted considerable time to preserving, gathering and sharing her own and others knowledge of the island through her volunteer work at the Cortes Island Museum and Archives.
Doreen was one of the founders of the Cortes Island Museum. She curated four exhibits at the Museum, including “Windows on Whaletown” in 1999, “Von Donop Inlet”, the commercial fishing portion of “Celebrating Wild Salmon”, and “Memories of Manson’s Landing”. She researched and created albums which combine photographs, reminiscences and clippings to document the history of various island areas, such as Green Valley and Whaletown. The Doreen Thompson Exhibit Gallery at the Museum commemorates her contributions.
Doreen was making a fourth cross-Canada road trip from Cortes to Newfoundland when she was killed in a car accident near Fort McLeod, Alberta on August 1, 2006.
Custodial History
Material was stored at the museum or collected from Doreen Thomas' house.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of material that was gathered by Thompson as she researched island history for museum exhibits and local history albums. It includes land title information about Cortes Island properties going back to the original Crown Grants, correspondence and notes about Cortes Island history, photographs, maps and ephemera.
Fonds is arranged in five series: Land Titles Research; Historical Information; Maps; Photographs; and Ephemera.
Photograph of a man and woman standing by a building with a large grape arbour in front of it. (From envelope labelled "Dorothy MacDougal (cousin of May's) pictures")
Photograph of a man and woman standing by a building with a large grape arbour in front of it. (From envelope labelled "Dorothy MacDougal (cousin of May's) pictures")
Photograph of a log building (the Manson's Landing school?) with a group of girls on a porch at the left and a group of boys at the right end of the building. (Needs ID)
Photograph of a log building (the Manson's Landing school?) with a group of girls on a porch at the left and a group of boys at the right end of the building. (Needs ID)
File contains newspaper clippings about a visit of the Whaletown School class to Vancouver; a "Whaletown Round-Up" column written by Gilean Douglas, 1956; a photocopy of an article about the purchase of Smelt Bay Park, 1973; and a craft store in Whaletown, 1975.
File contains newspaper clippings about a visit of the Whaletown School class to Vancouver; a "Whaletown Round-Up" column written by Gilean Douglas, 1956; a photocopy of an article about the purchase of Smelt Bay Park, 1973; and a craft store in Whaletown, 1975.
File contains an informational booklet created by the Friends of Cortes through a grant from Canada Works. Topics include island geography, social and natural history, place names and tourist education.
File contains an informational booklet created by the Friends of Cortes through a grant from Canada Works. Topics include island geography, social and natural history, place names and tourist education.
People are identified on verso: Doreen Huck (misidentified as Doreen Reedel on verso), Joyce Martin, Elaine McKenzie, Sheila Musclow, Helen Morrison, Bob Parry, Marjorie Rexford, Jim Guthrie, Sharon Forrest, Jim Hansen, Lillian Redford, Larry McKim (Borland), Beth Martin, Carolyn Reedel
People are identified on verso: Doreen Huck (misidentified as Doreen Reedel on verso), Joyce Martin, Elaine McKenzie, Sheila Musclow, Helen Morrison, Bob Parry, Marjorie Rexford, Jim Guthrie, Sharon Forrest, Jim Hansen, Lillian Redford, Larry McKim (Borland), Beth Martin, Carolyn Reedel
Marjorie (Hayes) Griffin holding George Jr., Mr. Daniels, Jack Hayes, Alice Hayes, Mr. Alfred Hayes, Patsy McLennan, Mrs. Hayes, Florence Hayes, Mrs. Daniels, Dorothy Hayes, May Freeman with family pet dog, Nora Hayes
1 photograph print: b&w; 17.5 x 11 cm
1 photograph print: b&w; 11.5 x 6.5 cm
Scope and Content
Marjorie (Hayes) Griffin holding George Jr., Mr. Daniels, Jack Hayes, Alice Hayes, Mr. Alfred Hayes, Patsy McLennan, Mrs. Hayes, Florence Hayes, Mrs. Daniels, Dorothy Hayes, May Freeman with family pet dog, Nora Hayes
Photograph of the clinic building, with the Rectory beside it. Note the lack of telephone and electrical lines, which indicates the date is between 1950 and 1969.
Photograph of the clinic building, with the Rectory beside it. Note the lack of telephone and electrical lines, which indicates the date is between 1950 and 1969.
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