Files with info on Cortes Senior's Health Action Committee, Seniors Helping Seniors (SHS), Literacy Now for Seniors, Cortes Island Seniors Society (CISS), Seniors Building Society, Seniors Society Community Housing, and Seniors/Elders Official Community Plan (OCP), 1987-present
Files with info on Cortes Senior's Health Action Committee, Seniors Helping Seniors (SHS), Literacy Now for Seniors, Cortes Island Seniors Society (CISS), Seniors Building Society, Seniors Society Community Housing, and Seniors/Elders Official Community Plan (OCP), 1987-present
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
Photograph of the senior room at Manson's Landing school with students, including Patrick Lihou, Gary Burnett, Victor Laurentieff and Brig Weiler (back turned) seated at their desks. Photo has been cut.
Photograph of the senior room at Manson's Landing school with students, including Patrick Lihou, Gary Burnett, Victor Laurentieff and Brig Weiler (back turned) seated at their desks. Photo has been cut.
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.
Articles, newspaper clippings, posters, handouts, emails, and some brochures, post cards, and business cards relating to artists and musicians, as well as galleries, studios, and shops selling and showing artists' work on and near Cortes Island, 1972; 1987 (WNE); 2002-2016. Also a folder from Allan Todd with several prints from Cortes artists, 2009.
Articles, newspaper clippings, posters, handouts, emails, and some brochures, post cards, and business cards relating to artists and musicians, as well as galleries, studios, and shops selling and showing artists' work on and near Cortes Island, 1972; 1987 (WNE); 2002-2016. Also a folder from Allan Todd with several prints from Cortes artists, 2009.
Articles and newspaper clippings announcing book launches and reviewing books, event posters, emails, and advertisements relating to local authors or works written about Cortes, 1999-2018; Obituary for June Cameron 1929-2016; two clippings from WNE 1998, 1999; two copies of Islandwords, writing on Cortes, 2000.
Articles and newspaper clippings announcing book launches and reviewing books, event posters, emails, and advertisements relating to local authors or works written about Cortes, 1999-2018; Obituary for June Cameron 1929-2016; two clippings from WNE 1998, 1999; two copies of Islandwords, writing on Cortes, 2000.
Logger Elmer Ellingsen's cheque book, cheques to various recipients, and bank statements with The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), 1949-1951. The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Manson's Landing Community Fund: deposit receipts, 1951; statement of account, 1951; letters, 1952; mail deposit receipts to H.J. Foster, 1952. CIBC and the Southern Cortez Community Association: bank acknowledgements, 1971; letter to Mrs. McDevitt, 1971; charge receipt, 1972. Blank CIBC personal chequing account receipts, undated; Article in WNE, opening of the Cortes Island Branch Office of the Quadra Credit Union, 1989; article "Coastal Community and Quadra Credit Unions Announce Merger Plans," 2008; article "Credit Union Members Appeal Branch Closures," 2014
Logger Elmer Ellingsen's cheque book, cheques to various recipients, and bank statements with The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), 1949-1951. The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) and Manson's Landing Community Fund: deposit receipts, 1951; statement of account, 1951; letters, 1952; mail deposit receipts to H.J. Foster, 1952. CIBC and the Southern Cortez Community Association: bank acknowledgements, 1971; letter to Mrs. McDevitt, 1971; charge receipt, 1972. Blank CIBC personal chequing account receipts, undated; Article in WNE, opening of the Cortes Island Branch Office of the Quadra Credit Union, 1989; article "Coastal Community and Quadra Credit Unions Announce Merger Plans," 2008; article "Credit Union Members Appeal Branch Closures," 2014
Photographs, postcard, emails, articles, and notes containing info on: Whaletown Church, Reverends Douglas Kendall and Alan Greene; Klahoose; Chief Billy Mitchell; Manson family; Squirrel Cove; Boas family; Marg Sullivan's stained glass windows; and St James Church of the Columbia Coast Mission. A school handout announcing construction of church ready for Sunday Mass (among other things), 1979; a letter from Imperial Casket Company Limited, 1969
Photographs, postcard, emails, articles, and notes containing info on: Whaletown Church, Reverends Douglas Kendall and Alan Greene; Klahoose; Chief Billy Mitchell; Manson family; Squirrel Cove; Boas family; Marg Sullivan's stained glass windows; and St James Church of the Columbia Coast Mission. A school handout announcing construction of church ready for Sunday Mass (among other things), 1979; a letter from Imperial Casket Company Limited, 1969
Writing, emails and excerpts with info on early homesteaders, early postmasters, the first post box in Cortes Bay, Frabjous Bay/Frabjous Day, The Columbia Coast Mission, and the Rendezvous. Map of lots with some names of early homesteaders near Cortes Bay. Old postcard of Cortes Bay
Writing, emails and excerpts with info on early homesteaders, early postmasters, the first post box in Cortes Bay, Frabjous Bay/Frabjous Day, The Columbia Coast Mission, and the Rendezvous. Map of lots with some names of early homesteaders near Cortes Bay. Old postcard of Cortes Bay
