Series consists of graphic materials related to the Whaletown Community Club: Fifty-five (55) 35mm colour negatives, and two (2) 18 cm x 12.5 cm b&w photographic prints. Also contains a brochure by Ester Strijbos, titled "Join a Cortes Board". Series was removed from an envelope when accessioned.
Series consists of graphic materials related to the Whaletown Community Club: Fifty-five (55) 35mm colour negatives, and two (2) 18 cm x 12.5 cm b&w photographic prints. Also contains a brochure by Ester Strijbos, titled "Join a Cortes Board". Series was removed from an envelope when accessioned.
Fonds consists of photographs and records of the Cortes Walking Group. Photographs depict walks and social activities and are arranged in two albums and one printed photo book. Textual records include two small notebooks with notes of walk routes, times and participants; membership lists; and accounts of activities with associated photographs, including a history of the Walking Group. A copy of the cerlox-bound "Listings of the Cortes Island Cemeteries" contains annotations up to 2020, mostly concerning the Mansons Landing cemetery.
The Cortes Walking Group was started in September of 2000 when Ann Dewar and Gail Ringwood decided to meet every Tuesday and Thursday at 9 AM to walk and put up a sign announcing their intention. The days were changed to the still-current schedule of Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and soon incorporated a visit to a coffee shop following the outings.
Walking Group activities are ongoing (2024). Walks leave from the parking lot at Manson's Hall at 9 AM sharp and are open to everyone. The route is decided just before the walks, which last anywhere from 45 minutes to 4 hours, but are usually one to two hours long.
Custodial History
The photo albums were mostly assembled by Gail Ringwood using photographs taken by Richard Trueman, Jurek and Gina Trzesicka and other group members. They were kept in the Pioneer Room at Manson's Hall and then at the Co-op Cafe. They were donated to the Museum by Sue Ellingsen and Myrna Kerr, members of the Walking Group, in 2022.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of photographs and records of the Cortes Walking Group. Photographs depict walks and social activities and are arranged in two albums and one printed photo book. Textual records include two small notebooks with notes of walk routes, times and participants; membership lists; and accounts of activities with associated photographs, including a history of the Walking Group. A copy of the cerlox-bound "Listings of the Cortes Island Cemeteries" contains annotations up to 2020, mostly concerning the Mansons Landing cemetery.
File consists of correspondence, including letters regarding the local CIWI leaving the provincial WI; a letter from Gilean Douglas outlining the history of the Whaletown Women's Institute; four photographs taken at Manson's Hall (need identification).
File consists of correspondence, including letters regarding the local CIWI leaving the provincial WI; a letter from Gilean Douglas outlining the history of the Whaletown Women's Institute; four photographs taken at Manson's Hall (need identification).
File contains text of the Memorandum of Understanding developed by Cortes Ecoforestry Society and Klahoose First Nation. Also includes twenty-nine (29) color photographic prints and eleven (11) color inkjet prints, which depict the signing of the MoU at Squirrel Cove and an Ecoforestry display at Smelt Bay. Photographs are stored in Photo Box #3.
File contains text of the Memorandum of Understanding developed by Cortes Ecoforestry Society and Klahoose First Nation. Also includes twenty-nine (29) color photographic prints and eleven (11) color inkjet prints, which depict the signing of the MoU at Squirrel Cove and an Ecoforestry display at Smelt Bay. Photographs are stored in Photo Box #3.
File contains a draft, with edits, of a brochure for the Seniors' Building Complex. Also contains two (2) b&w photographic prints and one (1) ink drawing.
File contains a draft, with edits, of a brochure for the Seniors' Building Complex. Also contains two (2) b&w photographic prints and one (1) ink drawing.
File contains a report by Fred and Ruth Zwickel ("Fauna and Flora Associated with Manson's Lagoon", with photographs); correspondence about water quality in Hague Lake and aquaculture in park boundaries; a Memorandum of Understanding with Klahoose re a marine park in Von Donop Inlet.
File contains a report by Fred and Ruth Zwickel ("Fauna and Flora Associated with Manson's Lagoon", with photographs); correspondence about water quality in Hague Lake and aquaculture in park boundaries; a Memorandum of Understanding with Klahoose re a marine park in Von Donop Inlet.
File contains certificates of registration of guns and shotguns to Basil Whiting (1940) and Muriel Whiting (1943); three permits to sell and three permits to purchase (1943); two negatives of sailors on a ship's deck (presumably Basil Whiting).
File contains certificates of registration of guns and shotguns to Basil Whiting (1940) and Muriel Whiting (1943); three permits to sell and three permits to purchase (1943); two negatives of sailors on a ship's deck (presumably Basil Whiting).
File contains correspondence, a schedule re the visit of the Lt. Governor to Cortes Island aboard the "Restigouche". See also Photograph 2007.001.749 (in Ellingsen Oversized Box).
File contains correspondence, a schedule re the visit of the Lt. Governor to Cortes Island aboard the "Restigouche". See also Photograph 2007.001.749 (in Ellingsen Oversized Box).
Fonds consists primarily of photographs and slides taken by Mary Weiler. Textual records include correspondence, several issues of the "Log" of the Columbia Coast Mission, and material about Victor Von Donop, for whom Von Donop Inlet is named.
Fonds is arranged in five series: 1: Photographs, 2: Correspondence, 3: Von Donop, 4: Ephemera, and 5: Books.
In April of 1947 Otto and Mary Weiler were recently returned from London, and they were war weary---Mary was recovering from tuberculosis, and Otto from injuries sustained in the army, and like most people in those days, they were left strapped by the Depression and the War--- but they had a dream. They chartered a boat, and traveled up the BC coast, seeking a place where they could live---in their words---"a happy, romantic, bohemian life".
Otto John—always known affectionately as Ottie---was born in Victoria, BC on March 27, 1903, to a well-to-do mercantile family. His grandparents, John and Christiana Weiler, arrive in Fort Victoria in the early 1850's from Germany by way of San Francisco, where they established a successful furniture factory and other businesses. Reminders of the Weiler family still exist in Victoria, most notably the six-story Weiler Building at the corner of Broad and Government streets, originally a grandly-appointed department store, and the Weiler cenotaph in Ross Bay cemetery.
Mary was born Mary Agnes Campbell on March 13, 1915, in Enderby, BC. Her grandparents were pioneers who arrived in the North Okanogan to farm in the 1880's. The family moved to New Westminster in 1921. After high school Mary studied nursing at the Royal Jubilee hospital in Victoria, and then departed for France, having decided to work her way around the world. When war broke out, however, she was evacuated from France at Dunkirk, and immediately joined the British army. She served a nurse in London for the duration of the war, and here she met Ottie, a major with the Canadian Scottish regiment. There were married in 1943, and both went back to their respective postings with the army, looking forward to the day when they could live together.
When Ottie and Mary sailed into Whaletown Bay, they were immediately enchanted by the house on the point, half-built and occupying 5 rocky acres of waterfront. They were urban and idealistic, and ready to throw themselves into life on a remote island. At first they turned their hand to fishing commercially. Their boat was twelve-foot clinker built inboard; a salmon license cost a dollar. In 1949 they were hired by Cece Stubbs to manage the Whaletown Store. When Gary and Velma Bergman bought the store in 1956, Ottie was offered the position of Whaletown postmaster, a job he held until a few months before his death.
Mary was an artist—a talented and serious one. In spite of the isolation of Cortes Island in those days, she made a name for herself as a British Columbia artist of note, showing her work widely and selling internationally. Her studio was the dining-room table, surrounded by a swirl of children, and her paintings and prints were created in the midst of the gardening, fishing and canning necessary to country survival.
Ottie was a writer---he had been a journalist before the war---and was a passionate gardener, fisherman, hunter and forager who tirelessly explored the trails and homesteads on the north end of Cortes, and beachcombed all his firewood.
They were both dedicated to community service. Ottie was Justice of the Peace, a thoughtful counselor once famously referred to by Gilean Douglas as 'a Justice who really practiced peace' and he also served on the boards of the Whaletown Community Club and other organizations for many years. Mary acted as a community nurse, as well as teaching First Aid classes, holding monthly clinics, and canvassing for the Canadian cancer society. She taught annual art classes and workshops for adults and children, and in the late '60s, she and Ottie opened a summer art gallery in their Whaletown home---the Garden Gallery---as a showcase for local artists and craftspeople.
Ottie and Mary had four daughters---Christina, born March 23rd, 1951; Brigid, born June 6th, 1953; Alexandra (who, however, has always gone by the nickname “Johnny”) born May 5th, 1955; and Sarah, born September 27th, 1958.
In 1973 Ottie died after a short illness, and Mary didn't want to stay in their dream home without him. In 1974 she sold the house and said farewell to Whaletown. Mary Weiler went on to many more adventures—studying, travelling, and always making art---and died in Victoria in1999.
[by Brigid Weiler, March 10, 2016]
Custodial History
This material was created or collected by Mary and Otto Weiler and donated to CIMAS by their daughter Brigid Weiler. The first accession was in 2003 (Accession #2003.002). There are two accruals: #2009.002 and #2017.001.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists primarily of photographs and slides taken by Mary Weiler. Textual records include correspondence, several issues of the "Log" of the Columbia Coast Mission, and material about Victor Von Donop, for whom Von Donop Inlet is named.
Fonds is arranged in five series: 1: Photographs, 2: Correspondence, 3: Von Donop, 4: Ephemera, and 5: Books.
Series consists of correspondence from Theodore Von Donop to Jimmy Layton and information, photographs and ephemera relating to Victor Von Donop, after whom Von Donop Inlet was named. The two photographs that were part of this material (2003.002.393-Portrait of Victor Von Donop and 2003.002.394-Coat of arms of Von Donop family) are described in Series 1 and stored in the Photographs box with the other photographs in the Weiler fonds.)
Material was collected by Jimmy Layton, who had a homestead at the head of Von Donop Inlet; he gave it to Otto Weiler.
Scope and Content
Series consists of correspondence from Theodore Von Donop to Jimmy Layton and information, photographs and ephemera relating to Victor Von Donop, after whom Von Donop Inlet was named. The two photographs that were part of this material (2003.002.393-Portrait of Victor Von Donop and 2003.002.394-Coat of arms of Von Donop family) are described in Series 1 and stored in the Photographs box with the other photographs in the Weiler fonds.)
This fonds contains textual records, photographs and other archival material relating to the history and functions of the Cortes Island Museum & Archives Society. It includes material created for exhibits and research on Cortes social and natural history.
This fonds contains textual records, photographs and other archival material relating to the history and functions of the Cortes Island Museum & Archives Society. It includes material created for exhibits and research on Cortes social and natural history.
