Cortes Island Museum maintains informational files on subjects of local interest as a research resource. Contents of files may contain clippings or photocopied newspaper and magazine articles, correspondence (including printed email correspondence) and other non-archival material. This is a dynamic file, with changes made on an on-going basis.
Cortes Island Museum maintains informational files on subjects of local interest as a research resource. Contents of files may contain clippings or photocopied newspaper and magazine articles, correspondence (including printed email correspondence) and other non-archival material. This is a dynamic file, with changes made on an on-going basis.
Fonds consists of one scrapbook with 20 pages of photographs depicting Cortes Island people and places. Photographs, with penciled captions, are pasted onto the pages. Pages have been interleaved for conservation.
There are also nine loose photographs of relatives from a later accrual, and a file of textual records from a third accrual.
Eleanor (Christensen) Milne is a third generation Cortes Islander. Her parents are Mabel (Lowe) and Buster Christensen; her grandparents are Henry and Lydia (Heay) Hague. The Christensen/Hague families lived in the Manson's Lagoon area.
Custodial History
Album was donated to CIMAS by Eleanor Milne in 2004, and an accrual of nine photographs was donated in 2019.
Textual records were donated anonymously to the Museum in 2021 and have been described as part of this fonds as they are Milne/Hague family records.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of one scrapbook with 20 pages of photographs depicting Cortes Island people and places. Photographs, with penciled captions, are pasted onto the pages. Pages have been interleaved for conservation.
There are also nine loose photographs of relatives from a later accrual, and a file of textual records from a third accrual.
"Four generation portrait. (L to R) Mrs. Hague (grandmother), Frances Lowe (daughter), Mrs. Heay (great grandmother), Mabel Lowe (mother). Mrs. Heay came to Cortes Island in the early 1890s and lived with her son Horace Heay (brother of Mrs. Hague) in the home he built at the mouth of Manson's Lagoon. In 1895 Mrs. Hague brought her daughters and stayed there too for a time until the Hague home was built on Manson's Lagoon." (from May Ellingsen Historic Photograph Collection: Album 2, p. 19). There is also another copy of this photo (2007.001.562) which has been digitized.
"Four generation portrait. (L to R) Mrs. Hague (grandmother), Frances Lowe (daughter), Mrs. Heay (great grandmother), Mabel Lowe (mother). Mrs. Heay came to Cortes Island in the early 1890s and lived with her son Horace Heay (brother of Mrs. Hague) in the home he built at the mouth of Manson's Lagoon. In 1895 Mrs. Hague brought her daughters and stayed there too for a time until the Hague home was built on Manson's Lagoon." (from May Ellingsen Historic Photograph Collection: Album 2, p. 19). There is also another copy of this photo (2007.001.562) which has been digitized.
"Mr. Hague in his row boat on Hague Lake. He was very fond of fishing. His boat house is on shore just right of centre of picture." (from May Ellingsen Historic Photographs: Album 2, p. 20) (Also in collection as 2007.001.722; digitized)
"Mr. Hague in his row boat on Hague Lake. He was very fond of fishing. His boat house is on shore just right of centre of picture." (from May Ellingsen Historic Photographs: Album 2, p. 20) (Also in collection as 2007.001.722; digitized)
"This shows the main road between Hague Lake and the Hague home property. Walking along the road are Mabel Lowe (L) and grandmother Mrs. Hague. The road had just been put in where there was only a trail before." (from May Ellingsen Historic Photographs: Album 2, p. 17) (Also in collection as 2007.001.723; digitized.)
"This shows the main road between Hague Lake and the Hague home property. Walking along the road are Mabel Lowe (L) and grandmother Mrs. Hague. The road had just been put in where there was only a trail before." (from May Ellingsen Historic Photographs: Album 2, p. 17) (Also in collection as 2007.001.723; digitized.)
Back, L to R: Mrs. J. Nixon, Mrs. R. McLennan, Mrs. Margaret Manson
Middle, L to R: Rose Manson, Anna Manson, Mrs. H. Hague
Front, L to R: Mabel Lowe, Nicol Manson, Eleanor Hague, Jack Manson
Description taken from May Elllingsen Historic Photograph Album p. 75. Although identified on the back as "taken at John Manson's farm", this was taken at the Nixon home on Twin Island.
Back, L to R: Mrs. J. Nixon, Mrs. R. McLennan, Mrs. Margaret Manson
Middle, L to R: Rose Manson, Anna Manson, Mrs. H. Hague
Front, L to R: Mabel Lowe, Nicol Manson, Eleanor Hague, Jack Manson
Description taken from May Elllingsen Historic Photograph Album p. 75. Although identified on the back as "taken at John Manson's farm", this was taken at the Nixon home on Twin Island.
Back of photo reads "Frank Heay. Grannie Hague's brother. Born Nebraska, died Vanc BC. Lived on Gambier Island." And also; "William Alexander Lowe, b. Dumfarline Mar 2, 1864, died London April 21, 1911."
Back of photo reads "Frank Heay. Grannie Hague's brother. Born Nebraska, died Vanc BC. Lived on Gambier Island." And also; "William Alexander Lowe, b. Dumfarline Mar 2, 1864, died London April 21, 1911."
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 postcard of the Whaletown Church. Originally from the collection of Gilean Douglas.
Note - There is a digital enlargement of this postcard in the oversize box. This same postcard is found in other fonds (Items 2003.002.024 and 2019.023.013).
Photograph postcard of the Whaletown Church. Originally from the collection of Gilean Douglas.
Note - There is a digital enlargement of this postcard in the oversize box. This same postcard is found in other fonds (Items 2003.002.024 and 2019.023.013).
The post office was built in this location (on the property of 315 Whaletown Rd) in 1947. In 1981 it was moved across the road next to the parking area of the Whaletown store.
Likely originally from the collection of the Weiler family.
The post office was built in this location (on the property of 315 Whaletown Rd) in 1947. In 1981 it was moved across the road next to the parking area of the Whaletown store.
Likely originally from the collection of the Weiler family.