Links
Resources
The History of Work Information System
Scholars associated with the International Institute of Social History in
Amsterdam created an information system known as the Historical International Classification
of Occupations [HISCO]. Census data relating to occupations is encoded on viHistory according to
HISCO standards and conventions. HISCO offers many advantages for historians and social scientists.
It helps to clarify "occupational terminology across time and space" and provides
"an occupational information system that is both international and historical, and
simultaneously links to existing classifications used for present-day conditions."
HISCO codes are described on the History of Work Information System web site, which
also provides titles and concise descriptions of thousands of historical occupations from the
16th to the 20th century, along with "images and iconographic essays on the world of work."
Humanities Media and Computing Centre
The viHistory web site has been developed with the assistance of administrators and
programmers at the Humanities Computing and Media Centre [HCMC] at the University of
Victoria. The Centre facilitates "research, teaching and learning in the faculty of
Humanities, in particular the fields of Humanities Computing and Language Learning."
The HCMC lab has created several digital tools that can be utilized with viHistory material.
With the Image Markup and Presentation (IMaP) tool developed by HCMC programmer David Badke,
users can view, manage and manipulate large scale, high resolution images. Overlays can be
created with the Image Markup Tool, an open source product developed at HCMC by Martin Holmes.
Text Analysis Portal for Research
North Atlantic Population Project
A machine-readable version of the 1881 census of Canada is available through the North Atlantic
Population Project (NAPP). The Project was created by the Minnesota Population Center at the University of
Minnesota in collaboration with the University of Ottawa, Université de Montréal and other institutions.
In addition to the 2nd decennial census of Canada (1881), the NAAP database includes complete censuses
of Great Britain (1881), Iceland (1870, 1880, 1901), Norway (1865, 1900), and the United States (1880).
Researchers should note that data from NAAP is "only available for academic or policy research."
Researchers wanting access to data for the 1881 census of Canada from this web site will have to
"provide a 25-50 word description of your research project, along with basic information on your
disciplinary and institutional affiliations."
Canadian Century Research Infrasture
The CCRI is "a pan-Canadian, multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional effort to develop
a set of interrelated databases" derived from Canadian census data from 1911, 1921, 1931,
1941 and 1951. At the end of this project, academic researchers affiliated with the CCRI
hope to create a dataset that will enable scholars to address questions about the
"complexity and diversity" of Canada in the first half of the twentieth century.
The CCRI web site includes links to other projects that deal with "Canadian social history,
censuses and the enumeration process."
Related history projects at UVic & VIU
Victoria's Victoria
This web site is a project of the University of Victoria's
History Department in partnership with the
History Department at Vancouver Island University and several regional archives. It is
largely the work of students at the university and university college, who have designed
the site and produced a series of web pages. This web site also connect to the Index of Historical Victoria Newspapers.
Nanaimo in the 1890s
Launched in April 2004 and developed by History students at
Vancouver Island University,
this web site examines the social ecology of Nanaimo in the last decade of the
nineteenth century. This web site is also a vehicle for exploring themes in late
Victorian Canada, using material from the viHistory.ca site.
Virtual Victoria 1891: View from the steeple
This web site features interactive 360 degree panoramas of Victoria,
taken from St. Andrew's cathedral in 1891. On this web site you can stand on top of the
cathedral with the photographer, fly over the city, zoom down on streets and get close
to buildings with hot spots and pop-ups. Here you can visualize Victoria in 1891. The
images have been annotated with data from the viHistory.ca site.
The View from the steeple web site was launched in May 2005.
The Homeroom: British
Columbia's History of Education web site
Hosted by Vancouver Island University, The Homeroom includes sections on Vancouver
Island colonial school teachers and an index to hundreds of Vancouver Island
public schools. It also includes histories of independent
schools — St. Ann's Academy, Shawnigan Lake School, etc. — and
biographies of Vancouver Island school trustees and administrators, such as
Alfred Waddington and Margaret Jenkins.
Archives
British Columbia Archives
The principal repository for Vancouver Island material. A robust search engine provides
descriptions of government and non-government records and access to digitalized maps and
photographs.
City of Victoria Archives
This website features a searchable database of records from Victoria's Ross Bay cemetery
(1872-1980), a searchable index to obituaries from the Victoria Daily Times (1901-1939),
and marriage notices (mainly drawn from the Victoria Daily Times, 1901-1939).
Nanaimo Community Archives
Holdings include documents, photographs, maps, and memorabilia from the public and private sectors, including municipal government, community service organizations, and families. The NCA's website includes descriptive inventories of many collections.
Saanich Archives
This website provides access to over 4,000 digital images, plus descriptive inventories of maps, manuscripts, municipal records and oral histories held by the Saanich Archives. Textual records in the Saanich Archives include school board minutes (1878-1906), tax rolls (1895-1913), and council minute books (1906-1960).
Other Links for Victoria and Vancouver Island
Hugh Armstrong's Lists
Family historian Hugh Armstrong has transcribed and digitized
an extensive array of historical resources and posted them on the British
Columbia GenWeb site. The resources include an official return of land
sales on Vancouver Island (1858), reports on Victoria schools, c. 1894, plus
petitions from Vancouver Island residents on such topics as the Esquimalt &
Nanaimo railway lands, Oriental labourers, and votes for women.
1901 Victoria & southern Vancouver Island
Hugh Armstrong and members of the Victoria Genealogical Society have transcribed nominal
data from the 1901 Dominion census. They've also transcribed related historical records,
c. 1901, such as newspaper advertisements, ships' passenger lists, and official returns of
Victoria's sealing fleet.
Colonial History Vancouver Island
This website, created by local historian and writer Maureen Duffus, contains articles and vignettes on a wide range of topics relating to Vancouver Island in the colonial period. The author has written and edited historical accounts of Craigflower and Langford. She has also written a creative book that combines the genres of historical fiction and annotated documentary, entitled A Most Unusual Colony. Vancouver Island 1849-1860 (1996). Excerpts from her publications are featured on this website. As well, the website provides a select bibliography to historical works and links to archival resources.