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J. S. Matthews

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Vancouver Archives (talk | contribs) at 23:16, 3 April 2007 (typos, mostly, especially his name but I can't change the title of the article. Birth date. Date of appointment to City Archivist position. Update Archives' URL). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Bust of Major Matthews in the building named after him and home of the City of Vancouver Archives, nestled in Vancouver's Vanier Park.

Major James Skitt Matthews was the City of Vancouver's first archivist and an early historian and chronicler of the city; Major Matthews also refers to a building named in his honour in Vanier Park, Vancouver, Canada.

Born in Wales September 7, 1878, Matthews lived for a time in New Zealand before settling in Vancouver in 1898. He was an officer with the Duke of Connaught’s Own Rifles Sixth Regiment, a Freemason, and named Kitsilano "Citizen of the Year" in 1959.[1]

For decades he collected and catalogued artifacts, solicited donations, interviewed early inhabitants of the young city, and wrote historical narratives. In total, Matthews compiled 40 publications related to Vancouver's history. His efforts and legacy have been memorialized in the Major Matthews Building, home of the City of Vancouver Archives. The building is a semi-underground modern structure in Vanier Park, designed by architects McCarter Nairne and Partners, which opened in 1972. It is the first building in Canada built specifically for this purpose.

The City of Vancouver Archives is located at 1150 Chestnut Street. It is the repository for historical records generated by the City of Vancouver, including the Mayor's Office, the Parks Board, the Board of Police Commissioners, the Vancouver Police Department, and the Office of the City Clerk. It also contains numerous collections from private donors, businesses, and community groups. The City of Vancouver Archives is part of the City Clerk's Department.

The archives began in Major Matthews' home until he was eventually given space by the City in various locations and was officially made the City's archivist in 1933. He moved the collection back into his home for a period following a dispute with Mayor Gerry McGeer over ownership of the collection. The archives did not find a permanent home in his lifetime; the building named in his honour opened shortly after his death in 1970.

City of Vancouver Archives

References

  1. ^ "Major James Skitt Matthews". Grand Lodge of British Columbial and Yukon. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
  • Harold Kalman, Exploring Vancouver: Ten Tours of the City and its Buildings. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1974.
  • Todd McCallum, "The Great Depression's First History? The Vancouver Archives of Major J.S. Matthews and the Writing of Hobo History," Canadian Historical Review 87, no. 1 (March 2006)
  • Donna Jean MacKinnon, "James Skitt Mathews and the Vancouver City Archives," Chuck Davis, ed., The Greater Vancouver Book: An Urban Encyclopaedia. Linkman Press, 1997, 50.
  • David Ricardo Williams, Mayor Gerry: The Remarkable Gerald Grattan McGeer. Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 1986.

See also

Apodaca Provincial Park

City of Vancouver Archives website

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