[BCMA] FW: Col. Moody album, early photos of First Nations in BC

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

                                      NEWS RELEASE


 

 

 

 

March 4, 2014

 

Royal BC Museum acquires Col. Moody picture album 

featuring images of colonial British Columbia 

 

Victoria, BC — The Royal BC Museum has acquired a nineteenth century album
that contains some of the earliest photographs taken of First Nations in
British Columbia.

 

The album of photographs and pictures features mementoes of the work and
travels of Col. Richard Moody, a prominent figure in colonial BC. Moody, a
career soldier and civil servant, commanded the Columbia detachment of the
British Royal Engineers in the colony of British Columbia and was Chief
Commissioner of Lands and Works from 1858 to 1863. 

 

The album includes more than 90 photographs, including four directly
relating to British Columbia that are believed to have been taken in 1859.
The album also includes a pencil sketch of Moody’s home in what is now New
Westminster. 

 

“The album’s historical value is unquestionable, as these five images expand
our knowledge of what life looked like in colonial British Columbia,” says
Don Bourdon, Royal BC Museum Curator of Images and Paintings. “But even as
it answers some questions, the album also poses others.”

 

For example, two of the photos feature a First Nations man, but his identity
is unknown and it is unclear what relationship he had to Moody. As well, the
identity of a Royal Engineer seated beside Moody in another photo is also
unknown at this point. 

 

Archivists and curators at the Royal BC Museum are approaching these
mysteries as opportunities to learn more. The process of determining
identities and relationships may be assisted by members of the public as
much as by historians and experts in photographic history.  

 

With that in mind, the album will be displayed in Clifford Carl Hall at the
Royal BC Museum from the afternoon of Tuesday, March 4, 2014 until Monday,
March 10, 2014. After March 10, it will be brought into the Archives. Once
conserved and described, the album will be available to researchers for
viewing by appointment. 

 

“Acquiring the album was a strategic and thematic priority for the museum
and archives,” says Royal BC Museum CEO Professor Jack Lohman, CBE, “as a
collection of letters by Mary Moody, Col. Moody’s wife, is already a part of
our archival collection.” 

 

“The Colonel Moody album offers a rare visual glimpse into the life and
times of colonial British Columbia,” says Coralee Oakes, Minister of
Community, Sport and Cultural Development. “The Royal BC Museum deserves
congratulations for acquiring such rare archival material. The Friends of
the BC Archives deserve recognition and thanks for the great work they do to
help preserve BC’s history. The album can now take its place as part of the
unique story of British Columbia.”

 

In the 1970s, descendants of the Moody family donated the letters to the BC
Archives. The recently-acquired picture album forms an important part of a
family archive, as it documents the places and people referred to in letters
home by Mary Moody, as well as family travels and Col. Moody’s career.  

 

The album was purchased at Bonhams, an English auction house, on December 4,
2013. The acquisition was made possible through the assistance of the
non-profit organization Friends of the BC Archives, which contributed
$10,000 towards the successful purchase price of £12,000 (just over $26,000
CDN), with the remainder provided by the Royal BC Museum Foundation’s
Collection Acquisition Fund and the Royal BC Museum’s own fund for new
acquisitions. 

 

Ultimately, the Royal BC Museum will scan all the images and make them
available for viewing online, as part of its plan to digitize its
collections.

 

About the Royal BC Museum

As the provincial museum and archives, the Royal BC Museum explores the
province’s human history and natural history, advances new knowledge and
understanding of BC, and provides a dynamic forum for discussion and a place
for reflection. Through collections, research, presentations and
partnerships, the museum and archives tell the stories of BC in ways that
enlighten, stimulate and inspire. Its two-hectare cultural precinct in
Victoria includes a number of historically significant buildings and First
Nations sites. 

 

- 30 -

Media contact:

Royal BC Museum Media Inquiries

250-387-5051

 <mailto:news at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca> news at royalbcmuseum.bc.ca 

 

 

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