Local history reference files: Index

This is an index, with cross references, of the local history reference files available to consult in person at Oak Bay Archives. The files consist mainly of local news cuttings, copy photographs, and other ephemera. They are arranged by subject, and are confined to Oak Bay topics: a treasure trove of local information that is not usually usefully summarized elsewhere.

NB There is a file for most Oak Bay streets - these are not listed here, because the list is very long, but you can assume there will be one. For street names, see this list. There is also a separate file sequence for individual persons/families, not yet digitized.

The reference files are currently under review, and there will be ongoing updates and changes to this index.

  • Accidents
  • Ada Beaven Rose Garden - Oak Bay Rose Garden at Windsor Park
  • Aerial view south Oak Bay 1949
  • Aid for Africa
  • Air Raid Precautions (ARP, WW2)
  • Airplanes
  • Alan Cassidy Award
  • Amalgamation
  • Ambrosio Market & Deli
  • Anderson Hill Park
  • Animals - Birds
  • Animals - Domestic
  • Animals - insects, Bees, Pests
  • Animals - wild
  • Apartments
  • Apartment Buildings
  • Apartments - Harrogate
  • Archaeological reports: King George Terrace, First Nations
  • Archaeological reports: Eagles Nest Estate, First Nations, Songhees, Mayhew House, 3125 Beach Drive
  • Archaeological Sites: FIrst Nations, Gonzalse Bay, Willows Beach, Wendy McKay
  • Archaeology
  • Archaeological survey for East Coast Interceptor
  • Architecture
    • Oak Bay 1890-2000
    • Heritage
  • Architects
    • see Building the West book
    • Luxton
    • see persons files
  • Architectural styles
  • Archives, Oak Bay
  • Arena
    • Victoria Arena
    • Patrick Arena
    • Hockey
    • Stanley Cup
    • Fire
    • Monument
    • Olson
    • Willows Fairground
    • Sport Centre
  • Art, Artists - see drawer 3 cab 2
  • Assessments 2015
  • Astronomy
    • science
  • Automobiles
  • Aviation - Willows Aerodrome
  • Banks - businesses
  • Bank of Montreal
    • FH Hawkins, manager
    • staff
  • Barbers & Beauty Salons - businesses
  • BC Electric Railway Co - business
    • City pioneer FS Barnard
  • Bellevue Court - heritage, marine chalet
  • Blethering Place - Oak Bay Avenue, business, Ken Agate
  • Block parties - street parties
  • Boats - transportation
  • Bolands Bakery - Business, add street
  • Bookstores - business
  • Bowker Creek - Friends of Bowker Creek, Brush-Up, Artists, Watershed
  • Boy Scouts - 5th & 12th Garry Oak troops
  • Brighton Avenue Walkway - parks
  • Buildings - residential, commercial
  • Businesses
  • Business Improvement Association
  • Bylaws - enforcement, zoning
  • Cadborosaurus
  • Cadboro Bay
  • Camas Lane
  • Canada Day - events
  • Canadian College of Performing Arts - education, schools, St Mary's Anglican Church, Elgin Rd
  • Capital Regional District
  • Car shows
  • Carley's Riding Academy - VIctoria Riding & Hunt Club, VIctoria Riding Academy, Fairgrounds, sports
  • Carlton House - seniors residences
  • Carnarvon Park
  • Casey's Market - business, grocery
  • Cattle Point - waterfront
  • Cenotaph - monuments, war memorial, construction
  • Centennial - 2006 (Oak Bay), see also Golden Jubilee (1958)
  • Census 1911 - early settlers
  • Charelli's Cheese Shop & Deli - business, grocery
  • Chess - games, hobbies
  • Chinese cemetery - Harling Point, monuments
  • Christmas - events
  • Club Tango - business, music
  • Coat of Arms
  • Colonist, Daily - see Daily Colonist, Times Colonist, newspaper
  • Commonwealth Games 1994 - events
  • Community Association of Oak Bay
  • Community news Brief
  • Community Plans (municipal) - 1967, 1981, 1997, 2012-14
  • Composting - waste management
  • Cops for Cancer - Tour de Rock
  • Council - news briefs
  • Crime - arson, assault, fraud, general, homicide, police briefs, theft, robberies
  • Davenport Pharmacy - business
  • Deer - animals, wildlife
  • Delish Deli - business
  • Demolitions - demolished buildings, heritage
  • Development
  • Disasters - earthquake, emergency, fire, pandemic, war, disaster/emergency preparedness, planning
  • Discovery Island
  • Easter - annual events
  • Elections - federal
  • Elections - provincial
  • Elections - municipal
  • Emergency services
  • Emmanuel Baptist Church - churches
  • Environment - water control
  • Environmental issues - air quality, improvements, climate change, tree cover, paving
  • Events
  • Exhibition, Agricultural - see Fairgrounds, Willows Park (historic)
  • Farming & Farms - McNeill, Pemberton, Ross, Noble
  • Fairgrounds - Willows (aerodrome?) might mean Lansdowne Field site?
  • Financial - statements, first municipal cheque 1906, John Virtue
  • Fire department - equipment, firefighters, fire hall, protection, staff, chiefs, Ed Clayards
  • Fires (incidents)
  • Fireman's Park, now Firefighters' Park
  • First Nations - Douglas Treaties, Foster Berger & Buck, The Grand Experiment
  • First Nations in Oak Bay - earliest settlement, Songhees, Lekwungen, archaeology
  • First Nations - land claims
  • First Nations - Oak Bay monuments
  • Floods
  • Flower shops - business
  • Fortress Observation Post - Gonzales Hill
  • Foul Bay - Gonzales Bay
  • Foul Bay Road School - schools
  • Garagellennium - annual events
  • Garden tours
  • Gardens - community, flower, private, fruit, municipal, gardeners, volunteers
  • Ghosts of Oak Bay
  • Girl Guides
  • Golf - Uplands Golf course & club, VIctoria Golf course & club
  • Government - municipal
  • Government - regional (City and CRD, as relating to Oak Bay)
  • Government - provincial (BC, as relating to Oak Bay)
  • Government - federal (Canada, as relating to Oak Bay e.g. Fisheries & Oceans, foreshore, beach closures, bird protection)
  • Gonzales HIll - Fortress Observation Post, heritage designated site, WW2
  • Gonzales Hill cairn
  • Gonzales Hill - Walbran Park Lookout
  • Gonzales Hill Observatory - weather station
  • Gracepoint - movie/film
  • Green Committee - Environment
  • Halloween - annual events
  • Harling Point - Chinese Cemetery
  • Health care
  • Heritage
    • Heritage Commission/Committee (body of Council)
    • Heritage Foundation (community organization)
    • Oak Bay Heritage - former umbrella term including Commission, FOundation and Oak Bay Archives
    • Heritage talks
    • Heritage houses - maintenance, renovations
    • Heritage register & designation - houses and municipal sites
  • History - Oak Bay, general
  • Holidays - religious, statutory, events
  • Homicide - murder, crime
  • House names
  • Housing - District Planning department
    • Secondary suites
  • Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) - land ownership
  • Indigenous languages - place names
  • Invasive Species
  • Islands
    • Chatham Island
    • Discovery Islands
    • Jimmy Chicken Island
    • Kitty Islet
    • Mary Tod Island
    • Tl'ches
    • Trial Islands
  • Job's Daughters (IOJD), Masonic-affiliated youth organization for girls and young women
  • Kids Making a Difference
  • Kinsmen (Kin Canada, Kinsmen & Kinettes), service club
  • Kiwanis, service club
  • Kiwanis Tearoom, Willows Park
  • Lewis Low-Cost Market - businesses
  • Library - Oak Bay Branch of Greater Victoria Public Library at Monterey Centre
  • Maps, plans & drawings, signs
  • McNeill Bay - waterfront
  • Memorial sites, benches, trees (municipal)
  • Military - WW1, WW2
  • Monterey Elementary School, now Monterey Middle School - schools, education
  • Mount Baker Hotel
  • Mount Tolmie
  • Movie industry - films, Willows Fairgrounds, Willows Park Studio
  • Municipality (Corporation of the District of Oak Bay)
    • Buildings
    • Administration - government
    • Budgets
    • Council
    • Councillors
    • Council meetings
    • Employees/Staff
    • Ephemera
    • Events
  • Mystic Spring (Mystic Vale, UVic)
  • Native Plant Garden
    • Friends of Oak Bay Native Plant Garden
  • Neighbourhood Associations
  • New Horizons Village Crafts - business, Oak Bay Avenue
  • Newsletters
  • Night Market - events, summer, businesses
  • Noise pollution, noise nuisance
  • North Oak Bay Community Association
  • Oak Bay Hotel, later The Old Charming Inn
  • Oak Bay Beach
  • Oak Bay Beach Hotel
  • Oak Bay Boat House - see also Oak Bay Marina, Sealand of the Pacific, Charles Seaborne
  • Oak Bay Camp - Haynes family, Oak Bay Beach, Rattenbury's Beach
  • Oak Bay Explorer tour bus - businesses, tourism
  • Oak Bay Girls' Drill Team - recreation
  • Oak Bay Guest House - 1052 Newport, hotels
  • Oak Bay High School
    • Buildings
    • Clubs and activities
    • Community Theatre
    • Fine Arts
    • graduates/ Alumni news
    • History
    • Reunions
    • Sno'uyutth Welcome Pole (2015)
    • Sports
    • Squadron (WW2)
  • Oak Bay News - Black Press, formerly Oak Bay Star
  • Parks
    • BC Electric Park, now Windsor Park
  • Parks & Recreation (municipal department)
  • Oak Bay Pharmacy - Oak Bay Avenue, Pattinson family
  • Pharmasave
  • Oak Bay School - Elementary overflow, held in basement of High School on Oak Bay Ave
  • Oak Bay Tennis Club - sports, Bowker Avenue
  • Oak Bay Theatre (cinema, 2184 Oak Bay Avenue, 1936-1986)
  • Oak Bay United Church, Mitchell St., formerly St Columba Presbyterian. Congregation formed on amalgamation of St Columba and Hampshire Rd Methodist
  • Oak Bay Village
  • Oak Bay Volunteer Services
  • Oak Harbour Plan (ca.1891)
  • The Oaks - businesses, restaurants, food
  • Old Charming Inn - Oak Bay Hotel, Beach Drive (formerly Mt Baker Ave)
  • Old Men's Home - Mountain View, later site of Oak Bay Lodge, see also property files, seniors' housing
  • Ottavio Bakery & Delicatessen - businesses, food
  • Pedago Electric Bikes
  • Pioneers - early settlers
  • Plants
  • Poetry
  • Poets' Corner - streets Byron, Chaucer, Milton - Elgin is included
  • OB Police Department
  • OB POlice Board
  • Postcards
  • Preschools
    • Gonzales
    • Montessori
    • St CHristopher's
    • Co-op
    • Paddington Station
  • Private Schools
    • Glenlyon-Norfolk
    • Montessori
    • St Michael's
    • St Patrick's
  • OB Public Works
  • Queen's Golden Jubilee (2002) - royalty, events
  • Queen's Park
  • Radio operators, ham
  • Real estate/property
  • Recreation
    • Henderson Rec Centre
    • Monterey Rec Centre
    • Oak Bay Rec Centre
  • Recycling - waste management
  • Reeves & Mayors 1906-
  • Remembrance Day - WW1, WW2, annual events
  • Residential building plans database
  • Restaurants and Pubs
    • Penny Farthing
    • Oak Bay Marina Restaurant
  • Restorative Justice
  • Robertshaw Specialty Pies - business, food
  • Rotary - service club
  • Royal Victoria Yacht Club
  • Royalty
    • Royal visits
    • Jubilee & other local events
  • Saanich
  • St Clare's Convent - Poor Clares Monastery, Our Lady of Lourdes, St Patrick's Roman Catholic parish church
  • St Columba Presbyterian - now Oak Bay UNited CHurch
  • St Mary the Virgin Anglican Church
  • St Michael's School
  • St Patrick's RC Church
  • St Philip Anglican Church
  • Schools
  • Sealand of the Pacific - aquarium, Oak Bay Marina
  • Oak Bay Sea Rescue Society
  • Senior citizens - centenarians
  • Sewers and sewage - waste management
    • Uplands sewerage
  • Shannon Oaks - seniors' housing, Marrion Village
  • Shipwrecks
  • Social History
  • Social issues
  • Sports
    • Baseball, softball
    • Basketball
    • Boating
    • Cricket
    • Croquet
    • Curling
    • Cycling
    • Field Hockey / Grass Hockey
    • Football
    • General
    • Girls' Drill Team
    • Golf
    • Gymnastics
    • Ice Hockey
    • Ice Skating
    • Kayaking
    • Lawn Bowling
    • Martial Arts
    • Rowing
    • Rugby
    • Running
    • Sailing
    • Soccer
      • "Fragments" Team, Windsor Park 1940-41 (see GNS history)
    • Swimming, diving, aquatics
    • Tennis
    • Track & Field
    • Volleyball
    • Water Skiing
  • Stops of Interest
  • Storms - weather
  • Street cars - transportation
  • Street names
  • Taxes - municipal
  • Oak Bay Tea Party
  • Terrorism
  • Theatres
  • Threshold House - Granite St
  • Tilikum - Voss, Luxton, boats
  • Toastmasters - public speaking club
  • Tourism
  • Town Crier
  • Traffic
  • Transportation - Tally-Ho, Bray Family, street cars, vehicles, cycling, buses
  • Trees - protection, Garry Oak
  • Trial Islands - lighthouse, light station
  • Tweed Curtain
  • Tweed Magazine
  • University of Victoria - UVic
    • Athletics
    • Development
    • Education
    • Records
  • Uplands (subdivision, "garden suburb")
    • General
    • History
    • Larry McCann research
  • Uplands Golf Club
  • Uplands Elementary School
  • Uplands Park
  • Uplands Farm (HBC)
  • Uplands Garage - business
  • Uplands sewage - waste management
  • Uppingham House School, 1130 Oliver, 1543 York Place (Miss RIgby)
  • Victoria clippings - early newspapers
  • VIctoria Golf Club
    • Seniors' Northwest Golf Association
  • Volunteering overseas
  • OB Volunteer Services
  • Volunteers/volunteering
  • Walbran Park - Gonzales Hill, cairn
  • Walks, walking tours
  • War - WW1, WW2, Korean War, military
  • Waterfront
  • Water permits - public works
  • water supply
  • weather - storms, blizzards, flooding
  • Willows Beach - Kiwanis Pavilion/Kiwanis Tea Room
  • Willows Camp (at Rattenbury's Beach)
  • Willows Elementary School - education
  • Willows Fairgrounds - see Agricultural Exhibition
  • Willows Hotel, Cadboro Bay Rd
  • Willows Park (current, at Willows Beach)
  • Willows Park (historic, Exhibition Fairgrounds, site of Carnarvon Park), formerly Willows Driving Park, Willows Aerodrome, Willows Park Aviation, Willows Race track, Willows Camp (WW1)
  • Willows Park Studio - movie industry
  • Windsor Park - formerly BC Electric park, velodrome
  • Women, women in politics
  • World War 1 (First World War, WW1) - Great War
  • World War 2 (Second World Wat, WW2)
  • Wright's Meat Market - business, food
  • Year in Review
  • Y.E.S. (Young Exceptional Star) Awards

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