April brings the annual #Archive30 hashtag from the Archives & Records Association Scotland, providing daily prompts for archivists to highlight themes in their collections. It's a great way to get to know an archive from different angles, bringing individual items or whole collections into focus. The hashtags provide a great way for archivists, volunteers and researchers to think about how we present the stories in our own archives, and to get to know about repositories, fonds, projects and puzzles from a wide range of other archives.

Archival research hardly ever uses a one-stop shop approach - who knows where relevant material could turn up? Have a read through the hashtags each day and get to know the network! It's a series of fascinating glimpses into archival work, holdings, and ways of thinking. And sometimes (totally relevant) historic cat pictures.

Tweets are limited to 280 characters, including punctuation, so they have to be concise (and/or heavily abbreviated - palaeographers are thinking 'everything old is new again') but info-dense. They function well as attention catchers, tips of the icebergs, the opening sentences of a story - or many stories. What connections will readers find, or reveal? What questions will be sparked? Click through to the entries on Twitter @OakBayArchives to follow up some interesting conversation threads.

Here are my entries @OakBayArchives for this year:

for Archives Awareness Week, some posts for #Archive30 . 1. #MyArchive is in storage atm & I'm working from home, so I'll be mostly sharing photos from our online collection: search at https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs-view . 2021#AAW

#Archive30 Day 2 #WhereYouStarted Near Oak Bay’s beginnings, ca 1911: Public Works paving crew with horse drawn cart, removing rock for road beds, Gonzales Hill . Later paved to become King George Terrace. https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/1994-001-024 #2021AAW

#Archive30 Day 3 #HealthArchives Larry Davenport and daughter Ann at Davenport's Pharmacy, 2020 Oak Bay Avenue, in 1968. https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2017-011-001 #2021AAW

#Archive30 Day 4 #SomethingSmall a 1917 Oak Bay Dog Tax tag. Oak Bay dog licensing started in 1912 - letters, minutes, bylaws re controlling stray dogs (& other animals) recur in decades of Council minutes. See bit.ly/3sUfkjV for photos of early C20 Oak Bay dogs #2021AAW

from @DistrictOakBay Council minutes 6 Apr 1907 #OTD 114 yrs ago, on Pound By-Law: a cttee wd "see about obtaining a field, & that the Pathmaster [roads supervisor] be instructed only to enforce the By-Law where cattle were straying on the roads & where complaints had been made."

#Archive30 Day 5 #ArchivesFromHome Frank Burrell (1861-1928) of Pemberton & Sons was also a photographer & took many informal photos of his family at their home, ‘Summerdyne' (SW corner Oak Bay Ave x Monterey, now Royal Bank site). See more bit.ly/3sU1a2r #2021AAW

#Archive30 Day 6 #UnusualItem Not a shredder or complicated wastebasket but an early C20 (?) dough mixer. I have only this photo of the patent info & instructions on the lid (a drawback of #ArchivesFromHome)

but here’s a near cousin @smithsonian : https://www.si.edu/es/object/nmah_309748 #2021AAW

And spot another in this RBCM video! https://twitter.com/RoyalBCMuseum/status/1378059763251044358

#Archive30 Day 7 #ArchiveFoodAndDrink : Family Tea at Oak Bay Camp, ca 1905. A group of young OB men lived in tents on the beach @ foot of OB Ave & commuted by tram fr Windsor Pk, summers 1889-1909 More info bit.ly/31RP8KM, More vintage picnics: bit.ly/2Raphfe

#Archive30 0 Day 8 #ArchiveOutreach @SarahMcLeod_TL and I & @glenlyonnorfolk Grade 4 had a lot of fun with this virtual tour & talk about research using historical sources & what archivists do. Can I help you and your class with something similar? https://twitter.com/SarahMcLeod_TL/status/1351636260142477313 #2021AAW

#Archive30 Day 9 #ArchiveObject a selection of the many objects @OakBayArchives : school slate and trophies, pharmacy mortar & pestle, former municipal seal press, a toaster and china teacups. Objects give an extra dimension to history in archives! #2021AAW

#Archive30 Day10 #DigitalArchives Very little born-digital material in this archive yet, but lots of digital images of hard copy original records = access tools, not replacements. Here's Beach Drive, 'Blizzard of 1996', before we all had digital cameras: https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2012-001-143

#Archive30 Day 11 #Misconceptions : archivists=librarians, archives=libraries, always wear white gloves, archives=academics only, digital images=original records, archives=collections... Here's BM Watson: https://bit.ly/3cPegZc Outreach =work in progress! https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/1994-049-004

#Archive30 Day 10 #DigitalArchives + Day 11 #Misconceptions Why Don't Archivists Digitize Everything? from @archivespama https://peelarchivesblog.com/2017/05/31/why-dont-archivists-digitize-everything/

#Archive30 Day12 #SportArchives @OakBayHigh Girls Field Hockey team (and Biddy the dog) 1930 https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2003-005-005

Sorry single photo info pages don't link back to main photo search (work in progress, also keywords/tags): https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs-view

#Archive30 Day 13 So many #UntoldStories are in family archives! @OakBayArchives holds local family/business/community org/personal papers as well as historic municipal corporate records. (old) St Mary's church interior 1938, photo Pattinson family papers https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2015-010-055

#Archive30 Day 14 #FavouriteItem Many, but can't help mentioning this again: 1909-10 Oak Bay wildflower sketches by Ada Hope Leeder (1896-1990), later Yarrow and Stuart Taylor, for the sketches & for connections with other collections: https://connect.oakbay.ca/archives/news_feed/hope-leeder

#Archive30 Day 15 #YourWorkplace Municipal Staff on the steps of the original Oak Bay Municipal Hall, 1956: https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2016-005-015

Must be one of the last taken at the old MH: https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2016-005-002

#Archive30 Day 16 #ArchiveEnvironment Rather than a photo of a thermohygrograph, here's the forested bank above the shoreline at McNeill Bay, ca 1915 https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2006-006-007

More WW1-era views around Oak Bay from this family album: https://bit.ly/3fHn6d9

#Archive30 Day 17 #ArchiveAdvice short & sweet #AskAnArchivist #AskArchivists Enquiries accepted and *welcome* from anyone anywhere. We may not have the answers, but we'll have suggestions. Or new questions! Or we might be able to help you find just what you're looking for. Ask!

#Archive30 Day 18 Our #ArchiveBuilding is being worked on, so instead, a couple of amazing, alas no longer extant #ArchivedBuildings of Oak Bay : Willows Exhibition hall (Carnarvon Park site) https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2013-016-001

and Mt Baker Hotel (nr Beach x Orchard) https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/1994-001-014

#Archive30 Day 19 #ArchiveMystery Does anyone recognize this smart pair, or the porch of the house? (house number 113). From Frank Burrell's photos, ca. 1900. https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2010-010-242

#Archive30 Day 20 This rather fabulous Model A Ford Special Coupe (vintage car experts?) was #SomethingNew when this photo was taken in 1929.

A Burrell family photo - Frank and Kate Burrell's granddaughter Muriel Armstrong is seated on the running board. https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2010-010-250

#Archive30 Day 21 #ArchivePeople Ada Beaven, nee Pemberton (1867-1958), is well remembered in Oak Bay as the founder of both Windsor Park's rose garden and the OB Native Plant Garden.

Did you know she enjoyed the occasional well-dressed campfire as well? https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2010-010-039

#Archive30 Day 22 #ArchiveFashion Roy Pattinson (1919-1944) and friends model 1930s cycling chic: https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2015-010-082

More from @OakBayNews about Roy Pattinson and the Pattinson papers @OakBayArchives: https://www.oakbaynews.com/community/92-year-old-wwii-veteran-united-with-family-of-fallen-soldier-after-decades-long-search/

#Archive30 Day 23 #ArchiveInclusion What gets included in archives, what's left out, & why? Which records are deemed worthy of permanent preservation? What survives to be donated? How do archivists decide? Here’s @margotnote on appraising old photographs: https://www.margotnote.com/blog/2019/08/26/picture-edge

#Archive30 Day 24 Closing up @OakBayArchives on time for Municipal Hall's big reno was a major milestone - now setting many #MiniMilestones for this year in #WFH projects: disaster response planning & online cataloguing @ https://www.memorybc.ca/oak-bay-archives .

#Archive30 Day 25 A big #ConservationWin for @OakBayArchives was Jean Topham's work on the Hampshire Road Methodist Church #WW1 Roll of Honour in 2019: https://www.oakbaynews.com/community/historic-document-discovered-in-oak-bay-attic/

#Archive30 Day 26 Over the years, Oak Bay has lost a number of buildings to fires, and the photos are really #SomethingScary: here, the Olson Arena burning in 1944 https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/1994-001-073

and the first @OakBayBeach Hotel after its 1930 fire https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2002-001-009

#Archive30 Day 27 #ArchiveCollection An important collection supporting all kinds of work in @OakBayArchives is our reference library! Check out the catalogue: https://www.librarything.com/catalog/OakBayArchives/yourlibrary

#Archive30 Day 28 #SomethingBig that we use a lot: the huge bound volumes of early C20 BC fire insurance maps for Victoria. Each volume is more than 2' sq and several inches thick, and needs 2 people to move or shelve it. Digital images are much easier to handle!

#Archive30 Day 29 #ArchiveGoals oh wait that doesn't say #ArchiveGoats? Here are some #ArchiveGoats, in the fields behind the Unwin home (2178 Beaver Street, now Beaverbrooke) in Oak Bay, ca. 1915. https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2006-013-001

#Archive30 Day 30 #WhyArchives? For me - never the same day twice, never stop learning, all knowledge is useful (eventually), endless research puzzles & some satisfying answers!

Thanks @ARAScot for another great month of hashtags and highlights!

https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs/2010-010-074

June 2023: The Archives are open to visitors & researchers in person by appointment in advance during staffed hours, normally on Tuesdays and Fridays 9:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.. Enquiries are also welcome by email, phone and post. For all archives enquiries and appointment requests:

Email: archives@oakbay.ca
Tel: 250-598-3290 (please include an email address in your message if possible)
Oak Bay Archives
2167 Oak Bay Avenue
Victoria, British Columbia V8R 1G2

==============

Archives access in 2022:

Archives enquiries: As of January 2022, Oak Bay Archives remains closed to volunteers, researchers and visitors in person, but open for enquiries by email, post and phone. Anna is in the office half time as usual.

Contact the archivist: email archives@oakbay.ca . *Please use email if possible, as most responses will include links to online resources. Alternatively, you can leave a phone message at 250-598-3290 - be sure to state your name and contact details clearly within the message.

Archives donations: Please contact the Archivist in advance to discuss prospective donations of archival material.

• Oak Bay Archives welcomes donations of records of persons, families, businesses and organizations that help to document the history of Oak Bay.
• We acquire mainly textual and photographic records, as we do not have specialist storage or conservation facilities for most types of objects.
• The Archives concentrates its accession policy on original documents rather than copied or published material.
• Thinking of giving historic records to Oak Bay Archives? Thank you! Please have a look at the BC Archives' donations guidelines. Most of this is relevant to any archival donation - translate 'BC' to 'Oak Bay', 'provincial' to 'municipal' etc of course!

Visiting the Archives: Dates and arrangements for reopening to researchers and visitors in person will be announced in due course. When the Archives eventually open again, all visits will be by appointment in advance. Booking appointments will be new for Oak Bay Archives, but is usual for archives in general. An appointments system will help us to adapt to future developments in public health regulations, and will ensure that researchers and visitors can be accommodated effectively in our refreshed but smaller search room.

More information:

• Website: https://www.oakbay.ca/archives
• Photo Search: https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs-view
• Blog posts: https://connect.oakbay.ca/archives

- updated January 2022

==========

As of September 2021, Oak Bay Archives remains closed to volunteers, researchers and visitors in person, but open for enquiries by email, post and phone. Anna is back in the office (half time as usual), unpacking and rearranging the repositories and working areas following 6 months of renovations at Municipal Hall. Once the archives and reference materials are fully reshelved, there will be lots of source checking for Feb-Aug 2021 enquiries to catch up on.

Dates and arrangements for reopening to researchers and visitors in person will be announced in due course.

When the Archives eventually open again, all visits will be by appointment in advance. Booking appointments will be new for Oak Bay Archives, but is usual for archives in general. An appointments system will help us to adapt to future developments in public health regulations, and will ensure that researchers and visitors can be accommodated effectively in our refreshed but smaller search room.

To contact the archivist: email archives@oakbay.ca . *Please use email if at all possible, as most responses will include links to online resources. Alternatively, you can leave a phone message at 250-598-3290 - be sure to state your name and contact details clearly within the message.

- updated December 2021

=====

February - August 2021: Oak Bay Archives has been closed to volunteers, researchers and visitors in person since the pandemic was announced in mid-March 2020. Anna Sander, the current Archivist, started working (half time) in early May 2020 and has been based in Municipal Hall with the archives since then, carrying out research and reprographics on behalf of enquirers.

Now that Oak Bay Municipal Hall is closed for renovations, the Archivist will be working from home from 22 February, without physical access to the collections, until the renovations are complete and staff are able to move operations back to the Hall. This is currently expected to happen in late August 2021.

Once Municipal Hall is in use again, a timeline for reopening the Archives will depend on developments in the public health situation and regulations.

Archives enquiries: the Archivist is happy to receive enquiries during the renovation period, and will endeavour to respond with the digital resources available. Inevitably, some resources will be limited until physical access to the collections is restored.

Archives donations: the Archivist is unable to accept donations of archival material during the renovation period.

For information about the renovations: please check for project updates at https://www.oakbay.ca/municipal-hall/departments/engineering-public-works/municipal-hall-renovation

To contact the archivist: email obarchives@oakbay.ca . *Please use email if at all possible, as most responses will include links to online resources. Alternatively, you can leave a phone message at 250-598-3290 - be sure to state your name and contact details clearly within the message.

Oak Bay Archives' reference library catalogue is on LibraryThing!

Browse here

This collection of more than 400 titles forms the reference section supporting the municipal and community archives of the Corporation of the District of Oak Bay, BC. It consists of reference books relating to the history of Oak Bay, Greater Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and Canada, in that order.

Arrangement

Classmark sections:
OB main subject directly related to Oak Bay
GV " " Greater Victoria, the CRD, other municipalities
VI " " Vancouver Island, Gulf islands and Island communities
BC " " British Columbia, BC mainland communities, the Pacific Northwest
CA " " Canada, Canadian communities outside of BC
HE " " heritage properties, generic
LO " " local authors not covered by above subjects
AB " " autobiography/memoir, biographies of Oak Bay people

These are the shelfmark categories for in-person library use. We are not using the Dewey decimal system - that structure doesn't serve small specialist collections well. Instead, books are grouped on the shelf according to geography, then alphabetically by author surname in each section. This Oak Bay - centric geographical arrangement reflects the collecting policy of the archives and the research interests of archive users and enquirers. But suppose a researcher is interested in, for instance, the history of trains and railroads in BC - there are relevant books in the GV, VI and BC sections?

Ways to search

• Click column headers (Author, Title etc) to order the collection by that heading
• Click individual tags or subject headings to browse by theme (example - all the books about railways)
• Enter keywords to search the whole collection - use `Search this library` box near top right, not `Search this site`

Why an online catalogue?

For enquirers: identify relevant secondary sources, locate online or local copy, prepare for archival research

For researchers in person: time in the archives is never long enough, and is best used looking at primary source material, i.e. archives. An online library catalogue helps researchers to plan ahead and identify secondary sources that could be consulted elsewhere before visiting the archive, and those that are only available at the archives.

For potential donors: We do our best not to acquire multiple copies of identical publications, and in most cases we don't need to duplicate the holdings of the GVPL system, especially if there is a copy at the nearby Oak Bay branch. But we are adding to the reference library collection, and we have a Wish List! (We are not able to accept new donations of reference books at the moment, as the collection is packed up during the construction project at Municipal Hall.)

[Photo: Oak Bay Archives Accn 2017-049-090, Reeve R.R. Taylor, centre, ca. 1940 with municipal council and staff.]

George Murdoch (Reeve 1959-1963) notes in his unpublished History of Oak Bay for 1968 that "the Minister of Municipalities advised in April that, through a change in the Municipal Act, reeves and councillors of district municipalities were henceforth to have the respective titles of mayor and aldermen ". The change in terminology from Reeve to Mayor occurs between one Council meeting and the next in April 1968, during the tenure of FW Hawes.

1. 1906 - 1908 William Edgar Oliver (1867-1920)

2. 1909 - 1911 William E Henderson (1837-1931)

1. 1912 W E Oliver

3. 1913 Francis Mawson Rattenbury (1867-1935)

1. 1914 - 1915 W E Oliver

4. 1916 - 1917 Marshall P Gordon (1862-1929)

5. 1918 Newton Townley Burdick (to April 9) (1882-1953)

6. 1918 - 1919 Charles E Wilson (April 17 1918 – December 1919)

7. 1920 - 1922 Samuel James Drake (1874-1940)

8. 1923 -1924 Harold Frederick Hewlett (1887-1961) [source: death cert, BC Archives]

9. 1925 - 1927 Herbert Anscomb (1892-1972)

10. 1928 - 1932 Ernest C Hayward (d.1933)

11. 1933 - 1935 Robert W Mayhew, later MP (1880-1971)

12. 1936 - 1940 Richard Ratcliffe Taylor (1884-1942)

13. 1941 - 1945 Walter Leonard (Len) Woodhouse (1895-1967)

14. 1946 - 1947 Walter Mitchell Walker (1887-1983)

15. 1948 - 1949 Robert Alexander Burnie Wootton (1901-1982)

16. 1950 - 1953 Philip Archibald Gibbs, later MLA (1893-1960)

17. 1954 - 1956 Frederick Elford Norris (1910-2003)

18. 1959 - 1963 George Murdoch (1893-1979)

19. 1964 - 1967 Allan Leslie Cox (b.1927)

20. 1968 - 1969 Frederick William Hawes

21. 1970 - 1973 Frances Henrietta Elford (1914-2002)

22. 1974 - 1979 Brian Smith (b.1934)

23. 1980 – 1983 J Douglas Watts

24. 1986 - 1990 Susan Brice

25. 1991 – 1996 Diana Butler

26. 1997 – 2011 Christopher M Causton

27. 2011 - 2018 Nils Jensen (d.2019)

28. 2018 - Kevin Murdoch

Sources: Minutes of Oak Bay Council, passim; 'Fifty Years of Growth: 1906-1956 Golden Jubilee Souvenir Booklet"; portraits series in Oak Bay Municipal Hall; British Columbia City Directories.

Questions? Comments? Please contact the Archivist

OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. Front cover and title page.

In the Oak Bay Archives is an old school notebook in a plain black paper cover. The stitching is good but the covers are detached and one of the front corners is missing. The acidic wood pulp paper has browned with age. The first page simply states, 'A.H.L. Began May 1909,' hand lettered in red. On the following pages are 18 watercolour specimen sketches of spring-flowering plants found in Oak Bay, accompanied by tidily-written systematic botanical descriptions and lists of species identified in April-June 1909 and March 1911.

This is the schoolgirl sketchbook of Ada Hope Leeder, archival reference Oak Bay Archives PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook.

OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. First page of 'Nature Notes', Fritillary (Fritillaria) and Fritillary Butterfly.

Ada Hope Leeder, known as Hope [fn 1], was born in Warwickshire, England, in 1896 [fn 2], and came to Canada with her family in 1907/8 [fn 3]. Her father was Dr Forrest B. Leeder, who worked at the Jubilee Hospital and later practiced with Drs. Hudson and Helmcken [fn 4]. The family, which included Hope's two sisters Edith Mary Faith and Dorothy Margaret Carita, and their mother Edith Mary (nee Hope), lived at 901 Burdett, near Christ Church Cathedral. [fn 5]

OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. Tuberous Pea (Vicia lathyrus papilionaceae)

Hope attended St Margaret's School, and produced this notebook while a student there - she and her sister Faith (later Grant) were two of the three original pupils, and one of the founders, Margaret Barton, had been their governess. [fn 6] Two entries mention 'Summer Term', implying that it was probably a school assignment. In the spring and early summer of 1909, Ada sketched and studied wildflowers growing in Oak Bay. The last entry is dated March 31st 1911.

OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. Broom (Leguminosae)The sketches were painted on smaller pieces of heavier paper and glued into the notebook. Why are they so much whiter than the notebook's pages? Watercolour paper is often made of cotton rag, which is more expensive to produce but gives a better painting surface than wood pulp. A further bonus is that rag, unlike wood pulp isn't acidic, so it lasts better and longer. Interested in the history of papermaking? There's a museum for that!

OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. Coral Root (Orchid family)The sketches are accompanied by the common English and Latin names and detailed botanical information about each plant, probably copied from a handbook. Which book might she have used? What books of western Canadian wildflowers had been published by this time, what information was available to her? On one day in May, she identifies 86 wildflower species. Which of these species are native to the area, and which had already been imported and naturalized as 'wild flowers'? Are her identifications correct?

OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. List of 86 species of 'Flowers found at Oak Bay, May 19th 1909.'So many questions. An archival item like this sketchbook can be a fascinating prompt for investigations in many fields of interest - here are just a few suggestions.

OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. Diagram suggesting further context questions in the areas of botany/natural history, history of education, family history, art history, local history.What happened next?

The sketchbook came to the Oak Bay Archives as a single item, and there are no other family papers here to give it context.

OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. Tellima, Saxifrage.However, it's usual, when carrying out archival research to contextualize an accession, to need to refer to numerous primary and secondary sources, online and in archives and libraries, and it doesn't take long to discover other sources to continue the story of Hope Leeder. It's important in historical research, especially online, to be aware of the sources of sources - how does this story lead back to documentary evidence or other *primary* (original, contemporary, created at the time) source material, and how do we know the reliability of that material?OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. Wild Tiger Lily, Lilium columbianum. A few years after the last sketchbook entry, on 9 November 1915, Hope Leeder married shipbuilder Norman Yarrow (1891-1955).[fn 7] Little did Hope know when she listed wildflower species identified in June 1909...

OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. List of 'Flowers found at Foul Bay, June 3rd 1909'. No. 18 is 'Yarrow.'

Thanks to society columns of the day, we have some details about the wartime wedding. On returning from honeymoon, the Yarrows lived at 948 Old Esquimalt Road, a house they called 'Fairmont'. [fn 8]

OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. Pyrola Asarifolia.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest... or at least, over in Oak Bay... Just about this time, Hilda Seaborne and her father Charles Seaborne were travelling from England to Oak Bay, to visit their brother and son Charles 'Dudley' Cullamore Seaborne. Hilda's friend, photographer Alice Lisle (1879-1958), accompanied them. [fn 10] Throughout 1916, the three visitors stayed with Charles Jr at the Oak Bay Boat House. Alice documented their unusual life in that extraordinary year with her camera - some of the results can be viewed via Oak Bay Archives' photo search. More about that story in an article by Barrie Moen in Tweed Magazine, Spring 2016 (starts on p.14). [fn 11]

Back to the story. Hope and Norman Yarrow had three children: John Alfred Forrest (1916-1938), Cynthia Hope (1921-2012), and Daphne Veryan (1924- ). [fn 12] In 1921, the census taker found them at home at Fairmont with their 4-year old son John. [fn 13] John died in a car accident in England in 1938, and in his memory, his parents built the Archbishop's private chapel, designed by well-known architect PL James and known as the Chapel of the Peace of God, in the precinct of Victoria's Christ Church Cathedral. [fn 14]OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. Spikenard, Smilacina stellata.

We now find a photo of Hope herself in 1924, with her husband Norman Yarrow and her father Dr Forrest Leeder [fn 18]. A later photo of Hope Yarrow shows her in the driver's seat, with an unusual story about the family car! [fn 19]

During the 1930s, the Yarrow family lived in Oak Bay, at 'Edgecliffe' (925 Foul Bay Road). [fn 15] They later lived at 'Orchard Gate' (5720 Patricia Bay Highway, now 691 Donnington Place), also designed by P.L. James and built for the Yarrows in 1949 near Elk Lake. [fn 16] The BC Archives holds several photographs of this house, as well as P.L.James' papers. [fn 17]

Norman Yarrow died in 1955. In 1959 Hope married again and became Lady Stuart-Taylor; her second husband was Sir Eric Stuart-Taylor, 2nd Bt (1889-1977), who was marrying for the third time. Sir Eric's second wife had been Hope's cousin Lilian Rosamond Leeder [fn 20], and the Yarrows had entertained them at Orchard Gate in 1950 [fn 21]. Hope and Sir Eric lived at 1663 Rockland (1959) and later at 2875 Lansdowne Road, in the Uplands. [fn 22]

Ada Hope Stuart-Taylor, formerly Yarrow, nee Leeder, died in Victoria on 23 March 1990 at the age of 95. [fn 23] More than a decade later, her daughter Cynthia gave her mother's sketchbook to Oak Bay Archives.

OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. Scarlet Painted Cup, Castilleja coccinea. Digitized finding aids and source material make so much of archival research faster and easier, but much is still not digitized, and the digital sources rarely tell all of the available story on their own. Once online sources and secondary materials have been made use of, it's always worth contacting the archivists at relevant repositories for more information about what other related material might be in their collections.

OBA PR 240, Ada Hope Leeder sketchbook. Dog Tooth Violet Lily, Erythronium americanum.

Primary and secondary sources:

[1] The Islander, Daily Colonist Magazine, 27 August 1967. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist19670827#page/n47/mode/1up

See also 1921 Census entry [fn13, below], etc.

[2] FamilySearch.org, sourcing England & Wales Census records 1901. Retrieved from https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LL45-S3V/ada-hope-leeder-1895-1990

Ancestry.ca, sourcing England & Wales birth and marriage certificates. Retrieved from https://www.ancestry.ca/genealogy/records/ada-hope-leeder-24-8q6mkx

BC Archives, death certificate entry for Ada Hope Stuart-Taylor. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3i2MO9D (shortened link, result from http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy/)

[3] BC Archives, description of Item AAAB3917 - Faith Grant and Felicity Graham interview, 1978. Retrieved from https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/faith-grant-and-felicity-graham-interview

[4] Ibid.

Daily Colonist (Victoria BC), 30 June 1908, p.7. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist19080630uvic/19080630#page/n6/mode/1up/search/forrest+leeder

Murphy, Herbert H. Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria, B.C., 1858-1958 [1958?], p.88. Retrieved from https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcbooks/items/1.0379014#p126z-5r0f:leeder

[5] Henderson's Greater Victoria City Directory 1910-1911. Retrieved from https://bccd.vpl.ca/index.php/browse/title/1910-1911/Henderson%27s_Greater_Victoria_City_Directory

Victoria Heritage Foundation, Heritage Register: 1369 Rockland Avenue. Retrieved from https://victoriaheritagefoundation.ca/HReg/Rockland/Rockland1369.html

Victoria Heritage Foundation, Heritage Register: 1162 Fort Street. Retrieved from https://victoriaheritagefoundation.ca/HReg/Fernwood/Fort1162.html

[6] Victoria Daily Colonist, 24 May 1925, p.7. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist0525uvic_20#page/n6/mode/1up/search/hope+leeder

Victoria Heritage Foundation, Heritage Register: 1162 Fort Street. Retrieved from https://victoriaheritagefoundation.ca/HReg/Fernwood/Fort1162.html

Victoria Heritage Foundation, Heritage Register: 1369 Rockland Avenue. Retrieved from https://victoriaheritagefoundation.ca/HReg/Rockland/Rockland1369.html

St Margaret's School, summary institutional history. Retrieved from https://www.stmarg.ca/explore-sms/history/

Oak Bay Archives, accession documentation.

[7] University of Victoria Development Office, Norman Yarrow Scholarship in Engineering. Retrieved from https://www.uvic.ca/givingtouvic/donorbio/y/n_yarrow.php

Macfarlane, John M. 'Yarrows Shipyard: a short history.' Nauticapedia, 2002. Retrieved from https://www.nauticapedia.ca/Articles/Articles_Yarrows.php,

Bosher, JF Imperial Vancouver Island: Who Was Who, 1850-1950. p.808. See snippet previews via Google Books: https://books.google.ca/books?redir_esc=y&id=VMmZhkMzy-IC&q=yarrow#v=snippet&q=yarrow&f=false

[8] [Unknown]. “Week.” N. Victoria : “The Week” Publishing Company, Limited, 13 Nov. 1915. Original Format: Royal British Columbia Museum. British Columbia Archives. Web. 29 Sept. 2020. . Newspapers - Progress and Week – Victoria.

[Unknown]. “Week.” N. Victoria : “The Week” Publishing Company, Limited, 18 Dec. 1915. Original Format: Royal British Columbia Museum. British Columbia Archives. Web. 29 Sept. 2020. . Newspapers - Progress and Week – Victoria.

[10] Findagrave.com, entry for Alice Florence Lisle Seaborne. Retrieved from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132967441/alice-florence-seaborne]

[11] TWEED Magazine, 18 March 2016. Black Press Media Group. Retrieved from https://issuu.com/blackpress/docs/i20160318115836798]

[12] thepeerage.com, entry for Ada Hope Leeder, citing Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. Retrieved from http://www.thepeerage.com/p61537.htm

Obituary: Cynthia Hope Pinckard (Hyslop) nee Yarrow. Oak Bay News, 27 February 2012. Black Press Media Group. Retrieved from https://www.oakbaynews.com/obituaries/cynthia-hope-pinckard-hyslop-nee-yarrow/

[13] Library and Archives Canada, Census of Canada 1921. Entry for Head St and Old Esquimalt Road, including the Yarrow family at 948 Old Esquimalt. Retrieved from https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?app=Census1921&op=img&id=e002872313

[14] Daily Colonist (Victoria, BC), 5 March 1966.p.17. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist19660305#page/n16/mode/1up

Victoria Heritage Foundation, Heritage Register: 908 Vancouver Street. Retrieved from https://victoriaheritagefoundation.ca/HReg/Fairfield/Vancouver0908.html

[15] Information via Jean Sparks

District of Oak Bay Heritage Commission, Heritage Properties: 925 Foul Bay Road. Retrieved from https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/history/heritage/heritage-sites/925-foul-bay-road

[16] Bosher, JF Imperial Vancouver Island: Who Was Who, 1850-1950. p.808

District of Saanich, Rural Saanich Local Area Plan, 2007. p.108. Retrieved from https://www.saanich.ca/assets/Community/Documents/Planning/plans/Rural_lap_web.pdf

Swannell, A. 'This is the house where Charman lives (in style).' Daily Colonist (Victoria BC), 22 September 1979. p.8. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist19790922#page/n61/mode/1up/search/norman+yarrow

[17] BC Archives, Visual Record Collection, description and image of Item D-05513, '"Orchard Gate", the Elk Lake residence of Norman A. Yarrow, Saanich; P. Leonard James, architect.' Retrieved from https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/orchard-gate-elk-lake-residence-of-norman-yarrow-saanich-p-leonard-james-architect

BC Archives, description of Fonds PR-0714 - Percy Leonard James fonds. Retrieved from https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/percy-leonard-james-fonds

see also:

Gill, R.G. 'James, Percy Leonard.' Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800-1950. retrieved from http://dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/1538

Granville Island Publishing. Publisher's description, The Life and Times of Victoria Architect P. Leonard James by Rosemary James Cross. Retrieved from http://www.granvilleislandpublishing.com/our_titles/architecture/p_leonard_james.html

City of Victoria Archives, description of Fonds PR-0271 - Warner James Johnson Architects Planners fonds. Retrieved from https://archives.victoria.ca/warner-james-johnson-architects-planners-fonds

[18] BC Archives, image and description of Item I-61882 - Mr. and Mrs. Norman Yarrow, with Dr. Leeder, Mrs. Yarrow's father. Retrieved from https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/mr-and-mrs-norman-yarrow-with-dr-leeder-mrs-yarrows-father

[19] Edwards, A. 'Collector Classics: Back in the family - Christopher Yarrow’s search for his grandfather’s car led to 1930 Packard Phaeton restoration.' Driving magazine, 18 December 2013. Retrieved from https://driving.ca/auto-news/news/collector-classics-back-in-the-family

[20] thepeerage.com, entry for Sir Eric Stuart-Taylor, citing Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.

Daily Colonist (Victoria BC), 30 September 1950.p.8. https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist0950uvic_23#page/n6/mode/1up/search/lady+stuart

FamilySearch.org, entry for Forrest Bertram Leeder showing brothers Ernest Holtham Leeder (father of Lilian) and John Nott [should be N not H] Viner Leeder. Retrieved from https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LL4P-TBG/forrest-bertram-leeder-1865-1945

see also The Cardiff Times, 17 September 1910, p.10. 'Estate of £110,000: Swansea Beneficiaries.' Retrieved from https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3416164/3416174

Daily Colonist (Victoria BC), 7 June 1959, p.25. Engagement announcement for Hope Yarrow and Sir Eric Stuart-Taylor. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist19590607#page/n24/mode/1up

[21] Daily Colonist (Victoria BC), 30 September 1950.p.8. https://archive.org/stream/dailycolonist0950uvic_23#page/n6/mode/1up/search/lady+stuart

[22] Victoria and Suburban Directory 1971, at Oak Bay Archives.

Oak Bay Archives, Demolition file for 2875 Uplands Road.

BC Archives, images and descriptions for Items D-05513, D-05514, D-05515 - "Orchard Gate", (691 Donnington Place), the Elk Lake residence of Norman A. Yarrow, Saanich; P. Leonard James, architect. Retrieved from https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/orchard-gate-elk-lake-residence-of-norman-yarrow-saanich-p-leonard-james-architect

[23] BC Archives, death certificate entry for Ada Hope Stuart-Taylor. Retrieved from https://bit.ly/3i2MO9D (shortened link, result from http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy/)

- Anna Sander for Oak Bay Archives, 2020.

To cite: Sander, Anna. (2020, September). 'Wildflower sketches by Ada Hope Leeder (1896-1990)'. [Blog post]. District of Oak Bay, Archives. Retrieved from https://connect.oakbay.ca/archives/news_feed/hope-leeder.

[image: Oak Bay Archives, photo 1994-001-027. Public Works Crew Paving 1100 Block of Roslyn Road, formerly Pleasant Avenue, looking north from Windsor Road (Saratoga). Superintendent Samuel Gunter on right. Photographer: E.A. Price, ca. 1911.]

The archivist and volunteers at Oak Bay Archives are currently collaborating with Sara Lax at the GVCC to create a self-guided local history ride for their 2020 summer series.

While researching the stops on our history tour, we've encountered lots of great resources for exploring Oak Bay and other Greater Victoria municipalities and neighbourhoods, especially by foot or bike.

Many of these walks include snippets of local history to ponder as you pause to take in the view. As you explore Oak Bay, have a look at the archival photographs online - you might find images showing the places where you walk now, as they were a century or more ago!

Oak Bay routes

Guide to the First Nations Monuments of Oak Bay via Salish Weaving

Discovery Rides and Scavenger Hunts from the Greater Victoria Cycling Coalition

Oak Bay Walking Trails Map from the District of Oak Bay, and more at

Walking & Cycling in Oak Bay

Maps of Uplands Park from the Friends of Uplands Park - especially Simon Wigzell's map of walking trails within the park

A few of the many walks available in neighbouring municipalities:

User-friendly trails from the CRD

Esquimalt Township Walking Tours by Sherri Robinson, from the Township of Esquimalt

Neighbourhood walking tours from the Victoria Heritage Foundation

South Jubilee Neighbourhood History Walk from the South Jubilee Neighbourhood Association

Trail Guides & Maps from the District of Saanich

Vic West Walking Trails from the Vic West Community Association

Walk the West Shore from the municipalities of Colwood, Metchosin, Highlands, Langford, and View Royal; the CRD; and West Shore Parks & Recreation Society

Imperial Paradise? An Alternative Walking Tour of Victoria, BC from the History of Racialisation Group at UVic (2000)

Do you have a favourite walking or cycling route in Oak Bay? Where will you explore next?

Follow @OakBayArchives on Twitter!

Questions? routes to add to the list? Email the Archivist