From the side entrance on the ground floor of Municipal Hall, visitors came through double doors into a large conference room/open area along the front of the building.

This area was used by municipal departments for meetings, but was usually available for use by archives volunteers and visitors during the archives' posted hours twice weekly. The little window at left gave onto a small office, not part of Archives, that took a "bite" out of the conference room, with its own door onto the main hallway. As of the 2021 renovations, this area, up to the counter at the far end of the room, was walled off, and is used for staff offices.

At the far end of the open area was a corner with tables/work stations for archives volunteers.

On the other side of a divider formed by filing cabinets, a counter, and an antique firescreen was the archives reference library. There is now a wall where the pole is in the photo above, with other offices to the left, but the archives reference library is in the same space as before.

Visitor space, enquiries counter, reference files

The enquiries desk and part of the reference library. The archivist's desk now occupies this space, and there is a window in the wall.

Formerly the "staff entrance" for the archives, the glass door on the right is now the only entrance for everyone visiting the archives. The door at left led through to the reference desk & library and then to the large open area. It now leads to the reference library and archivist's office.

The office space at the end of the hallway contained this large map chest, filing cabinets, and several racks of wire shelving holding archival materials. These are all now in dedicated archive repository spaces on site, and a reference desk/volunteer work station occupies the corner where the map chest was. The former reference counter is still in use as the stationery cupboard and processing surface.

On the other side of the wire shelving were a large work table, the copier, metal shelves holding school trophies and other objects, and the archivist's desk under the window.

The trophies and other historical objects are now in on-site repositories, away from light and fluctuations in temperature and humidity. These shelves hold city directories, collection guides, and other reference publications used frequently by researchers and volunteers.

This area is now the main search room, with the same big work table in the middle, reference sources on the shelves, and reference files in vertical file cabinets where the desk was. The copier has turned 90 degrees, but has not moved.

Click here for a post-2021 photo tour of the archives

Queries, comments, or appointment requests? Please get in touch!

Website: https://www.oakbay.ca/archives
Photo Search: https://www.oakbay.ca/archives/photographs
More photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/oakbayarchives/
Blog posts: https://connect.oakbay.ca/archives
Email: archives@oakbay.ca
Phone: 250-598-3290