Seriously Moving Images

Above photo: Audio tape copying set-up, Aural History Program, Provincial Archives of BC, 1970s (BC Archives I-67663)

Sound Heritage (later known as the Sound Heritage Series) was a quarterly journal — and later a series of historical monographs — dealing with topics in British Columbia history, and was based primarily on oral history sources. It was published during the years 1974–1983 by the Aural History Program (later the Sound and Moving Division) of the Provincial Archives of British Columbia (PABC).

The journal Sound Heritage evolved in 1974 from Reynoldston Research and Studies (RRAS). Volume numbers were continuous between the two publications; volume 2 of RRAS was followed by volume 3 of Sound Heritage.

In 1980, Sound Heritage transitioned from a journal to a monographic series, with consequent changes in numbering; volume 8 number 4 of Sound Heritage was followed by number 28 of the Sound Heritage Series (SHS).

Because of the 1980 change from a journal to a series of monographs, Sound Heritage has two different ISSNs:

• 0316-2826 (1974 – 1980) – Sound Heritage
• 0228-7781 (1980 – 1983) – Sound Heritage Series

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Sound Heritage, vols 3-8

Volume 3 (1974):

• No. 1: [Aural history methodology].
• No. 2: [Aural histories about the B.C. forest industry].
• No. 3: [Steveston; Aural history in the classroom; etc.]
• No. 4: The World Soundscape Project

Volume 4 (1975–76):

• No. 1: The Canadian Aural/Oral History Conference/Conference canadienne sur l’histoire orale et sonore.
• No. 2: Aural History, Regional Studies and Literature in British Columbia; David Day, guest editor. (1975; reprinted 1977.)
• No. 3–4: Native Languages and Culture [double issue]; Robert Levine, guest editor. (1976)

Volume 5 (1976):

• No. 1: Skeena Country; edited by Allen Specht (1976)
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Skeena: River of the Clouds (by Imbert Orchard).
• No. 2: [Frontier College; Doukhobors in B.C.; including Robert Minden photographs]. (1976)
• No. 3: Myth and the Mountains; edited by David Day. (1976)
• No. 4: The Gulf Islanders; compiled and edited by Derek Reimer. (1976; reprinted 1977.)
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Fortunate Islands (by Imbert Orchard).

Volume 6 (1977):

• No. 1: Lillooet Stories; edited and revised by Randy Bouchard and Dorothy I.D. Kennedy. (1977; reprinted 1981.)
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Lillooet Stories (by Randy Bouchard).
• No. 2: Navigating the Coast: A History of the Union Steamship Company; edited by Peter Chapman. (1977.)
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Echoes of the Past (by Peter Chapman).
• No. 3: Men of the Forest; compiled and edited by David Day. (1977)
• No. 4: Toil and Peaceful Life: Portraits of Doukhobors; compiled and translated by Marjorie Malloff and Peter Ogloff. (1977)

Volume 7 (1978):

• No. 1: Nu-tka: Captain Cook and the Spanish Explorers on the Coast; edited by Barbara S. Efrat and W.J. Langlois. (1978)¹
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Captain Cook at Nootka, Part 1: Landfall on Unknown Seas (produced by the CBC).
• No. 2: Nu-tka: The History and Survival of Nootkan Culture; edited by Barbara S. Efrat and W.J. Langlois. (1978)
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Captain Cook at Nootka: Part 2: The Salmon People From Under the Sea (produced by the CBC).
• No. 3: A Victorian Tapestry: Impressions of Life in Victoria, B.C., 1880–1914; compiled and edited by Janet Cauthers, 1978
  • SOUND PROGRAM: In the House of the Old Doctor (by Imbert Orchard).
• No. 4: Fighting for Labour: Four Decades of Work in British Columbia, 1910–1950; compiled and edited by Patricia Wejr and Howie Smith. (1978)
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Four Decades, Four Strikes (by Howie Smith and the Aural History Program, PABC).

Volume 8 (1979–80):

• No. 1–2: Opening Doors: Vancouver’s East End [double issue]; compiled and edited by Daphne Marlatt and Carole Itter. (1979).²
• No. 3: Bright Sunshine and a Brand New Country: Recollections of the Okanagan Valley, 1890-1914; compiled and edited by David Mitchell and Dennis Duffy. (1979)
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Paddy Acland’s Progress: The Adventures of a Young Englishman in the Okanagan Valley (by Dennis Duffy).
• No. 4: In the Western Mountains: Early Mountaineering in British Columbia; compiled and edited by Susan Leslie. (1980)
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Mountaineering at the Coast: Recollections of Early Mountain Climbers in British Columbia’s Coast Range (by Susan Leslie).

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Sound Heritage Series

Thematic monographs, numbered 28 to 40, published 1980–83.

• 28. The Magnificent Distances: Early Aviation in British Columbia, 1910–1940; compiled and edited by Dennis Duffy and Carol Crane (1980.)
  • SOUND PROGRAM: From Jericho Beach to Swanson Bay: Recollections of Early Aviation on the Pacific Coast (by Dennis Duffy)
• 29. Season’s Greetings From British Columbia’s Past: Christmas As Celebrated in British Columbia from the 1880s to the 1930s; by Rich Mole (1980).
  • SOUND PROGRAM: The Sounds of Christmas Past: British Columbia Christmases, 1880s-1930s (by Communications Concepts Ltd).
• 30. Martin: The Story of a Young Fur Trader; by Imbert Orchard (1981).
  • SOUND PROGRAMS: Travellers of the North AND The Childhood of Martin Starret (by Imbert Orchard).
• 31. Railroaders: Recollections from the Steam Era in British Columbia; by Robert D. Turner (1981).
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Avalanche Mountain: Winter Railroading in Rogers Pass (by Dennis Duffy).
• 32. Where the Lardeau River Flows; by Peter Chapman (1981).
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Legends of the Lardeau: The Stories of Red McLeod and Andy Daney (by Peter Chapman).
• 33. Settling Clayoquot; by Bob Bossin (1981).
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Castle Island and Other Stories of Clayoquot Sound (by Bob Bossin) [also known as “Dream Island”].
• 34. Now You Are My Brother: Missionaries in British Columbia; by Margaret Whitehead (1981).
• 35. Extra! : When the Papers Had the Only News; by Peter Stursberg (1982).
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Such Interesting People: The Journalists of British Columbia (by Peter Stursberg).
• 36. Dreams of Freedom: Bella Coola, Cape Scott, Sointula; by Gordon Fish (1982).
  • SOUND PROGRAM: The Rivers Inlet Season (by Gordon Fish).
• 37. Floodland and Forest: Memories of the Chilliwack Valley; by Imbert Orchard (1983).
• 38. Imagine Please: Early Radio Broadcasting in British Columbia; by Dennis J. Duffy (1983).
  • SOUND PROGRAM: [advertised but not produced].
• 39. Tall Tales of British Columbia; by Michael Taft (1983).
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Tall Tales of British Columbia (by Michael Taft)
• 40. Growing Up in the Valley: Pioneer Childhood in the Lower Fraser Valley; by Imbert Orchard (1983).
  • SOUND PROGRAM: Little Pete and the Dollar Bill (by Imbert Orchard).

Related Publications

Steveston Recollected; by Daphne Marlatt, 1975

• Text by Daphne Marlatt; photographs by Robert Minden and Rex Weyler. (Provincial Archives of British Columbia, 1975)

Voices: A Guide to Oral History; edited by Derek Reimer, David Mattison, and Allen Specht. (Provincial Archives of British Columbia,1984)

Legacy

The Sound Heritage Series ended in 1983 with the publication of SHS no. 40, Growing Up in the Valley, by Imbert Orchard. In 1984, an anthology of material excerpted from the series was published by Douglas & McIntyre of Vancouver.

NOTES:

1. Reprinted by the archives in 1989 as Captain Cook and the Spanish Explorers on the Coast. ↩︎
2. Revised and reprinted as Opening Doors in Vancouver’s East End: Strathcona by Daphne Marlatt and Carole Itter (Harbour Publishing, 2011). ↩︎