Asayo Murakami: Canada’s last picture bride
July 31, 2013
Asayo Murakami, Canada’s last picture bride, arrived in BC in 1923. She took one look at the man who met her ship, and instead of marrying him, spent the next three years paying back the $250 passage. Asayo is thought to be Canada’s last picture bride–an early version of the mail order bride. What I loved… Continue reading Asayo Murakami: Canada’s last picture bride
The Titanic’s British Columbia Connection
April 13, 2013
To mark the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, this week’s blog is a story about Mabel Fortune Driscoll who survived the disaster, moved to Victoria and lived there until her death in 1968. The full story appears in Sensational Victoria. Mabel Helen Fortune was 23 when she set off for a tour of… Continue reading The Titanic’s British Columbia Connection
Black History Month: Barbara Howard
February 3, 2013
Barbara Howard received a Queen’s Jubilee Medal last week at Burnaby City Hall. Barbara turns 93 this year, and in the last couple of years she’s been festooned with a slew of honours including induction into both the Burnaby and the BC Sports Hall of Fame and a “Freedom of the Municipality” award from Belcarra… Continue reading Black History Month: Barbara Howard
Five Amazing Women of BC
October 3, 2012
Five amazing women who put their stamp on BC in unique ways. There is more information about them in At Home with History, Sensational Victoria and Sensational Vancouver, and in the books listed below. Capi Blanchet (1891–1961) Capi Blanchet was found dead in 1961, slumped over her typewriter while writing a sequel to The Curve of… Continue reading Five Amazing Women of BC
Places that Matter
June 23, 2012
At 7:30 pm on Tuesday June 26, the Vancouver Heritage Foundation is presenting a Places that Matter plaque to the Joy Kogawa House. The house at 1450 West 64th Avenue is one of 125 places chosen to celebrate Vancouver’s 125th anniversary and represent people, places and events that have shaped the city and that matter… Continue reading Places that Matter
The Poet and the Tree House
April 12, 2012
See the full story in Sensational Victoria: Bright lights, red lights, murders, ghosts and gardens The first time I call Susan Musgrave at her home in Haida Gwaii, she can’t talk because she’s cooking dinner for John Vaillant, author of The Golden Spruce. The second time I call, she’s busy vacuuming, but is kind enough… Continue reading The Poet and the Tree House
Sylvia Holland (1900-1974)
August 30, 2011
Sylvia Holland was the first registered female architect in British Columbia. After her husband died, she took her two children and moved to Los Angeles where she worked for Universal Studios and later MGM as a background artist. Walt Disney hired her as one of his first women animators. See the full story in Sensational… Continue reading Sylvia Holland (1900-1974)
Gwen Cash and the Trend House
May 27, 2011
When Gwen Cash went to work for Walter Nichol at the Vancouver Daily Province in 1917, she was one of the first women general reporters in the country. From a story in Sensational Victoria: Bright lights, red lights, murders, ghosts and gardens Gwen meets Emily Carr: Gwen met Emily Carr when she was sent to Victoria… Continue reading Gwen Cash and the Trend House