Welcome to the Spring CA 314 Special Collections Exhibition.
March 22 - April 5th, 2019
W.A.C. Bennett Library, located at the Burnaby Campus, Third Floor
Our exhibition, "The Nature Effect", illustrates how British Columbia's natural world has been used to attract Europeans to the region. Our chosen materials have been arranged for spectators to reflect upon the consequences of colonialism, the relationship of the Indigenous people to the land prior to the arrival of settlers, and the lasting impact that early settlers had on the natural world.
In keeping with these themes, we have included postcards of Vancouver from the turn of the 20th century, demonstrating how representations of "untouched" nature were used to attract tourists and industry to the region. With the support and resources provided by the SFU collections, we were able to gather an array of pioneer postcards depicting British Columbia’s landscape (specifically Stanley Park).
Through extensive research, we have also discovered a small collection of the oldest surviving picture postcards of British Columbia shared by the Vancouver Postcard Club. Our selection of postcards provides a broad understanding of how nature and culture are intertwined . This includes how the landscapes depicted in the postcards connote the beauty and uniqueness of British Columbia, and this further promotes tourism for economic prosperity. To put it differently, “Western culture had become saturated with imagery and that this proliferation of visual stimulants had profoundly reshaped the experience of everyday life.” (John O’Brian)
These postcards reflect the gaze of early colonizers. As a historical precedent to these images, we've included pages from Henry J. Boam's British Columbia: Its history, people, commerce, industries, and resources. Boam provides a quintessentially colonial perspective on the land, emphasizing its substantial financial potential: “The park itself covers a small peninsula which, jutting northward from Vancouver, forms the southern arm of the entrance to Burrard Inlet, and from the broad motor drive that encircles it many magnificent views are to be obtained.”
Just as the visual culture of settlers altered how the land of indigenous peoples were perceived by settlers, so did the industry of colonization alter the domestic ecology of Vancouver and its environs. Through a study of domestic plants and ones foreign to this region, our hope is that spectators consider how the natural world has been permanently altered through colonial policies that otherwise might seem distant and immaterial.
Finally, as a counter-narrative to the presumption that indigenous peoples are passive victims of these colonial practices, we have included two letters from 1909 and 1910. In both of these texts, the leaders of first nations groups in the Skeena River area proclaim to the settler government that they will not lose sovereignty over the land and cede it as a "reservation." Over 100 years after the fact, the conflict remains nearly identical. These words might as well be addressed to our current federal government.
Alongside the objects from the Special Collections archives at the W.A.C. Bennett Library, our exhibit contains materials that were collected outside of the archives.
Within this page, we have constructed and feature three collections:
Literary/Visual Reference: which contain items of books, images, and written documents,
Legends: A series of Indigenous Myths and Legends,
Plants Used by the Indigenous: plants that were utilized by the Indigenous for either regular consumption, medicinal properties, or even in ceremonies.
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The "Nature Effect" exhibition is located at the W.A.C. Bennett Library, located at the Burnaby Campus. The address 8888 University Drive; Burnaby, B.C. ;Canada V5A 1S6.
The exhibit can be found in the two vitrines to the right of the circulation desk (as you enter), on the third floor of W. A. C. Bennett Library.
This exhibition was curated by Audrey Shiu, Abbie Lee, Angelo Villasoto, Josh Cabrita, Johnny Chi