Grant Program: Donor Advised
About:
The West Vancouver Archives collects, preserves, and provides meaningful access to the records that tell the story of West Vancouver.
Our historical resources document the municipal government and the lives and experiences of residents, businesses, and organizations in West Vancouver’s past. Archivists and reference staff make these original materials of significant and enduring value accessible and ensure they are preserved for future generations.
Project Objectives:
- The project hoped to accomplish the following three key goals:
- Gain complete intellectual control over the materials so the Archives knows exactly what materials are included in the collection;
- Identify significant plans which have been damaged in the past and stabilize these through conservation treatment to prevent further degradation;
Describe the materials through the Archives online catalogue and make these materials accessible to researchers.
Project’s Accomplishments:
The project has been successful in identifying all works in the Fred Hollingsworth fonds held by West Vancouver Archives and has successfully treated and stabilized all water and mold damaged items. These damaged items, which previously could not be examined or handled, can now be described as part of the larger holdings, be safely accessed , and be preserved for future generations. The entirety of the Fred Hollingsworth fonds has been described at the file level and will soon be made available on West Vancouver Collections for researchers interested in the history of their homes, in Fred Hollingsworth’s work and legacy, and in the larger history of architecture in Canada, especially the emergence of West Coast Modernism.
Success Story:
What is remarkable about the Hollingsworth fonds is how it captures Fred Hollingsworth as a complete individual. All aspects of his working life are represented, including early industrial drawings, his first house designs for modest dwellings, larger and more elaborate designs from later in his career, stunning watercolour paintings, and even designs for model airplanes – one of his passions. The fonds has a feeling of completeness, which will make it an even more important research tool.
We have already had several historical enquiries regarding the plans, including one home owner who is now able to faithfully restore his Hollingsworth home because of the plans we hold. It is impossible to say how many researchers will engage with this collection of drawings in the future, but they will certainly remain an important collection of the West Vancouver Archives in perpetuity.
Expected Outcomes:
While the conservation work has been carried out successfully and summary descriptions for the material have been prepared, we have not yet published the descriptions to our online catalogue. The sheer number of plans and the limited space we have to process them in, meant that our estimates of how much material we could process were optimistic. However, we hope to be able to finish editing the descriptions and publish online by early June. Apart from the conservation work we were able to complete, the greatest benefit of the project is we now have full intellectual control over the fonds – we know exactly what we have, which makes the fonds accessible to all users. For us, these were the two key goals and they have been met.
