Forest History and Archives

The collection consists of records of the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite and Paper Mill Workers Local 708 (Prince Rupert) including correspondence, circular letters, press clippings and publications. Records of the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada include convention material, national executive board minutes, constitutional material and correspondence. In addition, MacPhee collected a series of constitutions of labour organizations and collective agreements, primarily from the forest products industry. The collection also includes correspondence, minutes and constitutions of the Western Canada Council of Pulp and Paper Mill Unions and of the Prince Rupert Labour Council.

Formed in 1960, the Council of Forest Industries of British Columbia (COFI) is a non-profit umbrella organization which represents and acts on behalf of member companies in areas of forest industry in the province. The fonds consists of over 32 metres of textual records including committee meeting minutes, reports, statistics, newsletters, news releases, advertisements produced by the organization, agreements, governance records, briefs, bulletins, correspondence and memoranda, financial records, conference material, legal documents, mills lists, records relating to the International Trade Commission, as well as films and audio material created to train and promote forestry in British Columbia and in Canada, and photographs depicting different mining areas and members of the organization.

The Forest History Association of British Columbia's primary interests pertain to the preservation of history of the evolution of forest resource management and the associated social and political aspects. Members of the association represent a variety of professions related to the forestry industry and included residents of the province of British Columbia, the western United States and eastern Canada. Records primarily include research on various individuals involved in the forest industry of British Columbia from the 1930s to the 1970s. These research materials have been gathered and organized by members of the association and include original photographic prints, photograph reprints, correspondence, and written or recorded oral testimonies and interviews.

The I.W.A. Western Canadian Regional Council No. 1 fonds consists of financial records, minutes, correspondence, legal documents, departmental files, broadcast transcripts, proceedings, convention reports, agreements, printed material and copies of the newspaper, British Columbia Lumber Worker. Also included in the fonds is the B. C. Lumber Worker Photograph Collection (1940-1982) which consists of images used in various publications to reflect the activities of the union.

The I.W.A. formed in 1937 and worked to gain legislative support for union bargaining rights. In the late 1980s, the international union split in two, and the officially separate Canadian union, which formed in 1987, was simply called IWA Canada. In 1994 delegates voted to rename the Canadian chapter the Industrial, Wood, and Allied Workers of Canada (IWA Canada). In 2004 the executive of the IWA voted to merge with the United Steel Workers (USW) and became the “Wood Council” district of the USW. The union continues to function under this title today. The fonds consists of records collected by Clay Perry related to the International Woodworkers of America – Canada (IWA). It primarily consists of records generated by the union in the course of its operation, records created by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who gathered surveillance on the IWA-Canada and its predecessors for several years, as well as research material collected and created by Perry himself, including transcripts of interviews, news clippings, scrapbooks, and pamphlets and booklets on unions in British Columbia.

The fonds consists of minutes, photographs, printed material, and correspondence relating mainly to union organization in the forest products industry (1931-1952), including the Lumber Workers' Industrial Union, Lumber and Sawmill Workers Union, International Woodworkers of America, and Woodworkers Industrial Union of Canada, as well as to the activities of Harold Pritchett, whose correspondence up to 1979 is also included. There are, in addition, reports of convention, materials concerning wages and conditions in logging camps, a poster, and subject files on various strikes including those at Fraser Mills and Blubber Bay (1933-1944).

The Lumber Inspectors' Union was incorporated under the Societies Act in 1945, and after joining the Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL) and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) joined the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) in 1961, to become Local 1-288. The union's mandated objectives of 1945 were to organize and unionize lumber inspectors in British Columbia, to promote lumber inspectors within the industry, to increase their knowledge and efficiency, to create and distribute opportunities in lumber inspection, to further the enactment of legislation which would benefit the Union members, and to secure compensation and pay comparable to that of similarly skilled workmen . As well, the Union was to promote cooperation and friendship among its members, to encourage members and their families to achieve a high level of citizenship, and to make provisions for misfortune or death benefits for the members and/or their dependants. The Lumber Inspectors' Union fonds consists of 7 metres of textual records, such as office files, minutes, financial records, correspondence etc.

The Red Cedar Shingle and Handsplit Shake Bureau (currently called the Cedar, Shake and Shingle Bureau) is a non-profit organization which has its origins in Red Cedar Shingle Bureau, formed by the West Coast Lumber Manufacturers Association in 1915 in Seattle, Washington. In 1932, a British Columbia division was established, incorporated as a separate society under the British Columbia Society Act. In 1963 the Bureau merged with the Handsplit Shake Bureau and shortly afterwards in 1964 the British Columbia division was formally eliminated, but the Bureau continued to maintain a British Columbia office as an extra-provincial society. The Bureau’s aim is to promote the use of certified cedar roofing products and maintain standards among its member mills. Fonds consists of administrative and operational records of the Red Cedar Shingle and Handsplit Shake Bureau, maintained by the B.C. office. Records include correspondence, circulars, incorporation documents, clippings and other textual records, as well as a number of photographs.

The collection consists of records relating to logging and the forest industry including health and safety and long-term disability information for the International Woodworkers of America (IWA), Forest Industrial Relations correspondence (1981-1983), information on scaling, wage scales, one map, and six photographs (1933-34) of Caterpiller Diesel Seventy-Five.