Courtenay & District Museum




  • Kids Discover!
  • 35th Anniversary Edition of Now You're Logging!
  • Over 500 for Canada Day
  • Gift Shop News
  • Your Membership Makes A Difference
  • Photo of the Month
  • About Garry Oaks
  • It's All There in Black and White
  • Museum Visiting in Victoria
  • Letters
  • Museum Sponsors
  • Museum Funding






  • Phone:
    250-334-0686

    Email:
    museum@island.net

    Website:
    www.courtenaymuseum.ca

    Mailing Address:
    207 Fourth Street,
    Courtenay BC,
    V9N 1G7





    Monday to Saturday
    10 am - 5 pm

    Sunday
    12 noon - 4 pm





    President
    John Wilson

    Vice President
    Daryl Wright

    Past President
    April Shopland

    Rick Ross
    Jim Haggart
    Ross Dingwall
    Harry Squire
    Mary Everson

    Secretary/Treasurer
    Elizabeth Braithwaite

    Member of...

    British Columbia Museums Association

    Canadian Museums
    Association

    Archives Association of
    British Columbia

    Heritage Society of British Columbia




     

    Kids Discover!
    Our Summer Day Camps


    The CDM's Summer Day Camps for kids delve into discoveries through fun and educational activities, behind the scenes exploration and exciting field trips.

    During each three day camp, kids can learn all about how the Earth works, ancient prehistoric life forms and fossils and natural resources.

    Let your kids discover their passion for the natural world this summer at the Courtenay Museum!

    Click Here for More Details


     

    35th Anniversary Edition of Now You're Logging! Just Published


    Harbour Publishing has just produced the 35th Anniversary Edition of Now You're Logging! by Logger, Author, Artist, Bus Griffiths, who passed away on September 26, 2006. As one of Canada's most important chroniclers of logging history, he left a generous legacy, made even more accessible to future generations by the Griffiths family.

    In August, 2003, the Griffiths family, with generous support from the Truck Logger's Association, donated 125 original storyboards and sketches created by Bus for his book Now You're Logging!, along with the copyright, to the Courtenay and District Museum.

    With this third edition of Now You're Logging! the Board and Curatorial Staff of the Courtenay and District Museum extend our thanks to the Griffiths family for their generous donation, to the Truck Logger's Association for making it possible and to Howard White and Harbour Publishing for their support, from the beginning, of Bus Griffiths' preservation of a time and place in Canadian history.

    Click Here to Purchase


     

    Over 500 for Canada Day


    Balloons, kids, Ducky Five Hundred participants, parade watchers and inquisitive people from all parts of the globe filled the Courtenay and District Museum to the brim and over on Canada Day. Whether people visited out of curiosity about the fabulous new exhibits, or because they needed some cool air and a great place to be, staff and volunteers greeted people with door prizes, terrific music from the Wire Choir and loads of Canada Day crafts for young people.

    Happy 2013 Canada!

    Check it out on our latest video produced by Fox & Bee


     

    Gift Shop News


    We have a ton of new items in the museum gift shop!

    Our newly designed T-shirts have been flying off the racks. We are one of the few stores in the Comox Valley that has T-shirts with "Courtenay" on them.

    Another new addition to our stock are the fabulous wooden bangles with colourful First Nations' designs. The 1 ½ inch bangles sell for $15 and the ¾ inch for $10 each.

    We have also just received a shipment of the 35th Anniversary Edition of Now You're Logging! by Bus Griffiths. This really amazing book is great for anyone interested in logging history or folk art.

    If you have visitors coming into town make sure you bring them by to check out all the new stock. We have many gift items that travel well in luggage - everything from aprons with black bears and killer whales to a large assortment of tea towels, oven mitts and pot holders.

    Remember if you are a museum member you receive a 15% discount!


     

    Your Membership Makes A Difference

    Purchasing a membership to the Courtenay and District Museum, now in its 52nd year, supports heritage preservation in the Comox Valley through special events, lectures, education programmes, research and exhibitions. Your membership benefits these award winning programmes on a year round basis and we appreciate it!

    Becoming a member provides you with discounts in the gift shop and on lectures and an opportunity to support one of the most active regional museums in British Columbia. Thank you for your support.

    Click here to Join


     

    Photo of the Month


    CDM #p315-131
    Prize baseball team, Comox Valley, 1912

    You can view more photos like this on our website. Click here to visit our holdings.


     

    About Garry Oaks

    Many people in the Comox Valley are familiar with the stands of Garry oaks that we see north of Courtenay, but did you know that Garry oaks, Quercus garryana, were part of an extensive hardwood forest in BC before the last ice age?

    Garry oak was named by botanist and explorer, David Douglas, for Nicholas Garry (1782-1856) who served as deputy-governor of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1822-1835.

    Here's more information on these beautiful trees:

    The Government of BC Guide
    Canada's Historic Places page on the Tsolum Stand
    About Nicholas Garry


     


    It's All There in Black and White

    Comox Valley crime and punishment courtesy of the Comox District Free Press of August 12, 1937.

    Read this newspaper article from our archives

    With legacy support from the Bickle Family and the Comox Valley Echo.


     

    Museum Visiting in Victoria

    If you are traveling to our provincial capital, you may want to tour the Royal British Columbia Museum.

    Their website gives a great overview of what to expect.

    Click here to Visit


     

    Letters

    Interested in reading about the past through the words of the people who actually lived it?

    A website you may not be aware of is the Canadian Letters and Images Project headed by history professor Dr. Stephen Davies at Vancouver Island University.

    The website describes the project as "an online archive of the Canadian war experience, from any war, as told through the letters and images of Canadians themselves...".

    Click here to Visit


     

    Museum Sponsors

    Dogwood
    Judy Hagen
    Comox Valley Community Foundation
    Daryl and Evelyn Wright-Francis Jewellers Ltd.
    The Rotary Club of Courtenay Foundation
    The Robert Hunt Family
    Don and Marie Gordon
    M. Jean McMullan Estate
    Bruce McPhee

    Arbutus
    Comox Valley Echo
    Marjorie Thorpe
    The Bickle Family
    Lorna Gunn
    John Wilson and Family
    Judy Gurr
    Sue and Ian Leakey
    Ed LaFleur
    Ron Moffat
    Paula Moffat
    Comox Valley Monarch Lions Club

    Fir
    Elizabeth Braithwaite
    Jean Hawthorne

    Seedling

    Lawrence Burns
    Sheila Carvalho
    Perlita Docuria
    Coral Dunn
    Bent Harder
    Dove and Mike Hendren
    Joanne Jacobson
    Inge Krahn
    Phyllis Long
    Ginny Lowrie
    Ruth Masters
    Mary McCaffrey
    Evelyn Martin
    M.E. McKerrow
    Mary Mobley

    D. Mobley
    Richard Monks
    Barb Page
    Bernie Poole
    Alice Potts
    Robin Potts
    Gordon Schnare
    April Shopland
    George E. Sprogis
    Jean & Ian Sibbald
    Chuck & Mary Slemin
    Roberts and Adela Smith
    Donald Taylor
    M & J Tevington


     

    Museum Funding

    The Courtenay and District Historical Society was registered as a nonprofit society in 1961 to preserve and interpret cultural and natural heritage of the Comox Valley. It has functioned as an independent society since that time. Funds are derived from the generous support of the City of Courtenay, British Columbia Arts Council, Comox Valley Regional District, British Columbia Gaming Branch, and from museum generated revenues and donations.

    Proud sponsors of the Courtenay & District Museum:

    The City of Courtenay

    BC Arts Councils

    Regional District Comox-Strathcona