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British Columbia Packers Limited photograph collection
Part Of:
British Columbia Packers Limited photograph collection
Type
Community Records
GMD
graphic; textual records; technical drawings
Date
1898-1983
Level:
Collection
Physical Description:
1104 photograph prints; 711 photograph negatives; 174 photograph slides; 43 photograph contact sheets; 2 diagrams
Scope:
The Collection consists of photographs that document the British Columbia Packers Limited's widespread fishing and business operations. A local company with global interests, British Columbia Packers Limited's fish camps, canneries and plants dominated British Columbia's expansive coastline, in addition to those located on the east coast of Canada and beyond national boundaries. Taken by amateur and professional photographers, this collection of over 2000 images provided British Columbia Packers Limited with the means to communicate to its employees what was happening throughout the company. They also served a dual purpose by marketing the company and its various fish products locally, nationally and globally. The collection includes photographs of fishing boats, fish camps, canneries and plants, fishing technology, fish processing techniques, whaling and salmon in their natural habitat. It also includes a series of photographs documenting the construction of the new Imperial Plant in Steveston. Although the majority of the photographs document the fishing industry in Steveston and other areas along the B.C. coast such as Quadra Island, Skeena River, Queen Charlotte Islands, Alert Bay, Campbell Island, Bella Bella and Prince Rupert, canneries on the east coast are also represented. Taken as a whole, these photographs document the changes in fishing and canning technology within the British Columbia Packers Limited over a span of eight decades. The collection also includes photographs that reflect the property damage caused by the British Columbia earthquake of 1946 and photographs from a Klondike gold rush souvenir album from 1898.
Responsibility:
British Columbia Packers Limited
History / Biographical:
British Columbia Packers Limited was formed in 1928, following a series of amalgamations with predecessor companies, and rapidly evolved into a prominent fish processing company. Due to a policy of product diversification, British Columbia Packers Limited operated fishing stations, canneries, fresh fish branches, fish-curing establishments, cold storage plants, reduction plants and shipyards. The company also had a half interest in a whaling station and operated several general stores. After the Second World War, British Columbia Packers Limited rapidly began to expand its business interests outside of British Columbia. It acquired sales offices and production facilities in the United States (Certi-Fresh Foods, Los Angeles), fishing operations in Peru, and by the 1960s it had expanded to the east coast of Canada. At the peak of its operations, British Columbia Packers Limited acquired international success with markets for canned seafood ("Clover Leaf"); fresh, frozen and prepared fish products ("Rupert Brand" and "Certi-Fresh"); and for the products of reduction plants. In 1968, British Columbia Packers moved its head office from Vancouver to its final destination on Moncton Street in Steveston (Imperial Plant site.) The early 1980s introduced a period of major change and restructuring in the fishing industry as a whole, a factor which directly impacted the British Columbia Packers Limited. By 1997, its operations had dissolved and its successor company, BCPL Limited, owned by George Weston Limited, undertook the disposition of British Columbia Packers real property and other assets.
Name(s):
British Columbia Packers Limited
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