notice re new accessions

Owing to the ongoing process of selling Guide House, we are not currently accepting donations of archive material or heritage uniforms. Updates will be posted on the SVI website.

book covers

We are currently appraising some classic (mostly UK) Girl Guide fiction, survivors from the Hilda Leighton Memorial Library at Mason Street, and I thought I would share some of the fab covers:

Starting with some Brownie stories: Freda Collins' The Brownie Year

in which apparently children forage unsupervised for poisonous toadstools...

Well, supervised only by small fictional beings!

Betty and the Brownies by Ethel Talbot

frontispiece from Betty and the Brownies: 'Something escaped from Betty's pocket and went spinning down the room.' What do you think it was?

An added delight of looking through old books: the things that are left behind. This undated note reads, 'Sandra Wemyss knows how to use a telephone. (Mrs) D Wemyss.'

Do you think Sandra put it into the book for safekeeping, forgot it, and had to ask her mother to write it out again? Or did she use it as a bookmark after the telephone test was safely ticked off by Brown Owl on her Brownie record card?

Do Brownies still need to know how to use a telephone as part of the Brownie Programme?

Marigold Becomes a Brownie by Susan Jolly

Amanda and the Brownies by Verily Anderson

and moving up to Guides,

Dorothea Moore's Judy, Patrol Leader, first published 1934.

Here is some information about this cover of a later edition.

Here is the irresistibly exciting synopsis of Judy from the flyleaf.

The Rising of the Larks by Cris Johnson. Something tells me there is a very long-running pun about singing here.

The Hawthorn Patrol by Diana Pares.

Mrs Osborn Hann's Rosemary the Rebel.

The Ragtail Patrol by C. R Mansell

Another title by Dorothea Moore, Guide Gilly, Adventurer

The Guide's Honour by May Wynne

Frontispiece (the cover of this copy wasn't very interesting) of June the Girl Guide by Brenda Girvin.

I love the thick rag paper of most of these books, and the clear print. Reading a physical book, especially a nicely produced one like these, is a three-dimensional real life multi-sensory experience that just can't be replaced by reading on a screen. (Though e-versions would be very helpful for quick comparisons across multiple stories, key word searching etc.)

The Second Rucksack Book has my favourite cover purely because it wraps a panorama-format picture around back, spine and front.

Gillian of  the Guides by Winifred Darch. I am reliably informed, based on analysis of her uniform in the cover art rather than by reading the story, that Gillian is a Company Leader, which in the pre-Rangers era, when girls of modern Guide, Pathfinder and Ranger ages would all be Guides in the same Company, meant a senior Guide with considerable experience (possibly more Guiding years under her belt than some new Guiders!) and some Guider-like responsibility within the Company. Company Leader status is reflected by her three stripes (one for Second, two for Patrol Leader as per Judy above). And the gloves, perhaps.

Have you read this book? Are we correct?

Well-known Chalet School author Elinor M Brent-Dyer's Judy, the Guide. Not to be confused with Judy, Patrol Leader, above.

This is a very small selection (the ones we had with dustjackets both surviving and jolly) from a very well-populated 20th century genre of Brownie and Guide stories. If this is your sort of fiction, have you read True to the Trefoil: a celebration of fictional Girl Guides (Girls Gone By, 2010),  ed. Tig Thomas? More about this book here, and about the publishers here.

Most of these titles, and many similar ones, are still readily available second hand via, e.g. Bookfinder or ABEBooks. (Don't imagine that either is wholly independent of the ubiquitous Am-z-n, but sort of.)

Displays - Milne's Landing

A display titled 'Girl Guide Camp - Milne's Landing'.

The display as mounted shows facsimile prints of photos from the early years of Girl Guide camping at Milne's Landing campsite near Sooke. The dated items span 1924-1952. The photos demonstrate the contrast between the formality of full uniform at camp and a regimented structure of camp activities, and the fun, friendship and informal feeling of living (and cooking) outdoors. The tents have changed, dress is more relaxed, and we may seldom catch and gut our own fish from a tenting site, but the feeling of Guide camp is much the same!

There is no indication on this display of 

• the sources or photographer credits for the photos (which are facsimile prints), and ownership/copyright in the originals
• whether the original photos are in the SVI archive, and if so, their reference numbers
• sources and credits for the captions
• the person who created the display
• the date and event for which the display was created

If we find more information as we continue to work on the archives, we'll update here. If you are able to share any of this information with us, please let us know!

Miss Mara, Mrs Leighton, Mrs Kinloch [at camp], 1924

Three Guide leaders in full uniform standing in line, with a large ?bell tent and tall evergreens in the background.

Miss Denny at a Guiders' Training Week, 1924

Miss Leighton at Camp at Saseenos [= Milne's Landing, Sooke], 1925.

The mode of transport to camp for Guides and baggage [: a motor truck with open high-sided bed]. All Guides were needed to push the truck up some of the hills on the Sooke Road.

A side view of the truck: 'GM Moody Transfer. Phone 2438'.

Sooke River Flats Camp: a row of bell tents. No date.

A notice about a 1952 camp at Milne's Landing, from an unidentified local newspaper: 'About 50 Girl Guides of Oak Bay East District Company are enjoying 10 days at camp at Milne's Landing. From early morning until dusk the camp is a scene of great activity. The guides to their own cooking, washing up and other chores. Nature study, swimming and hiking are all on the camp routine. Mrs Mary MacDougall is camp commandant. Visitors will be welcome at the camp this Saturday at 3pm.' Undated, annotated 1952.

Mrs Foster and Mrs Hall at Milne's Landing filleting fish, 1945.

Photo of a young woman in camp uniform, sitting on the ground beside a campfire, stirring a pot and minding a pan over the fire. No caption, date or identification.

 * Some of these photos show Guide camps at Milne's Landing nearly 100 years ago. What looks different to you from camping experiences you might have at Milne's Landing nowadays? What looks familiar? Think about tents, cooking equipment, clothing, activities, nature.

The photos and captions from this display have been filed with the Milne's Landing material in the archives.

Displays index

Preservation - Pests and Plastic

Archivists are often asked about the best way to look after old photographs and papers to preserve them in good condition for as long as possible.

The displays in the archives have been mounted using different kinds of adhesive and non-adhesive solutions. This double-sided tape, used here across the middle of the reverse side of the photo, seems to be the only one that comes away easily without tearing or leaving (visible) adhesive residue on the back of the photo. But it is not very old, so the adhesive hasn't had time to become dry, brittle and powdery yellow (we all have remnants of that kind of sticky tape...) And perhaps it isn't very sticky - is that why the square adhesive stickers have also been used in the corners? They are MUCH stickier, so the photo will certainly not get lost, but then they are hard to adjust or remove if desired, and tend to tear the mount.

This display has been encapsulated: sealed in a two-sided plastic jacket to protect everything inside. This makes it splash-proof, loss-proof, and sticky-finger-proof. When it was new, it may have been waterproof and bug-proof (most bugs aren't very interested in eating through plastic). Now though, the glues around the edges are coming unstuck, so air, moisture and bugs can get in. Once in, moisture and bugs would have a nice protected micro-climate to grow in, which we don't want. I have removed the plastic from this display to dismantle it, and wouldn't use it now except perhaps as a temporary measure to protect a display intended for outdoors.

This display included several original paper items from the 1920s, wrapped in plastic to protect their front sides while on show, and to protect their back sides from being stuck directly to the board. This is practical, but shouldn't have been permanent. When I removed these items from the board, I found that the folds in the plastic at the back had been a perfect nest for silverfish eggs :(

While we're on the subject of silverfish...

Here's what they can do to paper.

These aren't old photos, damaged by time and wear - they are new copies of old items (thank goodness), eaten at by silverfish.

Old-fashioned photo corners are a non-adhesive solution for displaying pictures. The white paper holders are stuck to the mount, and the photo slots into the corner holders and is held in place without glue or tape. Which is very good for the picture until it falls out and gets lost. At least, since there is a caption, we may recognise the picture if we find it somewhere else in the archives...

So, the perfect photo display solution? The quest continues...

Displays - Early Victoria Girl Guides

The display as mounted is composed of facsimile prints of photos showing key individuals, groups and activities from the earliest years of Girl Guiding in Southern Vancouver Island. The dated items span 1915-1921.

There is no indication on this display of:

• the sources or photographer credits for the photos (which are facsimile prints), and ownership/copyright in the originals 
• whether the original photos are in the SVI archive, and if so, their reference numbers 
• sources and credits for the captions 
• the person who created the display 
• the date and event for which the display was created 

If we find more information as we continue to work on the archives, we'll update here. If you are able to share any of this information with us, please let us know!

A list of the early Guide Companies in SVI, 1915:

1st Victoria Camosun Co.

2nd Victoria Lady Douglas Co.

3rd Victoria joined the Lady Douglas Co.

4th Victoria Gonzales Co.

5th Victoria Florence Nightingale Co.

Sharp eyes will notice that the first three of these eventually gave their names to Divisions within SVI Area.

Hilda Leighton - one of the organizers of early Victoria Girl Guides

Seen here in uniform including 'B-P hat'

Church Parade at St John's Church, 19 October 1915.

Cataloguing queries: Which St John's Church is this? St John the Divine's west front is not like this now - is this the original 'Iron Church'? Hard to tell but that looks like a stone front - compare with this photo at the RBCM archives.

2nd Lady Douglas Co., 1916

Guide Church Parade on Government Street, ND.

Inspection of Scouts and Guides by the Duke of Connaught, 1917

Inspection by Prince of Wales, 1921

Company shoulder tape, 6th Victoria East Co. Joan of Arc

Girl Guides Digging Soldiers' Gardens, 1916.

* Programme questions: What was happening in Canada and the wider world in 1916? What were the soldiers doing, and where? Why would Girl Guides need to dig their gardens in Victoria?

First Camp held at Esquimalt, 1916

Esquimalt Camp, 1917

Guides Camping in Esquimalt, 1917

Displays index