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archival gloves Since it was incorporated in 1971, the Jewish Historical Society of British Columbia (JHSBC) has been acquiring the artifacts, records, photographs and oral histories of individuals, organizations and businesses in BC’s Jewish community. The mission of the JHSBC, through the operation of the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia (JMABC), is to preserve and tell the story of the Jewish people in British Columbia. Today the collection (inclusive dates 1860-2011) includes approximately 1000 linear metres of textual records, 300,000 photographs and 700 oral history interviews. The Nemetz Jewish Community Archives also manages a resource library and provides records management services to various community agencies.

The Nemetz Jewish Community Archives and Reference Room (NJCA):

The NJCA Reference Room in the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia provides a quiet atmosphere for researchers.  The Reference Room contains a small but definitive resource library and is equipped with an oral history listening area and access to the Jewish Historical Society’s Oral History Collection.  Visitors can also access the Jewish Genealogical Institute of British Columbia’s reference library and the genealogical databases ancestry.com and findmypast.com.

Archival Holdings:

View the Nemetz Jewish Community Archives' holdings on Memory BC.

Leonard Frank Photos Studio Online! 

Reitman Ladies Store 1963
Reitman's Ladies' Store, 1963; Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia; LF.02523
In January 2012, the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia, with help from Young Canada Works and Canadian Heritage Information Network, put 2,000 photographs from the Leonard Frank Photos Studio fonds, logging/lumber collection online. These photographs are available through the Artefacts Canada database, the largest database of museum collections in Canada. Approximately 1,000 of the best photographs from the logging/lumber collection are available on the JMABC Online Photo Database.
 
In April 2009, the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia, with help from UBC’s Irving K. Barber BC History Digitization Program and the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Museums Assistance Program, put 4,000 photos from the Leonard Frank Photos Studio fonds online. These photographs are available through the Artefacts Canada database.
 
The Leonard Frank Photos studio was located in suite 44-553 Granville Street, and later 614 West Pender Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Leonard Frank Photos Studio fonds is one of the largest collections held by the Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia amassing approximately 39,000   photographic images and 2 meters of textual records.
 
The Jewish Museum has also uploaded some of the finest photographs from this collection to our Flickr site. Click on the following link to be directed to our images on Flickr!
 
This project was generously funded by:
canadian_heritage
barber_learning_centre
 

Jewish Western Bulletin Online:

L.00256

The Jewish Western Bulletin, which changed its name to the Jewish Independent in 2005, has been the British Columbia Jewish community’s newspaper since 1930. Currently, the paper is published 49 weeks of the year.

Originally labeled “The Organ of the Jewish Community Centre,” the Jewish Western Bulletin was first published as a newspaper October 9, 1930. It superseded the Jewish Centre News, a publication that had existed under a series of names since 1923.

In serving the community, the Bulletin focused on supporting Zionism, alerting the community to anti-Semitic incidents and reporting on immigration issues. In addition to weighty international concerns, the Bulletin also focused continually on local news, including meetings and news of local and international figures; coverage of the arts and local cultural festivals; birth, b’nai mitzvah, wedding and other lifecycle milestones; obituaries and death announcements; and community gossip.

The Jewish Western Bulletin provided a consistent record of Jewish life in British Columbia and around the world and, as the Jewish Independent, it has continued to work towards its goal to “cover the broad spectrum of Jewish life and advance the community, its individuals and organizations and, of course, Israel and world Jewry” (former assistant editor Bob Markin).

Issues of the Jewish Western Bulletin and its precursor publications dating from 1928 to 2004 have been digitized and are made available at: http://multiculturalcanada.ca/jwb.