The black-and-white photo is labelled DCHS #0086 and it offers a time-travel view down Gallant Avenue (then called Second Street) circa 1940, back when only a gas station, small corner grocery, a cafe and a few other stores dotted the quaint seaside strip.
Until now the picture has seldom been seen, kept in a fireproof envelope inside the tiny Deep Cove Heritage Society office with the rest of the DCHS photo collection started by past-president Janet Pavlik in the 1970s.
But thanks to a digital photo archive project, DCHS #0086 and 799 other heritage photos will soon be a click away on the society’s website, deepcoveheritage.com.
The project began a few years ago when DCHS member Eileen Smith began scanning the society’s archival photos.
A the time, there were around 800 historical photos. But then, after the society’s latest book, Echoes Across Seymour, was published, local residents began arriving with armloads of pictures and albums.
So Smith kept scanning. And scanning. The collection is now at approximately 5,000, although some are duplicates and the more recent additions don’t date back as far historically.
“We just wanted to share them,” said Smith of the project. “The first 800 are to me the greatest pictures. (They are) really quite old stuff, with old buildings and that type of thing. Those are the first ones that will be going online for people to look at.”
Along with scanning hundreds of photos, Smith also meticulously created a spreadsheet to document as much information about each photo as possible: title, date, names, subject, etc.
“We don’t have any physical space in the heritage office to show people it’s so tiny, but we’ve amassed a lot of really great pictures. It’s just a way to share them.”
In order to share those photos with a worldwide web audience, Smith got help from tech-savvy SFU student Hope Morris, who has been using a museum software program to create a searchable online catalogue of the society’s photographic treasures, like an old class picture from Burrard View School that’s currently displayed on the society website.
“Digital archives is kind of the way to go. Museums are doing this and galleries are doing this,” said Morris. “I just have a passion for photographs and I’ve worked with archives in the past.”
Morris, who grew up in the Seymour area, noted that visitors to the site will be able to search for terms, like for instance a childhood street name or corner store, to find any associated photos.
Morris enjoys looking at the historic photos and trying to figure out which area it is now. “Because it’s changed so much,” she said.
When the digital archives program launches this summer others will also be able to take that same trip down memory lane digitally. “It means that people who are anywhere in the world will be able to come back to Deep Cove through the archives. This is a way for people to look at them more easily and search for stuff they are looking for,” added Smith.
She noted that the photo collection spans the entire Cove and Seymour area.
Despite years spent scanning old photos Smith welcomes new contributions to the collection.
“We need more pictures all the time.”
Go to deepcoveheritage.com for more information.
