Vancouver Island University will use current Indigenous voices to refresh historic journals, maps and notes — including those of naval expeditions to find the Northwest Passage.
The VIU library is embarking on a project to transfer maps and texts dating from 1732 to 1944 into a digital format.
The materials, which include 38 historic texts and six maps from its special collections, include narratives from naval mapping expeditions and European settlers, and descriptions of encounters with First Nations peoples.
VIU librarians are planning to refresh and provide context to those early colonial references and observations with reflections from living First Nations elders and scholars.
Librarians and archivists will engage with First Nations communities and contact other institutions.
The aim is to create a modern, decolonized archive of the explorations and encounters that resulted in the formations of B.C. and Canada.
The library has received a $17,015 grant from the National Heritage Digitization Strategy. The remainder of the $65,000 project budget is being paid by the university. The project is expected to be completed by August.
VIU is one of 21 successful candidates from 213 applications to receive funding from Libraries and Archives Canada and the National Heritage Digitization Strategy to digitize collections of Canadian cultural heritage. An anonymous $1 million donation helped to make the digitization efforts possible.
