Jack & Thelma Hutchinson Collection (1933-1945)

Contents 

Jack's file of letters, documents, and papers. Pertaining mainly to the Cypress Bowl area, Hollyburn's cabin community, and the promotion of skiing in B.C., its significance was only fully realized within the last few years. The assembled record in its entirety attests to Jack's two decades of volunteer work, dedication, and leadership on behalf of local skiers. Other items relevant to the time are also included.

Thelma's photographs. Preserved in several albums, they chronicle cabin life, the various participants in Hollyburn's year-round social scene, local competitions, and skiing trips. Thelma developed them herself in a tiny hall closet converted to a darkroom in the family home. She also included some professionally taken shots which are credited where possible.

Thelma's captions and page notes.

Additional captions by Thelma's mother, Kathleen Stevens, with Kathleen's related photos, are included on the final page of photographs (P. 10, Hutchinson Photo Groups 32 and 33, 1940's album 3).

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Don Grant, Archivist / Historian of the Hollyburn Heritage Society and the Hollyburn Ridge Association, devoted countless hours throughout many months between September 2018 and March 2020 to the preservation of this collection intact in digital form.

Don collated and scanned all the original papers, and included articles written by Jack or Thelma, that he located in various archived 1930's and '40's publications. He also added more recent items, such as the 1976 'Sentimental Journey' memoir by Naomi Wilson MacInnis that he chose for the Prologue, the June Gillrie 'Memory Lane' recollections by Laura Anderson, published in the North Shore News, September 2016, and his own article, 'Hollyburn and a Special Family Cabin', published January 2019 in The Beacon, West Vancouver's community newspaper. 

Don scanned all the photographs, and electronically cleaned, edited, and restored them where necessary. He also converted images to original black and white while preserving sepia tones. He transcribed all the handwritten captions, including notes on the backs of the photographs. These steps involved the delicate operation of removing each photo from its mounting corners, and then replacing it, in the now-fragile albums. When necessary, he added clarifications in brackets. (Thelma's occasional bracketed comments are mostly humorous.) See final page re: asterisks. 

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The family is deeply grateful for Don's timely assistance and willingness to shoulder such a huge commitment. His kind interest, generosity, and expertise are appreciated beyond words.

Thanks to Don's gift, Jack and Thelma's gift lives on.

On behalf of my brothers, our spouses, Thelma and Jack's grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren, I am proud to share my parents' legacy with everyone interested in the history of Vancouver, their beloved home.                                                                             

Ruth (Hutchinson) Alsemgeest, March 2020.

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Link to the article  "Sentimental Journey" - Naomi Wilson MacInnes 

Link to the North Shore News article "Memory Lane: Golden Age Remembered" - Laura Anderson

Link to the Beacon article "Hollyburn Cabin ‘North Plus Fours’ Through the Generations" -  Don Grant

Information Regarding Hutchinson Photo Captions

Captions have been added to all the Hutchinson family photos uploaded to the Hollyburn Heritage Society website. These captions include information that Thelma wrote underneath the album photos and in many cases on the backs of these photos. Most likely, the info on the back of a photo was written soon after Thelma printed the photo. An album photo caption was written after Thelma added a photo to an album page.

The HHS website captions include info from the album captions and on the backs of these photos. The album captions are written first followed by information on the backs of the photos. HHS has made some changes regarding punctuation. In some cases, HHS has added additional information regarding a photo. This will be noted in the Hutchinson captions displayed on HHS website.

Examples of captions written under photos displayed on an album page and also on the backs of these photos.