This collection contains records of the British Columbia Social Credit Party, predominantly in relation to the operations of Burnaby-Edmonds constituency. The collection includes records relating to other selected ridings where by-elections took place and party wide records relating to provincial elections. A considerable amount of records relates to the Social Credit Party leadership campaigns, party annual conventions and BC Young Socred organization. The majority of records cover period between 1978 and 1996, but some records reach as far as 1950 and 2005.

The collection contains administrative and day to day operations records such as memos, correspondence, membership list, contact lists, organizational constitution and by-laws, statements, committees’ minutes, and messages. In addition, the collection contains handbooks, manuals, reports and informational booklets intended to instruct candidates and volunteers on campaigning methods and strategies. Many of these records provide insight into shaping and evolving of the policies and electoral platforms of the Social Credit Party. In addition, the collection contains provincial election and party leadership campaign managing records that include candidate profiles and lists, internal correspondence and memos, and external use records intended for the promotion of the Social Credit Party and its candidates. The collection also includes a number of newspaper clippings, party newsletters, articles, posters, photographs, campaign buttons, video and sound recordings of events and promotional material.

The collection is arranged into to eight series: 1. Assembled books; 2. Government publications; 3. General documents; 4. Newspaper clippings and party newsletters; 5. Photographs; 6. Posters; 7. Buttons; 8. Audio and video recordings.

Fonds consists of records relating to the activities of the Social Credit Women's Auxiliary and materials collected by Flo Dickinson as a member of the auxiliary. These include campaign material, photographs, correspondence, textiles, certificates, newspaper clippings, placards, account books, reports, magazines, brochures, and ephemera.

Fonds consists of 89 scrapbooks relating to Grace McCarthy and her career as a politician within the British Columbia Social Credit party. Scrapbooks contain photographs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, press releases, ephemera, and other material dating from 1960 to 1991.

The scrapbooks document the political landscape of British Columbia from 1968 to 1991, in particular the activities of the Social Credit party; events, initiatives, and causes in Vancouver and provincially; state visits; McCarthy's viewpoint on particular issues; her political and charitable activities; leadership campaigns; and her personal and political relationships. They also document McCarthy's most notable accomplishments, including bringing Expo '86 to Vancouver, establishing SkyTrain as a rapid transit system, driving the construction of the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre, and the lighting of the Lions Gate Bridge. Includes correspondence with other politicians at the provincial, national and international level, including W.A.C. Bennett and Margaret Thatcher; her constituents, residents of British Columbia, and party members; and the business community.

The collection offers insight into the imprisonment of the “Sons of Freedom” between 1932 and 1934 at Piers Island Penitentiary. The “Sons of Freedom” Doukhobors began as a small, radical movement to reinvigorate the faith, restore traditional Doukhobor values, and protest the sale of land, education, citizenship and registration of vital statistics. They would achieve infamy through civil disobedience, nude marches, and burnings. In 1932, over 600 Sons of Freedom protestors were convicted of public nudity. As B.C. Penitentiary was unable to handle such a rise in inmate population, a satellite prison under the authority of B.C. Penitentiary was constructed on Piers Island to house these prisoners. The records document how the prison was set up and run and the problems that the federal prison system encountered regarding both staff and prisoners. The correspondence and telegrams shed light on the internal discussions of senior officials concerning the management of the prison and its prisoners.
Fonds consists of correspondence, memoranda, telegrams, and other textual records pertaining to the Piers Island Penitentiary created or accumulated by H. W. Cooper during his career as the warden of B.C. Penitentiaries. The fonds also contains photographs which were all taken at Piers Island. The textual records predominantly consist of letters to and from H. W. Cooper regarding the penitentiary, staff, and prisoners. The records have been arranged into the following two series: Correspondence and other documents (1932-1934); and Photographs ([between 1932 and 1934]).

File consists of correspondence to and from H. W. Cooper pertaining to the construction of the penitentiary and matters regarding the personnel and prisoners; a warrant prepared by J. Cartmel pertaining to Mike Woiken, one of the prisoners; a chronology written in shorthand by H. W. Cooper regarding a search for an island to set up the penitentiary; the translation of a letter from Russian to English from an inmate to his wife; a report on the refusal of some prisoners to work; telegrams regarding the construction of the penitentiary; and an empty manila envelope belonging to B.C. Penitentiary.

Item is a letter containing Cooper’s explanation regarding the fact that he did not request Mr. Ross to withdraw from Piers Island; also regarding the placing of steps in the women’s dormitories.

Item is a letter concerning the arrival of the keeper, clerk, and six guards in Piers Island on Aug. 8; the appointment of Goss as active deputy warden; personnel; first transfer of prisoners to Piers Island; field kitchens; fingerprinting the Doukhobors; and hiring an interpreter.

Item is a letter regarding the construction of a wooden fence between two compounds; fire-fighting equipment; conditional correspondence and visits for prisoners.

File consists of correspondence to and from H. W. Cooper regarding the release of Doukhobor convicts; the sequence of events from the arrival of the “Sons of Freedom” at the penitentiary; and Deputy Warden R. S. Douglass, his responsibilities at Piers Island Penitentiary, and his successful performance of duties . File also contains one letter from G. Sloan, Attorney General of B.C., to Hugh Guthrie, Minister of Justice, pertaining to policies towards the “Sons of Freedom”.

This photo is the same as MsC 147.2, but in a different pose and darker lighting.