Welcome!
This digital archive contains the original correspondence between the British Colonial
Office and the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. This project aims
to digitize and publish online a complete archive of the correspondence covering the
period from 1846 leading to the founding of Vancouver Island in 1849, the founding
of British Columbia in 1858, the annexation of Vancouver Island by British Columbia
in 1866, and up to the incorporation of B.C. into the Canadian Federation in 1871.
All the material on this site originates in the work of Dr. James Hendrickson and
his team of collaborators at the University of Victoria, which resulted in the publication
of 28 print volumes of correspondence several years ago.
Teachers and students may also be interested in the
Governor's Letters website, which provides learning materials based on this collection.