Fifty thousand council records, 12,000 bylaws and 41,000 textual records dating back to Burnaby’s incorporation in 1892 – all this is now under the guardianship of a new city archivist.
Rebecca Pasch started in her new role in late November, but she has been working for the city since May 2008. The city archives are based in McGill Library. Around the corner from the front desk is a room kept chilled between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius to keep about 600 metres of records in pristine condition.
“I was hired on as part of the Heritage Burnaby project,” Pasch said. “I wrote photographic descriptions for Heritage Burnaby. I was in charge of describing and rehousing and digitizing the photographs, so you can have them put online.”
Pasch has a photography degree from Emily Carr University of Art and Design and started out as an architectural photographer. Through her work, she wound up taking a contract with West Vancouver Museum and Archives. Then she found herself in Burnaby.
After describing photographs for the city, she showed an interest in the oral history project that was next and received the training to stay on and help out.
“The city is really great that way,” she said. “They’re always wonderful if somebody shows initiative, they get the training.”
With a love of photography and history, Pasch says she can see how she ended up in her position now as city archivist. Former archivist Arilea Sill left the position to return to her hometown near Halifax to take on a new role in the same field.
“I found her (Sill) really inspiring to work for,” she noted. “She had her hands in everything. She created every important feature in the archives.”
Pasch said she hopes to continue in Sill’s footsteps and intends to do more outreach programs.
“I’d love to do more of that,” she added. “To get out into the public and let them know we’re here as a resource and to help them so they can also … donate and that kind of thing, too.”
The archives has currently undertaken two projects Pasch says she’s excited about: the book-digitizing project, where the city has selected several books to digitize and put online for researchers; and the moving image project where films will be digitized, including ones donated by city freeman George McLean.
“We are the record keepers,” she said. “We’re responsible for those records. In order for things to be in order, for things to be lawful, we have to have records.”
Pasch said the city archives department plays an important role in the democratic process, by keeping facts, evidence and significant historical decisions preserved and available for anyone to look through, keeping the government accountable.
“We’re also here for the citizens of Burnaby,” she said. “If there’s anything they need to know about. We have a duty to remember.”
For more about the city archives, visit www.burnaby.ca.
