The Petersen film collection is comprised of 8mm and super 8mm film shot by Andy and Florence Petersen within the Whistler Area from 1955-1975.
Longtime Whistler resident “Flossie” Petersen witnessed many changes to the Whistler community throughout its history – evolving from a cottage community to an international resort. Florence, a teacher from Burnaby, bought a cottage on Alta Lake in 1955 with four other teachers, where they spent many fun-filled holidays and weekends swimming, hiking, and socializing. You could say they were the first wave of “weekend warriors” to discover Whistler.
Florence met her husband Andy, a carpenter, at a Saturday night party at Rainbow Lodge and they married in 1967. Florence continued to teach in Burnaby, but spent her weekends with Andy at Alta Lake. In 1983 Florence retired from teaching and moved to Whistler permanently.
Florence and Andy had an incredible impact on the community. Florence served many years as a marriage commissioner and Andy was involved with many construction projects, including serving as the building superintendent at the Rendezvous Lodge on Blackcomb during its construction.
The films contained in this collection give a very intimate look at what life was like in Whistler prior to the development of Whistler Mountain in 1965 and the transitional years that followed.
Skiing Cypress Lodge (Whistlers first lift) 1960
Alta Lake Train Station c. 1958
Winter Smimming at Alta Lake c. 1965
Skiing Mount Baker c. 1967
Bears at the garbage dump near the future site of Whistler Village 1972
Driving by Whistler Creekside 1974
This project was made possible in part through:
The Royal BC Museum: Terry Reksten Memorial Fund
The Fund annually offers an award of $1,000 to a community archives in British Columbia to assist in the work of acquiring, preserving, indexing or disseminating information on the archival documentary heritage of British Columbia in the broadest sense of the word. The award is administered by the Friends of the British Columbia Archives.. For more information click here.
We appreciate your generosity and making this exhibit possible, thank you!