We love to share the photos we have in our collections, but did you know that we also have a huge collection of video footage? Not all of it has been digitized, and even less is currently available online, but we hope to remedy this in the future.
Today we’re sharing four films of Alta Lake from the Petersen Collection that show the lake in different years and seasons.
Up first is a film from around 1960 showing skaters on the frozen lake. With a game of hockey going on, it looks a lot like winters on Alta Lake today.
While we have many photos of sail boats on Alta Lake most of them are black and white. This film captures the sails in all their colourful glory. Taken during a regatta, this footage may just be of the Alta Lake Sailing Club’s first “Regretta”.
Another film of boating, this time from 1970, gives a closer view of some of the cabins and other means of transportation along the shore. As a bonus, the film also includes footage of the PGE moving a building from the side of the railroad tracks.
Last, but certainly not least, we have footage from the 1974 Regatta hosted by the Alta Lake Sailing Club. Based out of Dick Fairhurst’s Cypress Lodge, the location may seem familiar to those who sail on Alta Lake today. The full day event included a tug-o-war, pie eating contest, sailing (of course) and more.
Other films available online can be viewed here. We hope to add more soon!
It was the chance for a weekend get-away spot that spurred Florence Petersen and four friends to purchase a small cabin at Alta Lake in the mid ’50s.
Florence Petersen (founder of the Whistler Museum & Archives Society) and her friends (left to right) Jacquie Pope, June Tidball, Fido, Betty Gray and Eunice “Kelly” Forster at their Witsend cottage in 1955.
At the time, the valley was a quaint summer fishing resort with only a handful of year-round residents. In the years following, the valley would transform from its humble beginnings into the internationally renowned four-season resort we now know.
With so much change taking place in the ’70s, early pioneer Myrtle Philip and Cypress Lodge owner Dick Fairhurst confessed to Florence a worry that the early days would soon be forgotten. Florence eased their fears by promising them that she would somehow ensure that their stories would be remembered and, true to her word, Florence started the Whistler Museum and Archives as a charitable non-profit society.
The Whistler Museum and Archives cookbook committee, April 1977: Janet Love-Morrison, Florence Petersen, Darlyne Christian and Caroline Cluer.
Since incorporating on February 12, 1987, the Museum’s basic function has been to collect and preserve the history of the Whistler Valley and to display, educate and disseminate information about Whistler’s history and its role in the greater society of British Columbia and Canada.
To that end, the Museum collects and preserves artefacts, archives and oral histories. To date we have acquired some 275 feet of archival records, including documents and photographs. Our collection includes 2332 artefacts; 80 oral interviews that have been conducted, digitized and transcribed; approximately 300,000 photographs, both negatives and prints; 150 hours of video (VHS, SVHS, DVD, DVcam, hi8 and U-Matic formats); and 13.5 hours of film in both 8mm and 16mm.
Our Collections Manager Alyssa strives to organize, catalogue and digitize our ever-growing archive without being swallowed by it.
In order to make the Museum’s information easy to access there is a consistent ongoing project to organize, catalogue and digitize its collection. The artefact collection is 99% catalogued. 150 archival collections have been catalogued and are available online at the Museum’s ICA-Atom archival database. Approximately 42,000 photographs have been digitized to archival standards. The Museum endeavours to interpret the history of Whistler and the Museum’s information collection for visitors and the community with its exhibits, walking tours, blog and programs such as our very successful Discover Nature Project.
2016 was the busiest year in the Museum’s history in terms of exhibit visits, with a 7% growth over 2015 (another record year). We hope to continue our momentum in growing our numbers in regards to both our exhibit visits and the amount of material that we can make available to the public.
An original gondola from Whistler Mountain sits proudly as part of our exhibits.
A special thank you to everyone who has volunteered, donated, visited our exhibits, attended our events, read our stories and helped spread the word about Whistler’s fascinating heritage over the past 30 years.
The Whistler Museum would like to invite you to our 30th Anniversary Open House on Sunday, February 12, 7:30 – 9 pm. Join us for an evening of food, music and free admission to explore the museum, venture into the archives and meet our staff. Everyone is welcome and we hope to see you there.
Sailing on Alta Lake is one of the most time-honoured and pleasant ways to pass a summer day in the Whistler Valley.
While mountain biking, hiking, golf, and several other activities might be more popular today, sailing remains a cherished and time-honoured was to pass a summer day in Whistler.
Sewell & Jean Tapley (Myrtle Philip’s father & sister) sailing on Alta Lake, circa 1920s.
It was a favoured activity of Myrtle & Alex Philip, as well as other residents and visitors of Alta Lake going back a century. But it wasn’t until the creation of the Alta Lake Sailing Club, founded in 1966, that an organized sailing community came to be. Based out of Dick Fairhurst’s Cypress Lodge, the same building that the Whistler Sailing Club operates out of today!
In our collection of home videos recorded by Florence Petersen, we have footage from a sailing regatta on Alta Lake from this period. It’s quite possibly their first ever regatta, held in 1966, and playfully dubbed the “Regretta.”
The video provides a wonderful scene of a timeless Whistler activity. With the current blast of pleasant summer weather we are experiencing, hopefully you get out on the water soon as well!
The Sea-to-Sky Highway is widely regarded as one of the most scenic drives in the province, if not the world. Driving along Howe Sound one enjoys a nearly constant vista over the shining blue sea, while the climb to Whistler features such marvellous sights as the Stawamus Chief, the Tantalus Range, Cheakamus Canyon, and more.
Though problem still remain, the major upgrades leading up to the 2010 Olympics made the highway smoother, more relaxing, and made it easier to enjoy the sights en route. It’s common to hear drivers reminisce about the white-knuckle driving on the older, narrower, windier road.
But let’s take things back a little further. This week we feature a home video made by Florence Strachan (better known as Florence Petersen, after she wed Andy Petersen in 1967) during a drive up to Alta Lake, as the Whistler Valley was known at the time, in 1958. Back then the road was completely unpaved, far more winding and treacherous than almost any living person can recall. And so Florence and friends made a full day of it (not entirely by choice), and recorded this wonderful video of their drive.
Keep an eye out for familiar landmarks, and some big changes that have occurred in the decades since. Enjoy:
Florence must have had her backpacking gear in the trunk, because later that summer she went on this memorable hike to Burnt Stew Basin:
