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The
Sooke Region Museum's archives section houses some eight thousand
historic photographs, and more than six thousand historical
documents and a range of newspaper clippings.
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Collections
of more recent colour photographs document scenery and
much of the flora of the area, from the beaches to the
trees of the rainforest to wildflowers.
Bound volumes contain original issues of the region's
local newspaper, the Sooke News Mirror, and its predecessor,
the Grapevine, dating from the current copies back to
the first issue in 1959.
Genealogical
charts have been assembled recording the origins and
interconnections of many of the early families.
A
collection of early maps has been assembled, relative
to the geography and history of the area.
A
collection of Aural History tape recordings dating from
the 1970s have captured the voices and stories of members
of pioneer families and of Elders of the T'Sou-ke and
Pacheedaht nations.
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Our
VHS videotape collections document many of the events
and happenings of the region from the 1970s to the present.
A
40 min. slideshow produced for the museum in 1977 tells
a story of the history of the Sooke area from First
Nations Elders' memories to modern times, illustrating
a way of life recollected with fondness, while currently
undergoing much change.
A
20 min. 16 mm movie was produced in 1983, providing
the only complete documentation of an important historic
industry long gone, The Fishtraps of Sooke. A
copy of this film production is now held in Canada's
National Archives, and videocopies are shown at the
museum.
In
1986 a 29 min. 16 mm movie The All Sooke Day Story
was produced by the museum, graphically illustrating
historic logging skills carried out by loggers in the
forests, and their evolvement into the competitive logger
sports competitions of current times. Videotapes of
this production are shown regularly at the museum.
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Books
published under the banner of the museum include:
- "101
Historical Buildings of the Sooke Region" (1984)
- "4000
Years, A History of the Rainforest of Vancouver Island's
Southwest Coast" (1989)
- "T'Sou-ke
- A Festival of Community Spirit - 1790 - 1990"
(1991)
"The Sooke Story - The History and the Heartbeat"
(1999)
- "A
Guide to the Sooke Region" (2001)
- Co-published
with the Municipality of Sooke, "Profiles of a Community"
200
And two
booklets, "Legends of T'Sou-ke and West Coast Bands"
(1978) and
"That Was the Way it Was" (1990)
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