Websites
I edit an online digital archive called viHistory. It includes a searchable database of census records for Vancouver Island from 1871 to 1921.
Years ago, I created a website about the history of education in British Columbia, The Homeroom. Some other early websites relating to the history of Victoria, British Columbia, are linked here.
Books
I wrote about privileged British settlers, including remittance men, in Gentlemen Emigrants: From the British Public Schools to the Canadian Frontier. I edited a collection entitled Ranchers' Legacy: Alberta Essays by Lewis G. Thomas. Another work, The School Record, deals with the history of public education in British Columbia.
My book on the history of Greater Vancouver Community Credit Union is entitled Common Bonds and was published in 2015. The book is described here. Previous books dealt with the history of Ladysmith and District Credit Union and Nanaimo Credit Union (now part of Coastal Community Credit Union).
Essays
I'm interested in geographical information systems [GIS] and urban history. One of my favourite essays, co-authored with colleagues, deals with wageworkers in 19th century Victoria. The essay is entitled "Dwelling Places and Social Spaces: Revealing the Environments of Urban Workers in Victoria Using Historical GIS" and was published in a scholarly journal, Labour/Le Travail. A copy of the essay is posted here.
Other selected essays deal with the history of the British child emigrants, census records, and the sex trade, of all things! You can read them here.
Reviews
Recent book reviews and review essays published in The British Columbia Review. The reviews are posted here.
Current project
"Floating Households. The 1911 Census of Victoria Harbour: Reconstructing a Population Afloat." This project uses archival records to identify about fifty vessels, and approximately 1,200 crew members who lived and worked aboard them, during Victoria's Edwardian summer. This work-in-progress is posted here as Floating Households.
Miscellaneous items
Miscellaneous articles about public art, credit unions, Vancouver Island separtism and sundry other topics are posted here.
Also posted is a favourite 'legacy project' about the most popular names for boys and girls in British Columbia in the twentieth century. The project is entitled Baby's Most Chosen Names.
Biographies
Biographical sketches of Dennis Greenwood (1893-1930), Provincial police constable and game warden; Robert H. Savery (1902-1980), Artist, landscape architect, public servant; and other people who interest me are posted here.