ARCH-BC – Archival Records of Ceramic History in BC
In 2012, we embarked on a project to protect the history of BC ceramics, and one method was to preserve and make accessible the extensive newsletters published by the Potters Guild of Canada between 1965 -2003.
We created ARCH–BC, the Archival Records of Ceramic History in British Columbia, a site dedicated to the newsletters of the PGBC, the oldest provincial ceramic guild in Canada. The newsletters trace the evolution of the ceramic art practice in British Columbia. This archival material, made available to the public, has been collected and made searchable by volunteers.
Jinny Whitehead, then President of the PGBC, instigated Arch-BC in 2011, through locating the BC History Digitization Project grant at the Irving K Barber Centre at UBC. Linda Lewis volunteered her competency with computers, and Debra Sloan managed the project. The hardcopy newsletters were digitized, and from 2011-2013 the three volunteers uploaded the metadata and made the material searchable. https://bchdp.arcabc.ca/islandora/object/arch-bc%3Aroot
Newsletters from 2004 can also be found on the PGBC site newsletter archive. With gratitude to the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre at UBC for their grant and support. Thanks also go to the North-West Ceramics Foundation.
[Above from right: Jinny Whitehead, (1952-2025), Linda Lewis and Debra Sloan, in PGBC- Gallery of BC ceramics (1986-2018), working on ARCH-BC, with computer acquired through grant from the UBC Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and the BC History Digitization Programme.]