The North Bend Museum

 
    Visitors really enjoy looking through the school browse binders and many have helped fill in some missing names to the photos. Many stories of pranks and near mishaps can be found in the histories I have on file. Some stories are told regarding the flying inhabitants of the school attic with the trap door above the teacher’s desk. There are descriptions of the town seen through the eyes of some of the boys along with their favourite places and activities.
    For families doing their own family tree, there is a wealth of information. We have census sheets, polling sheets, military lists and school activities with student names and parent occupations both with the railway and family businesses.  Our family browse binder has several family histories in it now dating back to the 1800’s. The information obtainable in one room can save researches a lot of time and both local and out of town families have stopped by seeking information. We average five to nine visitors per day when we are open, and when Community Place is not open, I have often taken former residents on a tour of our historical room. Each of these tours results in more pictures and items donated to our historical file.
    The Browse Binders contain history, notes and photos and are an integral part of our collection. We now have an extra binder which contains most of the resident names, and to these I have notes added with information about their activities while living here. This includes bands, committees, sports, businesses and churches.
    We have one table dedicated to the military service of residents, and another small table contains souvenir items, such as pin cushions, pennants for the wall, book marks and new Boston Bar pins. The outer building houses larger items. We have a model railway depicting the town site along with several railway pictures. We also have a collection of published history books and DVD’s for viewing.  Two recent additions to the books are That They Might Have Life by the Rev. Stanley Higgs (an autobiography of his life when he served in the area during the 1930’s) and Life in The Tee-Pee written by June Koropecki. June and her husband Bill built the Tee-Pee restaurant in Boston Bar in 1949.

Binder Collection
    Binder #1- Early canyon history, Chinese, Boothroyd and Keefers
    Binder #2- North Bend history -1887- gold rush forward to present day
    Binder #3- Boston Bar history -1858 gold rush forward to present day
    Binder #4- People (voting lists, polling lists, committees and groups),                               logging and churches
    Binder #5- Newspaper articles - 1940’s-2004
    Binder # 5A- Newspaper articles - 2005 - forward to present day
    Binder #6- May Queens and July Queens
    Binder #6A- May Days
    Binder #7- Family Histories
    Binder #8- North Bend School-1886 (first classes held) forward to 2003
    Binder # 9- Boston Bar School- 1917-1979
    Binder #9A- Boston Bar School – 1980-forward to present day
    Binder #10- Aerial Ferry
    Binder #11- Search and Rescue photos
    Binder # 12- Photos
    Binder #13- Community projects
    Binder # 14- First Nations