Accounts, ledgers, memoranda, and correspondence pertaining to Lord Aberdeen's Guisachan ranch (Kelowna, British Columbia) and Coldstream Ranch (Vernon, British Columbia). Includes newspaper cuttings, sketches, and architectural drawings of Coldstream ranch buildings.

This series consists of the records of the Commission to Enquire Into the Economic Conditions in the Several Areas under Irrigation Projects from 1927. The enquiry examined the following areas: Glenmore Irrigation District, Grand Forks I.D., Heffley Creek I.D., Naramata I.D., Peachland I.D., Rutland I.D., Scotty Creek Development District, South East Kelowna I.D., Vernon I.D., West Summerland, Westbank I.D., and Winfield. The records include 4 volumes of submissions to the commission, two copies of the Commission's final report, and 1 volume of exhibits.

The series consists of 214 photographs, mostly glass lantern slides and glass negatives, created or collected by the Dept. of Agriculture sometime between 1900 and 1915.

The lantern slides contain images of fruit trees, orchards, farms, packing boxes, greenhouses, crops and other agricultural activity. A few have descriptive labels which indicate that they were taken in Victoria, Kelowna, Nanaimo and Summerland, and some have photographers identified (D.J. Dwyer, J. Howard A. Chapman and Edgar Fleming). These photographs may have been used for a variety of purposes including public lectures and as illustrations for reports. Some of the slides have been hand coloured. These slides are from accession 198012-018.

The glass negatives from this accession consist of two files. The first file contains 13 negatives identified as being from Atkinson's mushrooms; images of mushrooms and fungi from book on same and appear to have been photographed directly from George F. Atkinson's 1901 books called "Studies of American Fungi". The second file consists of 24 negatives identified as Morris Middleton pruning lecture. Middleton was an assistant horticulturalist for the Dept. of Agriculture and gave pruning workshops and lectures.

The 27 glass negatives from accession 198410-027 show farms and farm buildings, fruit and berry growing as well as fruit packing and pruning classes in Creston, B.C. in 1914 (F.B. Turner photographer) and photos of apple growing medals presented to the Government of British Columbia in 1909.

CALL NUMBER: T1085:0001 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Paddy Acland remembers a few anecdotes about hunting and hiking in the BC interior. He explains how he came out to British Columbia from England after serving with the British Army duri;ng the Boer War. He describes expectations of life in BC and offers comments on the background of his father, John Acland. He arrived in BC in 1908; he describes the appearance of Summerland. He discusses his first jobs in the Okanagan; building his first log cabin; an anecdote about digging a basement for "Old Johnson"; buying and pre empting land in the Okanagan. TRACK 2: Paddy Acland describes the development of his own property near Eneas Lake between Peachland and Summerland. He discusses his first impressions of the Okanagan Valley, coming into it via train and boat. He describes ;the sternwheeler "Aberdeen"; labouring for a tobacco farmer in Kelowna; working for a dairy farmer, the meanest man Mr. Acland had ever met; comments on another employer, named "Fluffy" Williston. Mr. Acland offers further comments on British immigrants who came to the Okanagan during this era.

CALL NUMBER: T1085:0002 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Paddy Acland mentions his first jobs in the Okanagan, including lumber sorting and surveying. Mr. Acland returned to England for two months, and then returned to the Okanagan. He offers an; anecdote about a man being thrown into Lake Okanagan with all of his belongings, for making a pass at a local girl, and the "rough" justice of the era. More anecdotes about promiscuity between wives; of landed settlers and hired working men. Mr. Acland discusses his marriage to a girl from Summerland, and a digression on the different types of English immigrants, including the class that settled; in Vernon during the early decades of the century, which he found snobbish and pretentious. He describes the mixture of settlers in Kelowna during this era. TRACK 2: Mr. Acland offers comments about the Edgelow family of Kelowna, particularly Mrs. Edgelow, who delighted in shocking Kelowna residents prior to World War I. He comments on the background of the Acland family and offers anecdotes ;about his mother-in-law, Mrs. Hutton of Kelowna, an ardent Catholic convert who often entertained in her large home. He tells a story about an English orchardist who planted his trees upside down, an;d describes dances and social activities in the Okanagan Valley during this era. He describes the growth and development of Summerland during its early years and reflects upon the different currents ;of immigrants and settlers which have made up the fabric of Canadian society.

CALL NUMBER: T1085:0003 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Paddy Acland discusses some early Okanagan Valley residents. He admits that he joined the Baptist church choir to meet young and single women. He discusses relations with the Indians in the reserve near Summerland; the story of Sam McGee; comments on how the capital of early settlers was used and misused; a recollection of J.M. Robinson; comments on the Manitoba farmers induced to come; to the Okanagan Valley by Robinson; comments on how young men made a living in the Okanagan during this era; a story about the fortunes of three young working men; and comments on the Dominion Experimental Farm at Summerland. TRACK 2: Mr. Acland recalls several characters at Cobble Hill, Duncan, and offers a comparison between Vancouver Island and the Okanagan Valley during the early years of t;he century. He discusses personalities and experiences at Thetis Island; then he tells a story about two young men who shot a policeman in the Okanagan Valley, and were hunted by posses throughout the valley. More comments on English settlers; the story of the Belleview Hotel; anecdotes about the antics at the Belleview Hotel, and a physical description of the hotel.;

CALL NUMBER: T1085:0004 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Paddy Acland retraces early working experiences and life in the Okanagan Valley. He describes Okanagan Falls around the time of the First World War; the town of Kaleden; a story about Tom E;llis; stories about rattlesnakes; a story about competing in the long jump against an Indian at Penticton; comments about Penticton and Naramata; a description of Peachland; comments about settlements; on the west side of Okanagan Lake; J.C. Dun-Waters and the building of Fintry; dairy farming; comments about the simple funerals of several wealthy Okanagan residents; and an anecdote about the funeral of Matt Wilson. TRACK 2: Mr. Acland recalls his service with a military regiment in the Okanagan Valley; organizational and disciplinary problems with the Okanagan military regiment; military stories and training with different military regiments in BC and eastern Canada.;

CALL NUMBER: T1085:0005 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Paddy Acland discusses military training and service overseas with a Canadian battalion during the First World War. He offers further recollections of aspects of military training in British Columbia. TRACK 2: Mr. Acland tells a story of bear hunting behind his homestead with a local Indian. He describes his service as a government weed inspector along Lake Okanagan, and tells a story; about entry into the military. He comments about training in the Okanagan and he traces his military career.

CALL NUMBER: T1085:0006 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1964-11-12 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Paddy Acland discusses further aspects of his military experience overseas during World War I. TRACK 2: Mr. Acland offers recollections about flying aircraft and training pilots during World War I; returning to the Okanagan Valley after the war; a story about losing his land after the war, and serving as a manager at the Eldorado ranch. Finally, he discusses hard times.

Stock shots. Compiled from the outs of sundry Parry productions, these rolls include footage of cannery operations, cattle ranching, farming, fishing, a foundry, logging, pipe laying, powerhouse and power line construction (Kemano), sawmilling and shipping. In addition, there are such sequences as an amphibious aircraft landing on a lake and taxiing onto land; a CPA DC-8 airliner taking off and in flight; Kelowna's Royal Anne Hotel; CPR locomotive 374 (retired) at Kitsilano Park; Mission Dam; Okanagan Valley apple blossoms; Rocky Mountain scenery and locales; Stanley Park; a fire in a Vancouver shipyard; and Vancouver's streets, skyline & waterfront. 76.3 has some particularly good mid-1950s Vancouver street scenes (with newsboys hawking papers on busy streets), as well as good footage of the waterfront and docks, various cargoes being loaded or unloaded, etc.

RECORDED: [location unknown], 1965-05-16 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Mr. Richard Mellish talks about growing up in the Armstrong/Grandview Flat area, 1896 to 1910. He describes how he came to Kelowna from P.E.I. with his family in 1896, when he was six, including details of his arrival and the school and farm there; he moved to Grandview Flat, and he describes the farmland there. including crops and orchards and livestock; he also discusses settlers in the area; the Seventh Day Adventists; community life; stories about Frank Eden from Barkerville; the Evans; a story about a doctor going to help his mother; riding horses at Round Lake, and a friend who; drowned there; dances; stories about his schoolteacher; the development of and comments about Armstrong, and stories about Indians. [TRACK 2: blank.]