Subseries 12 - Archibald Murchie collection

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Archibald Murchie collection

General material designation

  • Graphic material

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

Level of description

Subseries

Reference code

CA OSC ARC 01-3-12

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

  • [198-?] - [1999?] (Collection)
    Collector
    Cox, Doug
    Place
    British Columbia
  • ca. [1893]-[1919] (Creation)
    Creator
    Murchie, Archibald
    Place
    British Columbia

Physical description area

Physical description

69 photographs : b&w

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

Parallel titles of publisher's series

Other title information of publisher's series

Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

Numbering within publisher's series

Note on publisher's series

Archival description area

Name of creator

(1853-1930)

Biographical history

Archibald Murchie (1853-1930) was born in Scotland and immigrated to Victoria, BC as an adult on the recommendation of his brother John. John Murchie established Murchie’s Tea in 1894 and named his own son Archibald Murchie (1892-1925, and not to be confused with his uncle). Following his calling to become an evangelist minister for the Spiritualist Church (an off-shoot of the Church of England), he set off into the interior of BC to preach as a missionary.

Murchie’s photographic career began when he arrived in Williams Lake, BC, in 1893. Wherever his missionary calling took him, Murchie brought along his camera. Marcus Smith, CPR engineer and previous associate of Murchie’s via the Spiritualist Church, hired him to photograph the creation of a bridge over the Fraser River at Sheep Creek. Work on this project was slow enough to afford Murchie to engage in side trips to Quesnel, BC, and farther north. Here he made a connection with the Reverend A. H. Cameron who suggested he establish a parish in Princeton. After this failed, Murchie returned to the Cariboo and set up a photography studio in Ashcroft, BC.

In 1911 Murchie moved again to the Okanagan Valley and in 1916 at age 64 he married Amy Wood. His last attributed photograph was taken in 1918.

Custodial history

After Murchie’s death in 1930, his wife remarried and had his photography equipment destroyed. In 1948 a few glass negative plates were salvaged from a chicken house by the Gorman family children as a worker was scraping off the emulsions to use the glass. After this, the photographs were assumed into the custody of B.W. Wilson, from which point they were transferred to the Doug Cox Collection.

Scope and content

Landscapes showing developing infrastructure in the interior of British Columbia in the later 19th and early 20th century, with especially robust coverage of the construction of railroads and bridges, as well as some mining operations. Features group portraits of work crews.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Language of material

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

These photographs have been digitized and are available on UBC’s Open Collections. https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/djcox.
The same photos have been mounted in the BC Regional Digitized History Portal due to their resonance with the southern interior of BC. https://bcrdh.ca/islandora/object/ubco%3AcoxHistorical
These photos are expected to be copies, but the location of the originals in unknown.

Restrictions on access

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

File list available.
Item list available.

Uploaded finding aid

Associated materials

Related materials

Accruals

Alternative identifier(s)

Standard number area

Standard number

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Control area

Description record identifier

Rules or conventions

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Language of description

Script of description

Sources

Wilson, B.W. (n.d.) B.C.’s Evangelist Photographer Archibald Murchie [unpublished manuscript].
“About us.” Murchie’s Fine Tea & Coffee (website). Accessed January 30, 2024. https://murchies.com/about-us

Accession area

Related people and organizations

Related places

Related genres