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Simpson Family fonds
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Sharron J. Simpson sous fonds

Sous fonds consists of documentation of Sharron J. Simpson’s activities between the years of approximately 1994 to 2011. Sous fonds is predominantly concerned with Sharron J. Simpson’s leadership in the Simpson Covenant court case in 2007 and 2008, as well as the compilation of her personal family research and a few writing samples. In addition, an aggregation of photographs related to her activities is also included.

Simpson Covenant Court Case

Series documents Sharron J. Simpson’s activism as the leader of a legal initiative challenging the proposed dissolution of the Simpson Covenant, a restrictive land sale agreement made between her grandfather, Stanley M. Simpson and the City of Kelowna in 1946.
To explain the context of the creation of the covenant: following a mill fire on S.M.S. Ltd. land on what is now Kelowna’s downtown waterfront (around the area known as Manhattan Point) S.M. Simpson sold this land to the City of Kelowna with the understanding that S.M. would sell at a reduced rate, and the City of Kelowna would agree that the land be used for civic or community (not commercial) purposes. In the 2000s, the City of Kelowna moved to dissolve the so-called “Simpson Covenant,” and in response Sharron J. Simpson launched a court challenge to enforce the maintenance of the covenant.
Series contains correspondence, legal documents (including petitions, reasons for judgment, affidavits, civic records and land title office records, City of Kelowna memoranda, press clippings and press releases, appraisal records, etc.).

Simpson, Sharron J.

Sharron J. Simpson Research Files

Series consists of materials documenting Sharron J. Simpson’s efforts to collect external information about various aspects of her family history centering mainly on the history of S.M.S. Ltd., but not including research particular to the Simpson Covenant, which is kept separate.
In addition to the collection of published materials (predominantly newspapers) the series also includes recorded oral histories and select transcripts.

Simpson, Sharron J.

"Misc. Records"

Includes City of Kelowna Memorandum (annotated) Subject: Future of Stuard Part and City Hall Properties with appendices, and Council Meeting minutes.

Appraisal

Includes Real Estate Appraisal, Consultation & Arbitration: "Retrospective Market Review…1945 Acquisition of The Kelowna Saw Mill Company Limited" as well as Tom Smithwick's trial notes and body of relevant affidavits.

Court of Appeal Record 2008

Spiral bound appeal record between Save the Heritage Simpson Covenant Society and the City of Kelowna, filed at the Vancouver Court of Appeal Registry 17 October 2008.

Court Findings 2007

Also includes Tom Smithwick (lawyer) affidavit, and letters of support from the community which are not part of the public record.

Petition to the Court 2007

Petition of Save the Heritage Simpson Covenant Society, on notice to The City of Kelowna, files by Porter Ramsay law firm, and filed in the B.C. Supreme Court, Kelowna Registry no. 75886 on 21 June 2007. Includes set of b&w and aerial photographs showing property in question.

Affidavits 2007

Includes prepared body of affidavits, originals from 1951 regarding initial sale of land to City of Kelowna, presumed copied around 2007, and affidavits dated 2007 from Sharron J. Simpson. Also includes chamber briefs.

Civic Centre Simpson Covenant Volume 1

Contains predominantly copies of press coverage, copies of bylaws, and correspondence. Original materials date to 1945 and more recent, but it is presumed that all copies were made after 2004.

Sharron J. Simpson Photographs

Series consists of photographs taken by, or collected by, Sharron J. Simpson. Subjects documented include sawmill operations, 1999 reunion of former S.M.S. Ltd. employees, and the Okanagan fruit industry, as well as deliberate photographs taken preserving images of S.M.S. memorabilia.

Simpson, Sharron J.

Miscellany

Miscellaneous collected documents from the Sharron J. Simpson sous fonds. Includes a map, funeral program, some copied clippings, handwritten notes of unknown context, OHS report #23 report on population of Okanagan cities, ILMA directory, KPMG Forest Industry Update, and 2 souvenir calendars.

S.M. Simpson Ltd. Retrospectives

Subseries consists of various compiled manuscripts and informally published materials either relating directly to the historical narrative of S.M. Simpson Ltd. or to aspects of its operations.
Date range extends beyond the corporate existence of S.M. Simpson Ltd but is included in the series and parent series because of its pertinence to the company.

S.M. Simpson Ltd. sous fonds

Administrative history
The Simpson family fonds is primarily a compilation of the images and records of three corporate entities, (Kelowna Sawmill Ltd., S.M. Simpson Ltd., S & K Ltd.) as well as the records and images of S. M. Simpson’s sole proprietorship between 1913 – 1924, prior to the incorporation of S. M. Simpson Ltd.

The Kelowna Sawmill dates from 1892 when it was first established by Bernard Lequime, who subsequently sold it to David Lloyd-Jones in 1901. Lloyd-Jones had a variety of business partners during the time he owned the sawmill. In 1942, Stanley M. Simpson, the owner of S. M. Simpson Ltd., purchased and operated the Kelowna Sawmill until it was destroyed by fire in 1944. The corporate Kelowna Sawmill Ltd. was maintained and became the retail arm of S. M. Simpson Ltd. until 1956, when retail operations ceased.
Stanley M. Simpson arrived in Kelowna in 1913 and operated a sole proprietorship for the next eleven years (1913-1924) until incorporating S. M. Simpson Ltd. in 1924. During those early years, Simpson operated his business in two different downtown locations, as well as running, or partnering in various portable sawmills throughout the area. His sash and door factory on Abbott Street, manufactured and sold windows and doors, custom furniture, and wooden fruit boxes for the expanding Okanagan fruit and vegetable industry. The business operated out of this location until 1948.
Needing a reliable and accessible source of logs, Stanley Simpson bought land at Manhattan Beach along the lakeshore, in Kelowna’s North End. In 1930, he began constructing a sawmill and box factory and three years later, added a veneer plant to the site.

The Province of British Columbia created Forest Management licenses in 1951, when S. M. Simpson Ltd. was awarded Tree Farm License #9. Needing to diversity, S. M. Simpson Ltd. created S&K Ltd. to add a plywood manufacturing facility to the Manhattan site. It began operations in 1957.

In the following years S. M. Simpson Ltd. purchased other sawmills and logging operations, including Trautman Garraway in Peachland (1955), Peachland Sawmill & Box (1955), McLean Sawmills (1957), Lumby Timber Co (1959), Ferguson Brothers Lumber (1962), Stave Lumber (1962) Eagle Pass Lumber (1963), R&L Lumber (1964).
Stanley Simpson died in 1959. Horace B. Simpson, Stanley’s son, managed S. M. Simpson Ltd. until 1965 when the company was sold to Crown Zellerbach, Canada. A branch operation of the U.S. company, this was the first of a succession of owners, and though the Simpson name was attached to the operations for several years, the family was no longer involved.

In 1965, H.B. Simpson sold S.M.S. Ltd and its several associates and subsidiaries to the Canadian instance of Crown Zellerbach Corporation: Crown Zellerbach Canada. It continued operating as the S.M. Simpson Division of Crown Zellerbach Canada for several years until the name was changed to simply Crown Zellerbach Canada. In 1969, Crown Zellerbach purchased several more sawmills in the region, including Armstrong Sawmills operations in Armstrong, Enderby, Vernon and Falkland, as well as Ponderosa Pine Lumber Co. in 1970.

In 1981 Crown Zellerbach Canada was purchased by Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd. and the entity’s name was changed to Crown Forest, and in 1987 the name changed again to Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd. The company was then subsequently purchased by Riverside Forest Products in 1992. In 2004 Riverside Forest Products was purchased by Tolko Industries Ltd. which operated until 2020.

Scope and content
The sous fonds includes records generated by Stanley Merriam Simpson both before and after the corporate life of S.M. Simpson Ltd., and additionally documents a suite of succeeding companies that assumed the business operations and assets established by S.M. Simpson.

The sous fonds consists of a photographic record that documents the wood processing entity established by S.M. Simpson across iterations of corporate ownership, as well as business records relating to substantial operations, labour relations, safety programs, legal proceedings, and administration.

The sous fonds consists of a photographic record that documents the wood processing entity established by S.M. Simpson across iterations of corporate ownership, as well as business records relating to substantial operations, labour relations, safety programs, legal proceedings, and administration.

Simpson Family fonds

  • CA OSC-ARC-02
  • Fonds
  • 1904-1994, predominant 1924-1965

The fonds consists of two separate streams of documentation. The first consists of documents, photographs, and artifacts pertaining to the operations of a succession of sawmills and wood manufacturing plants founded by Stanley Merriam Simpson) and assumed by his son, Horace B. Simpson in the Okanagan area.
The second stream consists of the materials generated by Sharron J. Simpson, a Kelowna author, publisher, and activist. Sharron J. Simpson's records within this aggregation are primarily in relation to legal proceedings against the City of Kelowna in pursuit of the maintenance of the Simpson Covenant, which limits use of waterfront land on a former mill site sold by S.M. Simpson to the City under restrictive terms of sale in 1946. In the 2000s, the City sought to dissolve the Covenant; Sharron J. Simpson founded a society to challenge this initiative.
In total fonds consists of approximately 2,642 photographs, in various forms, including some duplicates. Records provide documentation of legal proceedings, finances, substantial mill operations, safety initiatives, administration, civic engagement, publicity, and labour relations relating to mill business, general family research, and writing samples. Artifacts include exemplars of production and souvenir materials.

Simpson, Stanley Merriam

Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd. / Crown Forest

Series consists of partial record of operations of Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd, which purchased Crown Zellerbach in 1981 with coverage of safety programs and vendor relations. This subseries is predominantly photographic.
This corporate entity did business as Crown Forest from 1981 to 1987 following its purchase from Crown Zellerbach. After 1987, the name of the entity was changed to Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd.

Fletcher Challenge Canada Limited

Oversize photographs.

Contains some oversized photos described as part of box 1 and three folders of various copied photographs, predominantly on tabloid sized paper. Contains approximately 42 b&w photographic prints larger than 25cmx20cm or mounted in album larger than 25x20cm, and approximately 80 photocopied photographs on tabloid sized paper.

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