Biographical sketch
Lillian Estabrooks (née Gibson), occasionally known as Bill or Billy Gibson, or Billy Estabrooks (b. 1902-08-01 in Almada, SK, d. 2003-08-17 in Penticton, BC) grew up in Keremeos. She and husband Richard (Dick) Estabrooks had three children. In 1981 under the pen name Bill Gibson she collaborated with Doug Cox to publish Under The K: Memories of Growing Up in Keremeos. Lillian Estabrooks was also a regular contributor to the Okanagan Historical Society annual reports.

Scope and content
Subseries consists of materials with provenance attributed to Lillian Estabrooks. Subseries is predominantly composed of photographs taken, collected, or otherwise attributed to Lillian Estabrooks, primarily during the years 1913-1920. Subseries also includes collected manuscripts, family trees, and notes, and one interview by Doug Cox with “Billy Estabrooks.”

File contains the original album leaves with identifying notes.

File contains typewritten manuscript by “Billie Estabrooks” (pseud.).

File contains tear sheets, Estabrooks family history.

George Allen Aerial Photography was a photo studio based in Vancouver, BC. Subseries consists of photographs by George Allen Photos Ltd., 4609 Main Street, Vancouver BC.

Biographical sketch
Joseph Gleason Harris (b. 1910-07-06, d.1994-12-26) arrived in Penticton in 1917. At age 16 he was invited by Frank Richter, Jr., to the Richter Ranch in Keremeos, from which point he visited the Cathedral Mountains for the first time. Later, in 1939, Joe Harris and Herb Clark of Keremeos launched a pack horse business which would take tourists to visit the Cathedrals. In 1944 he entered the ranching industry and in 1946 took over what was previously Ralph Overton’s ranch. This site was later home to Apex Mountain Guest Ranch. 1946 also saw the launch of a heavy equipment business.
Joe Harris and Margaret “Peggy” Burgess married April 4, 1945 and they made their home in Penticton. Together they raised seven children.
Joe Harris also was heavily involved in civic service. Harris served as the chairman of the Central Welfare Committee for fifteen years throughout the 1930s and 1940s. From 1950-1957, Harris also served as an Alderman on the Penticton City Council. Harris was a member of the Penticton Hospital Board for sixteen years and initiated a local volunteer search and rescue group. Harris participated in many local rescues himself.
Harris was also instrumental in local heritage initiatives and worked as the curator of the R.N. Atkinson (Penticton) Museum from 1973-1984. His deep knowledge of the history of the area poised him to deliver educational lectures to various organizations and to serve as president of the Penticton branch of the Okanagan Historical Society for five years.
Harris was an avid photographer, and won many awards. His photographic record documents local places and events throughout the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.
Harris was a close associate and valuable historical source for Doug Cox during his writing career.

Scope and content
Subseries consists of original photographs taken by Joe Harris as well as some pieces collected by Joe Harris and then subsequently transferred to the custody of Doug Cox. Predominant photographic coverage relates to the Cathedral Mountains, south of Keremeos, BC, during the 1930s. Includes a sequence of interviews with Joe Harris, and some associated transcripts.

File contains IDs for photographs at range 1.3-7/00125 through 1.3-7/00215.

File consists of 63 envelopes with annotations.

File contains identifying notes. Contains labels indicating Joe Harris, Cliff Leslie, Hal Tweddle. Oliver, Keremeos, Penticton.

File contains envelopes with annotations indicating Joe Harris, Cliff Leslie, Irene Elgin, Mrs. Myrtle (Oriville) Dunham, Betty Hughes, Lewis & Gut Hohendel, Roy Chapman, Ron & Evelyn Smain. Cathedrals, Ashnola.

File contains envelopes with annotations.

File contains decanted albums with annotations.

File contains tourist brochures.

File contains contact sheets.

File contains photographs, clippings, manuscripts and correspondence.

File contains oral history transcript describing changes in Penticton over Harris’ lifetime.

File contains oral history transcript. Description and context of many of Harris’ photos.

File contains oral history transcript. Topics include Cathedrals, Ashnola, Quinesco Lake, Boundary, Similkameen, Oregon Country, Nine Mile Creek, Osoyoos lake, Anarchist Mountain, Colville. Herb Clark as a contributor.

File contains oral history transcript. Okanagan, Similkameen, Ashnola, Cathedrals.

File contains oral history transcript. Hope and Princeton.

File contains oral history transcript. Ashnola Country.

File contains oral history transcript.

File contains oral history transcripts and clippings

File contains oral history transcripts and ephemera.

File contains oral history transcript.

File contains oral history transcripts, article and eulogy/memorial address by Doug Cox.

File contains a copy of Order-in-Council 1036/1938 which lists Penticton Indian Reserve No. 1. Letter was in an envelope addressed to Joseph Harris.

Biographical sketch
Valentine Carmichael Haynes (21 December, 1875 – 1963?) was the first of many white settlers to be born in Osoyoos. He worked as a rancher all his life and was highly skilled in this area. Haynes married Elizabeth Runnels (d. 1942), niece of Nespelem George, a Chief with described kinship to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. Runnels was an artist and an interpreter. One daughter, Alice, married a Thompson.

Scope and content
Subseries consists of documentation of Valentine Haynes and his family, as well as the Okanagan Cattle Company, of which Haynes was founder, all in the approximate area of Osoyoos, BC. Photographs depict ranching scenes, landscapes, and family life; textual materials include banking records, biographical sketches, Okanagan Cattle Company records, and genealogical information.

File contains photographs, contact sheets and negatives. Also includes photocopies of photograph identifiers and banking records.

File contains biographical sketch of Valentine Haynes, copies of documents on Okanagan Cattle Co. letterhead, and genealogy notes.

File contains correspondence, oral history transcript and copy of “John Carmichael Haynes” by Hester E. White.

File contains copied article and handwritten notes.

File contains oral history transcript, clippings, correspondence and notes.

Biographical sketch
Frank Hunter (b. 1909, d. ?) was born in Garneil, Montana, and immigrated with his parents to Saskatchewan as an infant. As a young man he ventured into the Peace River country of northern British Columbia. He married his wife, Doreen Hunter, in 1951 in Baldonnel, BC. They had two children.
Frank Hunter worked as a farmer upon his arrival in the Peace, and later on as a railroad surveyor and served as a school trustee during the 1950s.

Scope and content
Subseries consists of Hunter family photographs captured from about 1927 through the 1940s, as well as supporting textual reference materials. Photographs were taken by a Kodak Brownie box camera. Photographs depict images of landscapes, infrastructure (bridges and railroads), agriculture, rodeo, and pioneer family life in the Peace River region of British Columbia. Also includes a small subset of 35mm negative strips and 15 x 13 cm photographic prints dated to 1992, taken by Sandy Baker, and documenting the same geographical area.

File consists of 2 folders. Contains photographs and negatives.

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.

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.

Series consists of records generated by the business activities Stanley M. Simpson, the corporation he founded (S.M.S. Ltd) and its various subsidiaries between 1906 and 1965, when S.M.S. Ltd. was purchased by Crown Zellerbach Canada Ltd.
Series documents the operations of several sawmills and wood manufacturing plants, forestry harvesting operations, and retail outlets owned by S.M.S. Ltd. operating throughout the Central Okanagan, predominantly during the mid twentieth century.
Series includes an extensive collection of artifacts, robust photographic record, and company records.
Series descriptions within this sous fonds continue at 2.1.2.

The subseries consists of commissioned commercial photography (portraits, candids, aerials) carried out primarily by three firms (Aero Surveys Ltd., ca. 1948 to 1958; Jennings Ltd. Photography, ca. 1971 to 1974; and Hans Giesen of British Columbia Ltd. ca.1973). None of these firms have a current detectable presence. Other commercial photographers include Jack Cash Photographic Studio, Pope's Studio, Paul Ponich, Kermode Studio, and Ribelin Photography. Of these, only Pope's Studio is clearly still extant. Other photographs originate from the mill(s) proper, and yet others have been collected from third parties' personal photo collections (acquired or copcopied) by Sharron J. Simpson. There are a total of approximately 2,350 images in the form of photographs, scans & photocopies on paper, slide transparencies, negatives, and contact prints documenting mill business (under various nomenclature and ownership) during the years ca. 1910 to 1994, in colour and black & white, with sizes ranging from oversize posters to 10x12cm prints.

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.

Subseries consists of various artifacts in wood, metal, fabric, paper and other materials, generated in the normal pursuit of business by S.M. Simpson and/or deliberately created as souvenirs.

Subseries consists of legal records including contracts, briefs, land titles, licenses, patents created by S.M.S. Ltd.

Subseries consists of remaining financial records describing the debits and credits of S.M. Simpson prior to the founding of S.M. Simpson Ltd, as well as those generated as a natural by-product of operations of the enterprise, S.M. Simpson Ltd.
Contents of series include banking records, invoices, company financial reports, and payroll & remittances to Workman’s Compensation (currently known as WorkSafe BC).

Subseries consists of contractor information, mill operations specifications and rules, notes, reports, customer and sales information, compiled descriptions of forestry sites, strategic planning, and geographical resources

Subseries contains documentation of the auxiliary functions of S.M. Simpson Ltd. carried out in support of substantive mill and wood processing operations.
Includes correspondence, meeting minutes, organizational chart, and document register.

Subseries contains documentation of the awarding of the Freedom of the City of Kelowna to S.M. Simpson in 1957
Includes declaration, speaking notes, and other documents. Related photographs available in S.M. Simpson Photographic Record subseries.

Subseries contains newspaper clippings, copies of newspaper clippings, and tear sheets from publications which provide press coverage of the activities of S.M. Simpson Ltd. and which were published during the operational tenure of the business.
Subjects covered include the opening of the plywood plant in 1957, labour union disputes and strikes, mill fires, land sales, news of the acquisition of S.M. Simpson Ltd. By Crown Zellerbach Canada Ltd., and various advertisements placed by the company.
Related retrospective press coverage written and published recently, particularly in reference to the Simpson Covenant can be found in the Simpson Covenant series of the Sharron J. Simpson sous fonds.

Subseries consists of documentation of the interactions between S.M. Simpson Ltd. and its workforce.
Includes union documents featuring collective agreements, union charters, legal records of dispute, seniority lists, wage lists, payroll records, and pension plan documents,

Subseries consists of compiled records, photographs, and memorabilia commemorating and documenting the development, launch, and reception of the S.M. Simpson Ltd. Plywood plant between the years 1957 and 1959.

Series is comprised of documentary record generated by the business activities of Crown Zellerbach Canada Ltd (Southern Interior Wood Products) which purchased the business holdings of S.M. Simpson Ltd. in 1965. Series also includes older materials from mills acquired at the same time as S.M. Simpson Ltd., but which were not affiliated with S.M. Limited during its active existence, namely Lumby Sawmill.
For several years after the acquisition of S.M.S. Ltd., those holdings taken over from S.M. Simpson Ltd. were referred to the S.M. Simpson Ltd. Division of Crown Zellerbach Canada.
In 1973, the name was changed to Crown Zellerbach Canada, and the corporation embarked on a modernization program, documented in this series. In 1981, it was purchased by Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd. and the company name was changed to Crown Forest.
Series contains documentation of sawmills located in Kelowna, Lumby, Enderby, Armstrong, Falkland, and Monte Lake, British Columbia.
Series within this sous fonds continue at 2.1.3.