by Tanja Hütter

In the 1920s, the HBC was looking to expand its markets and sent a small group on the SS Baychimo to post-revolutionary Russia. In Kamchatka, Siberia, the traders met and exchanged goods with the Chukchi, a northern indigenous group. The Chukchi were so taken with the novelty of the HBC's ship that they carved this ivory reproduction. In 1931, the ship got caught in the ice off Barrow, Alaska, where it was unloaded and abandoned. It did not sink, however, and eventually became known as the “ghost ship of the Arctic” — with sightings of the Baychimo taking place every few years in various parts of the North. The last sighting was in 1969. The Alaskan government recently began efforts to locate its final resting place. To learn more about the Chukchi carvings and the SS Baychimo, watch the video at CanadasHistory.ca/CarvingStories.

90 Years Ago

Royal wedding watch

On April 26, 1923, London-based Hudson's Bay Company employee Nancy Buckingham and five of her mates were granted permission to leave their office duties to view the wedding procession of Prince Albert, Duke of York (who would later be King George VI) and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Buckingham's observations, including a self-deprecating consideration of her own actions at the event, were published in the June 1923 issue under the title “The Royal Wedding.” Even with the advantage of her tall stature, Buckingham resorted to any means, “fair or foul,” to see all that she could.

60 Years Ago

Amused and Amazed

James McCook, parliamentary correspondent for the Ottawa Journal in 1953, had a strong interest in the history of the Prairie provinces. In “Peers on the Prairie,” appearing in the June 1953 issue, McCook highlighted the humourous tales of titled tourists and their fascination with hunting expeditions in the West. He described how one English earl visiting in 1859 "set a pattern of bull-headedness and eccentricity, imperiousness and generosity forever after expected of the peer on the prairie." Cartoon illustrations by James Simpkins accompanied the article.

30 Years Ago

For the birds

In the Summer 1983 issue, Charles A. E. Brandt, a chief conservator with the Privincial Archives of Manitoba, described the challenges of restoring 109 prints of Volume I of John James Audubon's Birds of America. High acidity in the paper was an obvious problem, but compounding the task was the excess breakage of the leaves. The grain of the paper ran horizontally and the pages did not fall flat when open because of the whipstitching used to bind the book. Bird illustrations and photos of Brandt at work were included.