14 replies to this topic

[Jacques Cadé]

Heritage fans will find this interesting. The entire six minutes of footage that William Harbeck shot in Victoria in 1907 has been posted at http://unknownvictoria.blogspot.com

Especially nice are the opening minutes, taken from the front of a streetcar rolling along Douglas, Yates, and Government. Gives a great sense of the city at the time.

[Ms. B. Havin]

^ thanks for posting this -- some great views of Victoria!

(Plus, the Raeside cartoon Crockford posted in the previous entry -- on the occasion of the Empress's 100th b-day -- is priceless <"liked the old mudflats better">, lol...)

[aastra]

Crap. That video of old Victoria doesn't play properly for me. I can't see the big setbacks.

[G-Man]

That video is awesome. One of the best finds ever!

[Caramia]

Oh that is just lovely! Thanks so much for the post!

[Number Six]

Fantastic! I had seen parts of it at the Bay's museum, but as the blogger mentioned, it was mixed in with Vancouver footage. I especially like the streetcar portion ... jaywalking was popular in 1907!

[Rob Randall]

HALLMARK SOCIETY VIDEO PROJECT

On May 4, 1907, William Harbeck produced a cinematograph of downtown Victoria by streetcar. His route began at City Hall, travelled down Douglas Street, went via Yates to Government, and concluded at the Post Office. He so loved the growing Empress Hotel site that he took a panoramic view of the harbour, including the Legislative Buildings and the CPR terminal.

Now, the Hallmark Society is producing an interactive website outlining the streetcar route with links indicating the present day and the historical development of Victoria. They’re also producing a video of the route as it is today and a DVD for free distribution to schools and educational institutes. They’re asking for the help of businesses along the route – old photos, old invoices, and historical material they could use. They’ll provide links to current businesses’ websites in exchange for donations. But they’re operating under a tight deadline – for funding reasons, the project must be completed by March 31, 2009.

For further information or to help with the project, contact project manager Helen Edwards at 250-382-4755 or office@hallmarksociety.ca.

[LJ]

What a great film. As a "newcomer" to the area the only things I recognized right off were the parliment buildings and the gorge. Sorta wish someone could have superimposed descriptions of what you were looking at.

That Hallmark Society film would be a definite must see.

[Jacques Cadé]

If you can't wait for the Hallmark Society's release in April, UVic's history department already has a version of the film, with added narration – and superimposed descriptions! – posted here:

http://web.uvic.ca/l...eo/the_ride.php

[LJ]

Thanks for the link - that's what I needed.

[Heritagelady]

The Hallmark Society's website about the Harbeck video is now up and running. Due the time constraints of the funding we received, we had to get it finished by March 31. We will continue to improve the site as we gain more information.

The site can be found at http://www.hallmarks...beck/index.html

It will be officially launched at our birthday party on April 18th at 2 pm at 18 Centennial Square. If you would like to attend, let us know at office@hallmarksociety.ca

HeritageLady

[Caramia]

Thanks HeritageLady! And welcome to VV!

[Phil McAvity]

Wow, great video Heritagelady! It took me watching it a few times to figure out that he went from Douglas to Yates to Government St. since things have changed a bit in the past 102 years.

[Mike K.]

That's so cool

[Holden West]

Here's a similar movie taken from a streetcar featuring 1905 San Francisco. The quality is far superior in part due to extensive restoration by Hewlett Packard.

http://fora.tv/2008/...isco#chapter_12