June 2025
With the end of the 2024/25 lecture series, Michael Kluckner has retired as president of the Vancouver Historical Society after a decade at the helm.
A unique blend of visual artist and writer (his website is here), Michael shepherded the society through a difficult period (COVID) while maintaining membership, attracting younger members, taking the lectures online and acting as a...
Perhaps nothing signifies the importance of the Hudson's Bay Company to Canada's past than the fact that forty years ago a book publisher was willing to pay Peter Newman an advance of half a million dollars to write the company's history. I recall thinking when I read the news that it must be a misprint; Canadian writers did not get advances that humongous. But there was no mistake. Penguin Canada was gambling that readers understood the drama and the importance of the HBC story and would...