Daniel Francis

Reading the National Narrative

Blogging Vancouver's Past

Dec 9, 2013

It is the time of year when the media is filled with lists of the "best" books of the year so I thought I'd try something a little different. Here are my favourite blogs about Vancouver history, in no particular order.

Not so long ago I mentioned Lani Russwurm's new book, Vancouver Was Awesome, which is a follow on from his blog of the same name. Lani tells great stories about city personalities and events, accompanied with black and white shots from the archives. Always good reading.

Eve Lazarus is a journalist and author who blogs, mainly about heritage houses but also about other stuff, at Every Place Has a Story.

The City of Vancouver Archives maintains an excellent blog, AuthentiCity, that discusses the historical records in its collection, plentifully illustrated.

Changing Vancouver specializes in then and now photos, featuring before and after shots of buildings and sites around the city.

And most recently I've discovered Vanalogue, a site maintained by Christine Hagemoen. It purports to "celebrate the analogue in the digital world." I'm not sure what that means but I do know that it contains fascinating stuff -- photos, text and video -- about little known corners of the city.

Enjoy!