Unarchived

What is the history of BC? Says who? Whose stories are in museums, and whose are left out? Today, we are in the midst of a paradigm shift in consciousness when it comes to exploring history from multiple viewpoints. This zippy NFB documentary surveys the inspiring work of a handful of community archives and collections across British Columbia. It’s an important and timely reminder that the model of a centralized collection of records and artifacts is highly problematic. Indeed, the official version of our history as presented by the Royal Museum of BC, for example, has consciously or not served to propagate a white colonial narrative.

In contrast, we hear eye-opening stories from curators and archivists from groups traditionally marginalized or excluded from museums: Indigenous, Queer, Trans, the Chinese Canadian Museum, the Tahltan Nation, the South Asian Legacy Project, and others. Along the way, we learn the secret, neglected, inspiring, and untold histories of this place we only think we know.

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