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Interview with Rick Sporns by Kathy Bossort October 30, 2015 - Track 4
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/oralhistory606
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date Range
- 1900-2015
- Length
- 0:17:11
- Summary
- This portion of the interview is about Rick Sporn’s discussion of the value of natural areas to Burnaby, the city’s history of protecting green spaces, and the complementary role the Pavilion area plays in the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area. He talks about how the rose garden and “Playground of…
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Summary
- This portion of the interview is about Rick Sporn’s discussion of the value of natural areas to Burnaby, the city’s history of protecting green spaces, and the complementary role the Pavilion area plays in the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area. He talks about how the rose garden and “Playground of the Gods” sculptures (Kamui Mintara) help Pavilion area visitors more fully appreciate the mountain setting. He also talks about the history of the construction of the Kamui Mintara sculptures.
- Date Range
- 1900-2015
- Length
- 0:17:11
- Names
- Burnaby Mountain Centennial Rose Garden
- Burnaby Mountain Centennial Park
- Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area
- Kamui Mintara
- Central Park
- Geographic Access
- Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area
- Interviewer
- Bossort, Kathy
- Interview Date
- October 30, 2015
- Scope and Content
- Recording is of an interview with Rick Sporns conducted by Kathy Bossort. Rick Sporns was one of 23 participants interviewed as part of the Community Heritage Commission’s Burnaby Mountain Oral History Project. The interview is mainly about Rick Sporn’s description of the history and design of Burnaby Mountain Centennial Rose Garden and the significance of the Centennial Pavilion area in the Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area. Rick Sporns also talks about his career with the City of Burnaby’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services, management of Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area, and the value of natural areas to Burnaby.
- Biographical Notes
- Richard Sporns was born in 1957 in Daly Municipality, Manitoba, to Ulrich and Charlotte Sporns. The family moved to the Burquitlam Area of Burnaby in about 1965. Rick Sporns obtained his BSc degree in biology at SFU and a degree in landscape architecture at UBC. In 1985 he began his career in the City of Burnaby’s Park, Recreation and Cultural Services department where he currently is Assistant Manager - Parks Design. Rick was responsible for designing Burnaby Mountain Centennial Rose Garden, a legacy project proposed by Mark Stockdale to commemorate Burnaby’s 1992 Centennial. The rose garden opened to the public July 18, 1992.
- Total Tracks
- 6
- Total Length
- 1:01:40
- Interviewee Name
- Sporns, Richard "Rick"
- Interview Location
- City of Burnaby Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services meeting room
- Interviewer Bio
- Kathy Bossort is a retired archivist living in Ladner, BC. She worked at the Delta Museum and Archives after graduating from SLAIS (UBC) in 2001 with Masters degrees in library science and archival studies. Kathy grew up in Calgary, Alberta, and, prior to this career change, she lived in the West Kootenays, earning her living as a cook for BC tourist lodges and work camps. She continues to be interested in oral histories as a way to fill the gaps in the written record and bring richer meaning to history.
- Collection/Fonds
- Community Heritage Commission Special Projects fonds
- Media Type
- Sound Recording
Audio Tracks
Track four of interview with Rick Sporns
Track four of interview with Rick Sporns
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/media/hpo/_Data/_Archives_Oral_Histories/_Unrestricted/MSS196-008/MSS196-008_Track_4.mp3
Interview with W.H. O'Brien July / August 1975 - Track 1
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/link/oralhistory18
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Date Range
- 1914-1932
- Length
- 0:08:44
- Summary
- This portion of the interview pertains to W.H. "Harry" O'Brien's early childhood including the reasons why his family first moved to Burnaby, his first experiences of unemployment and what initially drew him to the Working Organization in Burnaby and their protest against evictions.
- Repository
- City of Burnaby Archives
- Summary
- This portion of the interview pertains to W.H. "Harry" O'Brien's early childhood including the reasons why his family first moved to Burnaby, his first experiences of unemployment and what initially drew him to the Working Organization in Burnaby and their protest against evictions.
- Date Range
- 1914-1932
- Photo Info
- Harry and Gertrude (Sutherland) O'Brien on their wedding day, October 12, 1940. Item no. 315-005
- Length
- 0:08:44
- Subjects
- Organizations
- Protests and Demonstrations
- Geographic Access
- Inman Avenue
- Historic Neighbourhood
- Central Park (Historic Neighbourhood)
- Interviewer
- Bradbury, Dr. Bettina
- Interview Date
- July / August 1975
- Scope and Content
- Recording is a taped interview with W.H. "Harry" O'Brien by SFU (Simon Fraser University) graduate student Bettina Bradbury. Major themes discussed are: the Army of the Common Good, the Union of the Unemployed and the Common Good Credit Union (now the South Burnaby Credit Union). To view "Narrow By" terms for each track expand this description and see "Notes".
- Biographical Notes
- W.H. “Harry” O’Brien was born in the coal mining town of Nanaimo, British Columbia on October 20, 1914. He came to Burnaby with his parents and five siblings in 1927. Harry’s mother, a school teacher, wanted her children to live closer to school in order to obtain a better education, so the O’Brien family settled at Inman Avenue, Burnaby. Harry's mother, Mary Anne Crossan, was Gilmore Avenue School's first teacher. Harry left school in June of 1929. Harry’s father worked as the caretaker at Central Park around this time and Harry helped him to clear brush, plant trees and enforce the land clearing and wood cutting permit regulations held by men who were on script. Although too young to vote by just over a week, Harry O'Brien worked as a scrutineer for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) during the 1935 Federal Election. On October 12, 1940 Harry O'Brien married Gertrude Sutherland at St. John the Divine in Burnaby. The Sutherland family came to Burnaby from Winnipeg in 1933 and settled at Nelson Avenue. Harry began his involvement with the Unemployment Organization in Burnaby by participating in an organised protest against the municipality for homeowner evictions brought on by unpaid taxes. The South Burnaby Union of the Unemployed organised in order to protest rules around receiving Relief. Harry became involved, eventually becoming one of the spearheads of the organization, taking over as secretary by 1936. Harry was an original member of the Army of the Common Good, helping to produce over one hundred and twenty-five tons of vegetables from its own gardens to feed Burnaby citizens suffering from the lack of resources during the Depression years. The members of the Army of the Common Good who cut wood for consumption or worked in the gardens were given credit for their work through LU (Labour Units) which they could then use to buy groceries and that at the Army's Cooperative stores, one of which was at McKay Avenue, where Harry began working as Manager of Groceries in 1937. The Credit Union movement of British Columbia was also organized by Harry O'Brien and his fellow Army of the Common Good members. W.H. "Harry" O'Brien died July 1, 1992.
- Total Tracks
- 9
- Total Length
- 1:17:56
- Interviewee Name
- O'Brien, Harry
- Interviewer Bio
- Bettina Bradbury teaches history and women's studies at York University. She is the author of Wife to Widow. Lives, Laws and Politics in Nineteenth-century Montreal. (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, June 2011), 520p; Working Families. Age, Gender and Daily Survival in Industrializing Montreal. (Toronto: Canadian Social History Series, McClelland and Stewart, 1993); (Republished Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1996) (3rd edition, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007). These interviews were undertaken after she completed her MA at Simon Fraser University in 1975 with the support of an LIP grant.
- Collection/Fonds
- Burnaby Historical Society fonds
- Subseries
- Oral history subseries
- Transcript Available
- None
- Media Type
- Sound Recording
- Web Notes
- Interview was digitized in 2010 allowing it to be accessible on Heritage Burnaby. The digitization project was initiated by the Community Heritage Commission with support from City of Burnaby Council and the BC History Digitization Program of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia. It was recognized by the Heritage Society of BC with an award in 2012.
Images
Audio Tracks
Track one of interview with W.H.
Track one of interview with W.H.
https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/media/hpo/_Data/_Archives_Oral_Histories/_Unrestricted/100-13-25/100-13-25_Track_1.mp3