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History: Overlynn Mansion was built by Charles J. Peter in 1909. Peter was the manager of G.F. & J. Galt Company and he pioneered the development of the Vancouver Heights area in North Burnaby, believing it was one of the most picturesque districts in Greater Vancouver. He developed his own estate with the hope that this would be an incentive to lure buyers to the subdivision. The house remained as the Peter home until 1936, when the estate was sold to the Sisters of Charity of Halifax, a Catholic order which had moved to Vancouver Heights in 1927 to operate a school. The mansion became their convent and new girls' school known as Seton Academy. The mansion's original conservatory was demolished and a two-storey addition was constructed. In 1970 when the school closed, Overlynn was purchased by Action Line Housing Society which developed the senior's development on the property. It was designated by Burnaby Council in 1995 and was the first heritage building in B.C. to have its interior features protected.

Scope and Content: Fonds consists of receipts, agreements, and registry letter for family home on Harwood Street, along with an election slip, a labour publication, and a propaganda leaflet related to Lawrence Brainerd, as well as a newspaper clipping from 2013 and photocopied and copy-printed early photographs of th…

Scope and Content: Fonds consists of receipts, agreements, and registry letter for family home on Harwood Street, along with an election slip, a labour publication, and a propaganda leaflet related to Lawrence Brainerd, as well as a newspaper clipping from 2013 and photocopied and copy-printed early photographs of the family.

History: Lawrence and Violet Brainerd came to Vancouver in 1925 or 1926. Lawrence purchased a small house on Harwood Street in North Burnaby for his wife and two children from her previous marriage. Roy Brainerd was born in 1928 at Royal Columbian Hospital. His sister Patricia Brainerd (later White) was born in 1931, also at Royal Columbian Hospital. Lawrence rebuilt and renovated the house to fit his growing family, planting abundant vegetable gardens and building a chicken coop, and paid off his taxes by doing roadwork for the municipality. Violet Brainerd supplemented her family's income by doing in-home nursing, as she'd been a nurse in France during the war. Roy Brainerd started at Douglas Road School in 1934 and then attended Hugh M. Fraser High School. Roy left his high school at 15 to work for Snap-On Tools, working his way up from pushing a broom to becoming a branch manager. He retired in 1983 after 41 years of service. Together with his wife, Carol, Roy raised three daughters.

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