Janet Bowden (nee Wilde) was born in England. While on a visit to England in 1896 or 1897, Mabel Higgs (later the wife of Martin Allerdale Grainger) and her sister Winifred (later Grey) persuaded Janet's mother to take Janet, then about ten or eleven years old, to B.C. to educate and raise her. She worked as a stenographer in Seattle, Kelowna, and Victoria. In 1941 or 1942, she married J.L. Bowden. Janet Bowden died in Victoria.
The fonds consists of an album containing photographs and a copy of Martin Allerdale Grainger's "Woodsmen of the West" (1908). Photographs include individuals and groups; houses on Samuel Island, Eburne, Vancouver; Martin Grainger's house on Lampson Street, Esquimalt; and views of the coast of B.C., including the Gulf Islands.