Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
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Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on the creator of the fonds.
Level of description
Repository
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
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Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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1883-1977 (Creation)
- Creator
- Burns (family)
Physical description area
Physical description
30 cm of textual records
ca. 450 photographs
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
The Burns family lived in West Vancouver from 1916 to 1978. In his youth, John Arthur (Jack) Burns (1881-1974) was involved in track and field, baseball, and boxing. He worked in composing in the Toronto News offices before moving to Vancouver in 1910, where he worked at The World Newspaper. Later he moved to the News Herald and then the North Vancouver Review and the Vancouver Sun, retiring in 1960. In his earlier years in Vancouver he continued his involvement with sports, playing on a baseball team.
Jack Burns married Maria Lisbeth Becker (nee Weiberneit) who had a daughter, Lillie, from a previous marriage. Jack and Maria had a daughter Mary Lisbeth, later Mary Chapman. Jack was a member of the West Vancouver Ratepayer's Association during his early years in West Vancouver. The Burns family lived at 1434 Argyle Avenue in West Vancouver from 1916 to 1978. Jack Burns died in 1974 at the age of 93, and his wife in 1978 at the age of 91.
Maria Lisbeth was born in Goldap, East Prussia, Germany on July 25, 1887. She travelled to England to be a nanny for an English family for a period of time, then took a ship to Montreal and a train to Vancouver in 1909. There she met and married Joseph Becker, also from Germany. Joseph was a blacksmith in the early logging days around Vancouver and also the owner of a bar at 52 Cordova Street named "The Fountain Grill". Together they had one daughter, Lillie, on March 17, 1912 (d. March 1945). When the marriage ended, Joseph left for Portland, Oregon. Maria met and married Jack Burns soon after.
Mary Burns married James Chapman of Capilano in 1941. They had two children, Marilynne and John Graham Chapman. Marilynne married Terry Mitchison and also had two children, Nicole and Paul Mitchison. They both live in West Vancouver. John Graham married Theresa La Bonte and they had three sons, Blair, Trevor, and Grant Chapman and one daughter Breanna Chapman.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of records of Jack Burns and the Burns family, including photographs, an album containing over 400 photographs, three journals of the the West Vancouver Ratepayers Association from 1913 to 1933, miscellaneous real estate documents, family correspondence, and biographical information.
Fonds is arranged into the following series:
Series 1: Family records
Series 2: West Vancouver Ratepayers Association records
Series 3: Photographs
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
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Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Finding aid available.
Associated materials
The West Vancouver Archives also holds the records of Mary Chapman, daughter of Jack and Maria Burns (085 Mary Chapman fonds).
Accruals
Alpha-numeric designations
BCAUL control number: WVAN-237
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Burns, John Arthur 1881-1974 (Subject)
- West Vancouver Ratepayers' Association (Subject)
Genre access points
Control area
Description record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules or conventions
Rules for Archival Description
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Revised January 2010