The sagacious steward of the Sechelt Community Archives is stepping down after almost three decades overseeing the community’s collection of historical records.
Ann Watson, withdrawing from her duties at the age of 91, plans to travel extensively with her husband Ivor. Liberated from her customary Thursday office hours at the archival stacks on Teredo Street, Watson also intends to step up her pickleball coaching and competitive gameplay at the Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre.
Watson began organizing Sechelt’s collections in 1997. She had just completed a relocation of archival materials from the Anglican Church’s Christ Church Cathedral to the Vancouver School of Theology. During the subsequent decade, she traveled to and from Vancouver each week, setting the cathedral records in order while instituting archival systems in Sechelt.
“What I found out,” she said, “is that you find a job you like and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Watson began her career in her native Scotland as a history and geography teacher. Thanks to her husband’s work as an exploration geologist, the pair traveled the world, with Watson continuing as an educator for 30 years. When the pair finally settled in British Columbia, she enrolled in the public history program of Simon Fraser University. She contributed to the creation of a heritage inventory for the City of Burnaby, and volunteered for 15 years with the archaeology lab at the University of BC’s Museum of Anthropology.
In Sechelt, she assumed responsibility for the mammoth collection of documents accumulated by one of the district’s foremost chroniclers: Helen Dawe. Dawe had been head of the acquisition department at the Vancouver Public Library until 1965, when she moved permanently to Sechelt. Dawe was an inveterate collector and annotator; her collection of archival ephemera constituted 12 four-drawer filing cabinets and between 50-60 linear feet of records when Watson first took stock.
Over the intervening 27 years of Watson’s stewardship, the collection has more than quadrupled in size — not counting its three-dimensional artifacts. Even so, Dawe’s influence (she died in 1983) remains prominent. “You just look at her notes in the margins of various things,” said Watson, “and you realize that she was a perfectionist and stickler for accuracy, and she didn’t suffer fools gladly.”
In her duties as archivist, Watson was responsible for cataloguing records relevant to the district’s history (her immaculately labelled shelves are filled with newspapers and minutes of local organizations). She also handled regular information requests from District staff and members of the public. Specific tales intrigued her: the family of Herbert Whitaker, who set up the original community of Sechelt; and an unsolved murder in Halfmoon Bay in 1920 (which also inspired a book by historical novelist Ruth Rodgers, Those Who Wander).
“Ann’s dedication and passion for the Sechelt archives and preservation of local history have ensured that future generations will always have a window into our past, pun intended,” said John Henderson, Mayor of District of Sechelt. “Ann has been the guardian of our community’s history, meticulously preserving our stories and heritage and we can’t thank her enough. Her contributions will be remembered and cherished for years to come.”
In 2023, Heritage BC presented Watson with a Lifetime Achievement Award. It became the sole decoration on her austere office wall, other than a clipped cartoon (“Noah!” exclaims an assistant to the Biblical shipbuilder, “Where will I put the bees?” — “In the Ark Hives,” replies the patriarch).
As part of an ongoing service agreement with the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives, the museum’s archival assistant Allie Bartlett will take over Watson’s responsibilities.
Even on her last day in the office, Watson became blissfully mired in details. A visitor dug for data about 20th-century condominium construction. A newly donated 1833 survey of world history (discovered in Lund) needed to find a home. She pored through her accession ledger, double-checking facts and dates.
“The archives are our tangible evidence of the history of Sechelt and the Coast,” Watson said. “It’s important that we keep it, because so many people want to know about their past or their family’s past or the town’s past. I think it’s important that we know what went on. What would we do if we didn’t have history?”
