It served working people. It informed the middle class. It was founded on the notion that acquiring knowledge should not have a price tag, that books and periodicals and public lectures ought to be universal. And its sister facilities functioned successfully all across Canada. But then, came an administration that did not think so highly of this public service.
“The public library has less relevance,” its then administrator seemed to be saying. “It’s an inconvenience.” (more…)
On Nov. 16, 1860, George Davies made history. The lighthouse keeper climbed the newly constructed, 15-metre-high, conical tower of Fisgard Lighthouse at the entrance to Esquimalt naval harbour on Vancouver Island. His appointment not only helped the British claim sovereignty of the Pacific Coast, it also made a statement about public investment in literacy. In addition to his salary for the nightly lamp lighting atop Fisgard, keeper Davies received a $150 stipend to purchase magazines and books.
“It is of the utmost importance to the interests of the Lighthouse Service,” the Governor of Vancouver Island stated at the time, “that the minds and intellects of the lighthouse keepers should not be allowed to stagnate in their isolated and … desolate stations.”