The B.C. Genealogical Society has given recognition to a book originally composed by local Alice Glanville and updated by former Rock Creek and current North Vancouver resident Susan Dahlo.
In honour of its 40th anniversary, the genealogical society will begin awarding a new, annual, family history book award and Schools of the Boundary: Early Schools in the Boundary of British Columbia was given an honourable mention for 2010.
“I’m delighted,” explained Dahlo when asked about her feelings on receiving recognition by the society.
“I didn’t expect it and it was a surprise when I got the letter in the mail.”
Glanville was also elated about the award as well.
“I think it’s quite an honour when you look at the first-place prize, it was a biographical dictionary of the fur traders, three volumes, so it must’ve taken a fair amount of work,” she said.
Glanville’s Schools of the Boundary, 1891-1991 was originally published back in 1991 but was updated back in 2009 by Susan Dahlo, renamed Schools of the Boundary Early Schools in the Boundary Area of British Columbia and published in 2010.
Glanville, former teacher and librarian at Grand Forks Secondary School, said she wrote the original because she found the topic appealing.
“I was interested in it and I had a lot of material on it,” explained Glanville.
It was likewise for Dahlo, who is a longtime genealogist and has long had an interest in history.
“In the early-80s, Alice gave me a pile of papers with her write-ups of the many one-room schools of the whole Boundary area, which I believe is about 44 or so,” reminisced Dahlo.
“I just became quite interested in the project because I had done quite a bit on where my dad and grandfather had gone to school (Myncaster School near Rock Creek) and so I just started to research in the B.C. sessional papers at UBC and just got all the names of teachers and inspectors and everybody over the years that had taught.”
Dahlo said that she and Glanville compiled all the photos they had and collected memories of people even though Glanville’s book was released.
“I just thought it was an ongoing project for me,” explained Dahlo, adding she wasn’t even thinking about another book.
After a suggestion from a member of the B.C. genealogical society, Dahlo proceeded to work on Schools of the Boundary, V.2, which grew from 138 to 335 pages.
Glanville is impressed with the second iteration of her original work.
“(The current edition) is a larger book with a good index and pictures and names of people in the pictures,” Glanville explained.
“(Susan) took some of the material I had in the original and added extensively to it. To her credit, as far as I’m concerned, she’s the main (author).”