LOCAL HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY - Prince George and Region
Questions
Exploring local history and geography can take many forms. Researchers and students can begin with a topic, or can simply dive into the research material and see what what they find. Once initial research is done, it is important to settle on a question. Based on Prince George and its region, here are some examples or areas or themes from which to derive questions:
TIME PERIODS
TIME PERIODS
- Early history or Indigenous peoples versus early history of pioneers and settlement
- Fur Trade era, railway and sawmill era, pulp mills and rapid growth era, modern era, etc.
- Early "characters" such as George Hammond, Charles Millar, Six Mile Mary, Granny Seymour
- Interesting mayors such as W.G. Gillette, Carrie Jane Grey, Harold Moffat
- Parks and their stories, e.g. Fort George Park / Lheidli Tenneh Memorial Park, Moore's Meadow, Ginter's Meadow, Cotttonwood Island, Duchess Park, Paddlewheel Park
- Streets and Roads, i.e. the history behind the names -- start with The Street Names of Prince George - Our History by Canadian Federation of University Women (2005 edition)
- Neighbourhoods or historic areas, e.g. South Fort George, Central Fort George, Downtown, Millar Addition, College Heights. Island Cache
- The Reserve at Shelley
- Local features, e.g. Connaught Hill, The Cutbanks, Hudson Bay Slough
- evolution of landscapes, layers of history, development and expansion, erasing vs preserving the past
- evolving use of greenspace and recreational space, how our community responds to need for recreation
- housing, crime, homelessness, racial tolerance, development concerns, social services vs business in the downtown
- schools (elementary, secondary, college, university), hospital/health care, courts and policing, civic government
- sawmills, pulpmills, stores, oil refinery
- trains, planes, automobiles, paddlewheelers (plus scows and barges)