The Slocan Valley was the only area in the West Kootenay that did not have a place to donate items of historical significance. Without a repository in the Slocan Valley, its history was at risk of being dispersed to other areas or deposited in landfills.
In 2011, the Slocan Valley Historical Society was created in order to address that concern. We partnered with the Village of Slocan to use their newly renovated second floor and applied for funding.
We had received a few small donations and in 2012, Slocan-born Innes Cooper donated his vast collection of Slocan’s history to the Village of Slocan. Mr. Cooper had been collecting documents, pictures, and memorabilia for more than 50 years, and had recorded interviews with some of the Valley’s seniors. This donation became the foundation of the Slocan Valley Archives.
We are grateful to the Village of Slocan for providing the space, the Regional District of Central Kootenay for providing start up funding, to Columbia Basin Trust’s Community Initiatives/Affected Areas Programs for providing the bulk of the funding to make this project a reality and finally to Mr. Cooper for his dedication to preserving the history of Slocan.
The Archives is open to the public by request only. To make arrangements with our volunteer Archivist please email archives@slocanvalleyhistory.ca
