The holiday season is fast approaching! Are you looking for vacation ideas? In this two-part series, we compile images of winter activities and attractions from Open Collections. Enjoy!
Winter sports
Canada is a playground for winter sports lovers. Snowshoeing, sledding, and tobogganing as recreational activities can date back to 19th century. Check out these engravings in Canadian pictures: drawn with pen and pencil from the Chung collection:
Canadian pictures: drawn with pen and pencil, 1884, p.47
Canadian pictures: drawn with pen and pencil, 1884, p.48
Here are more illustrations of winter sports from the book Our own country, Canada: scenic and descriptive. Being an account of the extent, resources, physical aspect, industries, cities and chief towns of the provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, the North-west Territory, and British Columbia. With sketches of travel and adventure. Illustrated with three hundred and sixty engravings in the BC Historical Books Collection. The book was published in 1889.
Do not try it at home!
These postcards from the Uno Langmann Family Collection of British Columbia Photographs show winter leisure in Vancouver.
Skating on Trout Lake, Vancouver, B.C., [between 1915 and 1925?]
Winter sports, Grouse Mountain Park, North Vancouver, B.C., [between 1922 and 1941?]
Manual 1907-8 of the British Columbia (formerly Kootenay) Curling Association in affiliation with the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, 1908
Finally, if none of the above strikes your fancy, there are also some unconventional games. This cartoon from Tremaine Arkley Croquet Collection depicts fictional winter sports that “suit all tastes”.
New games for Christmas, 1911
