History Research Guide

It all depends on what you want to do with the image.

Materials on the internet are treated the same under copyright law as any other copyright materials, so if you want to use them, you have to either fall within one of the Copyright Act’s exceptions (such as fair dealing) or have permission from the copyright owner.

There is also a new exception in the act (Section 30.04)  that will allow you to copy, play in class, or distribute to students, materials that you have found on the Internet, as long as:

• the material was posted legitimately (i.e. by the or with the consent of the Copyright owner).

• there is no clearly visible notice prohibiting the educational use of the content.

• there is no technological protection measure preventing access to the material or preventing copying of the material (e.g. a presentation on a website like Prezi, or a video on YouTube).

• You properly acknowledged the author (creator) and source (website).

• It is not used for commercial purposes

You should check the website’s ‘Terms of Use’, or ‘Legal Notices’ section to confirm what conditions apply to use of the website’s material. Many websites will allow non-commercial educational use of their materials.

In 1845, Paul Kane, arranged through George Simpson, superintendent of the Hudson's Bay Company, to for him to accompany the fur-trade brigade across the plains to the Columbia District. He joined the brigade at Fort William (Thunder Bay, Ontario) in the spring of 1846 at the Great Rendezvous. He witnessed the last great bison hunt in that region, and followed the Saskatchewan River to Fort Edmonton. From there he crossed the mountains on horseback, descending the western slope of the Rocky Mountains to Boat Encampment. From Boat Encampment he traveled down the Columbia River to Fort Vancouver (Vancouver in Washington State) along the way making sketches of western landscapes and the indigenous peoples. Including coastal tribes around Victoria. He returned to Toronto in 1848, having made over 700 sketches of western scenery and of Indigenous peoples from some 80 tribes.

"Boat Encampment", Hudson's Bay Company voyaguers Maker:Paul Kane (1810 Mallow, Ireland–1871 Toronto, Canada)

Yucho Chow operated is photography studio Vancouver’s Chinatown in 1906 - 1949.

He photographed a time period in B.C. history known for it's tumultuousness and transformation. Making photographs through two world wars; the Spanish Flu; and the Great Depression. Chow’s studio survived despite escalating racial tensions and laws that targeted Chinese and other non-white immigrants. 

Although he was Chinese, Yucho Chow was one of the few professional photographers willing to take photos of non-white customers. He chronicled the lives and special moments for early Sikh and Hindu immigrants; Black residents; mixed-raced families; Indigenous families; and newly-arrived European immigrants from countries like Hungary, Poland, Croatia, Ukraine, Italy, Germany, Sweden, etc.

Foncie Pulice, was one of Vancouver’s best-known street photographers. He took millions of photographs of people from 1935 through 1979 as they strolled along Vancouver’s downtown streets, visited English Bay, Stanley Park, or attended the Pacific National  Exhibition (PNE). 

Getting your photo taken by Foncie was consider to be a rite of passage, part of the experience of going downtown for generations of Vancouverites and visitors to Vancouver.