Welcome to the Transcribimus Homepage. Transcribimus is a network of volunteer transcribers who take hand written documents of our early Vancouver history and transcribe them into a searchable state available for free to the general public and researchers.
This entire initiative would not be possible without our volunteer transcribers and our sponsors who are also critical to the success of the project. We thank them!
What’s New?
July 2022:
Leah Minuk has transcribed minutes from 1897:
- April 5 1897 – Electric Poles on Barnard Street Must Be Moved Aside
Darlene Ochotta has transcribed minutes from 1897:
- April 20 1897 – No Music Hall Licenses To Be Issued At Present
Lynn Shane has transcribed minutes from 1897:
- April 26 1897 – Bicycle Parking Approved for a Trial Period
June 2022:
New transcriber Alannah Hall has transcribed minutes from 1897
- March 1, 1897 – Married Women as School Trustees?
also from 1897 from Darlene Ochatta:
- March 30, 1897 – Estimates Granted
and from Lynn Shane:
- February 1, 1897 – Proposed By-Law Will Raise $70,000 for Schools
May 2022:
New transcriber Darlene Ochotta has transcribed minutes from 1897:
- March 4, 1897 – Selover’s Smelter Proposal Rejected
Gerald Soon has transcribed minutes from 1897:
- March 15, 1897 – No Bicycle-Only Roads to be Built
- March 22, 1897 – “Dangerous” Dwellings Ordered Cleaned or Demolished
- March 26, 1897 – Vancouver to Hold Referendum on Smelter Bonus
- March 29, 1897 – Pound Dogs’ Feed Costs 10 Cents Per Day Each
New transcriber Lynn Shane has transcribed minutes from 1897:
- February 15 1897 – Safer Jail Accommodations Called For
April 2022:
On April 28, 2022 Transcribmus celebrated the completion of ten years of Vancouver City Council minutes transcription — six hundred and nine documents contained in 4,569 pages. Fifty two volunteer transcribers and nine sponsors contributed to this milestone accomplishment.
We are so pleased to have been mentioned in the Vancouver Sun and Province on April 30 and May 1. Reporter John Mackie referred to us in two articles covering “Belle” Rogers, who in February 1886 came to Granville as a sixteen year old schoolgirl. Granville became Vancouver in May 0f 1886. John Mackie found our transcript of Belle’s reminiscences helpful in researching more about Belle and her remarkable life.
A Rare Glimpse of Vancouver Before It Was Vancouver visit the Vancouver Sun website for a fascinating read with much more about Belle Rogers, her travels, her connections, and her times.
A New City Emerging from the Forest
Published May 1, 2022 by the Vancouver Province reporter John Mackie
Joanne McCormick has transcribed Vancouver City Council minutes from 1898:
- January 3, 1898 – Council Meeting Adjourned in Memory of David Oppenheimer
- January 10 1897 – Council for 1897 Wrap Up Business
- January 17, 1898 10:00 am – Council for 1897 Vote Condolences to Templeton Family
- January 17, 1898 11:00 am – Council for 1898 Adjourned in Memory of William Templeton
- January 20, 1898 – Committees Formed for 1898
- January 24, 1898 – Committees Begin the Work of 1898
Gerald Soon has transcribed Vancouver City Council minutes from 1897:
- January 18, 1897 10:00am – Final Meeting for Council of 1896
- January 18, 1897 12:00 pm – First Meeting for Council of 1897
- January 25, 1897 – Vancouver Wants Industrial Railway to the Coast
Click here to see more recently published sets of Vancouver City Council Minutes
We hope you will enjoy exploring your history through our website. There is so much more to do. We hope to expand our service to other handwritten documents of our history.
Volunteer Transcribers
Perhaps you might consider becoming a volunteer yourself. Together our remarkable volunteers have contributed 575 transcriptions of early Vancouver City Council minutes, as follows:
Master Scribes (more than 50 sets of minutes):
| Margaret Sutherland | 150 |
| Gerald Soon | 97 |
| Darrin Pezer – Proactive Building Maintenance | 88 |
| Joy Marie Vasquez | 80 |
| Joanne McCormick | 51 |
Journeyman Scribes (25-50 sets of minutes):
| Chris Stephenson | 45 |
| Donna Kynaston | 24 |
| Krystyna Richards | 23 |
Working Scribes (5-24 sets of minutes):
| Leah Minuk | 13 |
| Martha Hazevoet | 12 |
| Linda Evans | 9 |
| L. Ellema | 8 |
| Bronwen Cripps | 7 |
| Cathy Harmer | 7 |
| Christine Cathcart | 7 |
| YVR Mike | 6 |
| Chris Mizzoni – Nitzy’s Hockey Den | 5 |
| David Laing | 5 |
| Hal Bell-Irving | 5 |
| Mary Ann Capistrano | 5 |
| Rachel Amanda Hennessy | 5 |
| Susan M. Willows | 5 |
Apprentice Scribes (1-4 sets of minutes):
| Leesa Poffenroth | 4 |
| Brenda Chapman | 3 |
| Sue Bryant | 3 |
| Alan Hart | 2 |
| Anita Dos Santos | 2 |
| Gent Ng | 2 |
| Judy Lam Maxwell – Historical Chinatown Tours | 2 |
| Lesley H. | 2 |
| Sharon Mowat | 2 |
| Alannah Hall | 2 |
| Darlene Ochatta | 2 |
| Lynn Shane | 3 |
| Andrea Mitchell | 1 |
| Andrew S. Liebman | 1 |
| Cinda Jong | 1 |
| Devin Harlos | 1 |
| Glen Hodges | 1 |
| Jane Edmonds | 1 |
| Janny P. | 1 |
| Janet Von Siemens | 1 |
| Jenn Ashton | 1 |
| John Belshaw – Vancouver Historical Society | 1 |
| Jordan Cripps | 1 |
| Karen Gillespie | 1 |
| Lynne Jambor | 1 |
| Maria Kluckova | 1 |
| Mary Norris | 1 |
| Michelle C. | 1 |
| Sara Keay | 1 |
| Siobhan Devlin | 1 |
| Tegbir Kaur | 1 |