There are a few “Steveston bums” hanging on the wall at Richmond Public Library this week.
And, believe it not, it’s all to do with the run up to Remembrance Day on Sunday, Nov. 11.
Every year, the library inside Richmond Cultural Centre creates a display to commemorate and education library goers about the local contributions and sacrifices made in the First World War.
This time around, the library enlisted the help of the Friends of the Richmond Archives to profile local soldiers, including the self-titled “Steveston bums.”
Two of the three pictures, sourced and framed by the archives people, show Richmond soldiers during the war.
“We put them up on Saturday and will have them up all week,” said the library’s head of Kids’ Place, Kate Adams.
“People looking at the pictures will see some familiar Richmond names, such as Gilmour and London.”
Making a return at the library is the opportunity for people to write messages of goodwill and thanks to Canada’s veterans.
Kids can draw a picture if they want to and the library will make sure it gets to the veterans.
Taking particular pride of place for Adams in the Remembrance Day display corner is “Soldier Files,” which contains a collection of personnel files of soldiers, some of them local, mostly from the Lower Mainland.
“This was put together a few years ago, thanks to Library and Archives Canada to try and make history more accessible to Canadians,” added Adams.
“It contains information about when they joined the war, their letters, their medical information.
“It’s often used by school kids for scavenger hunting. We task them to find certain information in the files, which are available all the time, not just around Remembrance Day.”
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