One hundred years ago, British Columbia was a resource-rich province greeting new arrivals from all over the world who'd come to seek their fortunes. Greetings from British Columbia portrays their "land of dreams" as it once was through the very postcards these pioneers may have mailed home to friends and family. These early picture postcards cost only a penny back then, but their historical importance makes them priceless today. Browsing the pages of Greetings from British Columbia is a trip back in time to when Port Essington was a thriving cannery town, Bowen Island was a tourist's delight, and stagecoaches lined Kelowna's main street. Collectively defining the state of affairs in BC a century ago, each one of the images featured in this book has a story to tell.

Fred Thirkell (1930–2009) was born and educated in Vancouver. He obtained his Licentiate in Theology from Anglican Theological College in 1954, and worked as a minister in communities throughout BC and Nova Scotia. He also worked as program coordinator for the Anglican diocese of the Kootenays in Nelson, BC, and as a social worker for the Children’s Aid Society in Vancouver. Fred was keenly interested in history, and he got hooked on collecting vintage postcards while living in Nova Scotia. He later began matching these rare images he had collected with mini-histories. He and Bob Scullion published their first book featuring postcards in 1996.

Fred Thirkell's profile page

Bob Scullion (1937-2009) was born in Glasgow, Scotland, one of Britain's best-preserved Victorian cities. Living there gave him an enthusiasm for and appreciation of cities and their history.

He and Fred Thirkell published eight books with Heritage House in the postcard genre. Four of their books won City of Vancouver Heritage Awards: Breaking News, Frank Gowen's Vancouver, Vancouver and Beyond and Postcards from the Past.

Bob Scullion's profile page