Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- [ca.1920-1950] (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
3 cm of textual records. -- 6 photograph albums (406 photographs)
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Ernest William James, 1889-1952, was born in Kobe, Japan to British parents and became a prominent businessman there before the Second World War with A. Cameron & Co. Ltd. His firm represented several large British Columbia businesses including the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company (Cominco), the British Columbia Pulp and Paper Company and the British Columbia Shipbuilders' Federation. James was also Swedish Consul in Japan. James built a large estate in Shioya, later called Jamestown. He married Winnifred Hannah, 1889-1950, and they adopted twins girls, Joy and Mary Diana, 1921-2009. The family left Japan at the onset of the war and settled in Vancouver. Diana joined the Women's Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force and was assigned to operational intelligence due to her fluency in Japanese. She trained as a medical photographer at the Shaughnessy Hospital in Vancouver and spent her career at the Colonel Belcher Hospital in Calgary, Alberta. The Diana James Wellness Centre at the Kerby Centre in Calgary is named in honour.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Gift of Estate of Diana James, 2010.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The fonds consists of newspaper clippings and photographs regarding Diana's military and hospital work in Canada; accounts by her father of his life in Japan; and photograph albums of the family activities and Shioya estate in Japan.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
No restrictions on access.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
The material is in English.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
No finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Digital content is available: https://digitalcollections.ucalgary.ca/Package/2R3BF1S3PV6XI
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents of records.
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- James, Diana (Subject)
- James, Ernest (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Wednesday, June 06, 2018