Fonds AR281 - Frank and Cecilia Sylvester family fonds

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Frank and Cecilia Sylvester family fonds

General material designation

Parallel title

Other title information

Title statements of responsibility

Title notes

Level of description

Fonds

Reference code

UVICARCH AR281

Edition area

Edition statement

Edition statement of responsibility

Class of material specific details area

Statement of scale (cartographic)

Statement of projection (cartographic)

Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

Statement of scale (architectural)

Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

Dates of creation area

Date(s)

Physical description area

Physical description

30 cm of textual records;269 photographs

Publisher's series area

Title proper of publisher's series

Parallel titles of publisher's series

Other title information of publisher's series

Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

Numbering within publisher's series

Note on publisher's series

Archival description area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Frank Sylvester (1837-1908) and the family of Cecelia Davies (1848-1935) were active figures in the early Victoria B.C. establishment. They were among the first Jewish arrivals in Victoria and were important to the founding of the Jewish congregation. Frank Sylvester travelled to Victoria from San Francisco in 1858 en route to the Fraser River gold fields, then settled in Victoria in 1863. He joined the auction firm of Joshua Davies and, in 1869, he married Davies daughter, Cecelia, who had moved to Victoria with her parents in 1863. After 15 years at the Davies firm, Sylvester began his own accounting business. Sylvester was prominent in the Victoria Fire Department, the Natural History Society, the Historical Society, and the AOUW. Cecelia Davies Sylvester (1848-1935) was born in Sidney, Australia and moved with her parents to San Francisco, and finally to Victoria in 1863. She was a member of the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire, and was active in charitable organizations and the Jewish community, and was on the board of the Royal Jubilee Hospital, which her father helped found. The Sylvesters had 8 children: Elizabeth, Lousie, william, Clarence, May, Jesse, Rachel and Ruby. Their daughter, Ruby Florence Sylvester, married Lawrence P. Macrae, a descendant of David Mcrae.

Custodial history

Lawrence and Ruby Macrae collected and maintained their family archives.

Scope and content

The fonds consists of 4 series: the Frank Sylvester series, ca. 1862-1908; the Cecelia Davies Sylvester series, ca. 1854-1928; Family ephemera series, 1867-1918, and Photographs, ca. 1870-1950. The Frank Sylvester series includes: cannery contracts, legal invoices, lecture manuscripts, and a diary. The Cecelia Davies Sylvester series includes: an autograph book, and scrapbooks containing clippings, photographs and ephemera. The Family ephemera series includes: biographical information, documents, pamphlets and publications. The Photographs series includes: photographs, negatives, and glass plate negatives.

Notes area

Physical condition

Immediate source of acquisition

Arrangement

Language of material

Script of material

Location of originals

Availability of other formats

Restrictions on access

Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

Finding aids

Inventory available with series and file level control.

Associated materials

Related materials

Accruals

Alpha-numeric designations

BCAUL control number: UVICARCH-340

Alternative identifier(s)

Standard number area

Standard number

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Control area

Description record identifier

Institution identifier

Rules or conventions

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation, revision and deletion

Language of description

Script of description

Sources

Accession area

Related people and organizations

Related places

Related genres