Children’s pageant in British Columbia

In 2011 I bought an album of family snapshots from British Columbia.  No one in the album is identified by last name, so I haven’t been able to identify the family.  Some of the photographs were taken during the years 1915-1917, according to handwritten annotations.  A girl named Hazel appears in many of them, so it may have been her album.

The photo above may document a Christmas pageant.  One member of the cast resembles Santa Claus, although it’s hard to be sure.  The most striking element may be the British and American flags flanking the stage.  If the pageant took place in 1917, the year the United States entered the First World War, the flags would have served as symbols of the military alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States.  Canada, as a British Dominion, had been in the war since 1914.

The album provides other glimpses into the life of children in British Columbia at this time.  We see them camping, fishing, canoeing, picnicking and even playing tennis.  It looks like a great place to grow up.  The last photo, labeled Mother, is the nicest portrait in the album.

“Fishing Bear Lake, BC”

“At Twin Bay” (1917)

“The Campers” (1917) – I think Hazel is in the middle

I think Hazel is on the right

1915. I think Hazel is in the middle, holding a kitten. At right is her mother.

“Mother”