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About the Cumberland Museum & Archives: When the last coal mine closed in 1966, visionaries of the day decided the history of Cumberland was worth preserving. Local businessman E. W. Bickle had donated the old Comox Free Press building at 2757 Dunsmuir Avenue to the Chamber of Commerce and by 1969 it housed the first Cumberland Museum: displays of old mining equipment, farming and household implements, items from the hospital, a few models, and a lot of photographs, staffed by retired miners and village volunteers. By 1981 the museum had outgrown the space. With village support, government grants, and fundraising efforts by the newly formed Cumberland & District Historical Society, the museum was relocated to a new building at 2680 Dunsmuir Avenue, where it is still housed today. Exhibits and programs continue to tell the stories of the people of Cumberland--the rich, the poor, the powerful, the rebellious, the righteous, and the radical. Rhonda Bailey has had a career as an editor, publisher, and teacher of publishing. She has worked as an editor for publishers across the country, served on the boards of national publishing associations, and holds a Master of Publishing degree from Simon Fraser University. Retired from the Creative Writing Department of Vancouver Island University, she is currently a VIU honorary research associate. Although deeply rooted in Nanaimo, Bailey feels connected to Cumberland through her family heritage: her maternal grandmother emigrated from Maryport in Cumberland, England, to Canada after the First World War, and two of her great-uncles worked in Vancouver Island coal mines. She was pleased to team up with the writers and the Cumberland Museum & Archives to develop this book.
