Fonds consists of three series : I. Diaries, 1902-1963, 44 v of textual records; II. Scrapbooks, 1910-1933, 2 v. of textual records; III. Other material, [1946-1947], 4 items. Diaries pertain to early life in Ontario and Alberta, service as a surveyor in India, service with the Royal Engineers …
E. O. (Edward Oliver) Wheeler, 1890-1962, was a Canadian surveyor, soldier and mountaineer. Wheeler was born in Ottawa, the son of A. O. (Arthur Oliver) Wheeler, Dominion Land Surveyor and founder of the Alpine Club of Canada. E. O. Wheeler served in the Royal Engineers in World War I and received the Military Cross in 1916 and the Legion of Honour (France). In 1941 he was appointed Surveyor-General of India and in 1943 was knighted by King George VI. During World War II, he served as Director of the Frontier Circle of the Survey of India. Wheeler retired to Lavington, British Columbia in 1947. Throughout his life, Wheeler was involved in world mountaineering. He worked on the mapping of the 1922 expedition of Mount Everest and was active in the Alpine Club of Canada, serving as its President from 1950 to 1954
Scope & Content
Fonds consists of three series : I. Diaries, 1902-1963, 44 v of textual records; II. Scrapbooks, 1910-1933, 2 v. of textual records; III. Other material, [1946-1947], 4 items. Diaries pertain to early life in Ontario and Alberta, service as a surveyor in India, service with the Royal Engineers in France and Mesopotamia, 1915-1918, trips on leave from India to Canada, U.S.A., England, South Africa, Asia, south Pacific, and New Zealand. Diaries also detail ACC camp preparations and activities, travel to and from Banff, clubhouse work; travel details, daily activities and accounts of climbs in France and Scotland; trans-Atlantic and trans-Canada voyage; Alpine Club of Canada Vermilion Camp activities; Strathcona, Vancouver Island reconnaissance trip and climbs; travels to California, Hawaii and Japan: travel from Los Angeles to Canada, through British Columbia to Banff; ACC camp at Glacier, B.C.; trip from India to Canada; life in Banff; trips and ACC camps in the Rockies, Selkirks and Kootenay district; ACC activities and operations; travels in the Okanagan, Kootenays and Columbia Valley, BC. Also included in this series are two diaries of his wife Dorothea. Scrapbooks pertain to school life, military training, surveyor's training; Alpine Club of Canada activities and lecture activities; military career, 1910-1919; surveying and mountaineering activities; Mount Everest expedition of 1921. Other material consists of items found loose in the 1946-1948 diaries, including letter written on board ship from Asia to the United States, 1947; photographs of unidentified women, 2 items; and postcard of Vancouver City Hall
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 1, Jul. -Oct. 1902 Roger's Pass July - October 1902 Personal diary containing travel notes, including rising times, sleep patterns, train delays and trips, hunting, travel around Glacier, Cascade, chores, Revelstok…
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 1, Jul. -Oct. 1902 Roger's Pass
July - October 1902
Personal diary containing travel notes, including rising times, sleep patterns, train delays and trips, hunting, travel around Glacier, Cascade, chores, Revelstoke, mentions of Mrs. Schaffer, Mr. Vaux
Nine page story "Hiawatha", One page poem "The Cowboy on the Wheel"
From back: campsite diagram, three drawings of CPR trains, "The God-darned wheel" story, 2 drawings of CPR trains
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 2, Jan. -Aug. 1903 Calgary, Lake Louise Personal diary with list of letters written and recieved day by day from January to June, mentions of Laggan trip, Lake Louise, Glacier, Pulpit Peak, Mt. Gordon, Peyto Lake, …
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 2, Jan. -Aug. 1903 Calgary, Lake Louise
Personal diary with list of letters written and recieved day by day from January to June, mentions of Laggan trip, Lake Louise, Glacier, Pulpit Peak, Mt. Gordon, Peyto Lake, Calgary.
Pressed leaf in middle of book
11 pages of numbers at back of book, list of places numbered 1-145, 6 pages of numbers, "Pullmans" numbered 1-44
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 3, Jan. -Dec. 1905 Ontario. Personal diary. First entry "Didn't keep a diary for '04", daily routines, interactions with Grandma Wheeler, weather conditions, return to school, school work, documented classmates' il…
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 3, Jan. -Dec. 1905 Ontario.
Personal diary. First entry "Didn't keep a diary for '04", daily routines, interactions with Grandma Wheeler, weather conditions, return to school, school work, documented classmates' illnesses, playing hockey, dancing class, interactions with Pinkie, swimming
Christmas List, significant dates: weather and school, hockey matches and scores, list of addresses, cash account by month
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 4, Jan. -Aug. 1906 Ontario, Alberta. Personal diary accounting leisure activities, at home in Alberta until return to school in January, hockey, descriptions of some meals and snacks, Glee Club, dancing class, temp…
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 4, Jan. -Aug. 1906 Ontario, Alberta.
Personal diary accounting leisure activities, at home in Alberta until return to school in January, hockey, descriptions of some meals and snacks, Glee Club, dancing class, temperature notations, trip to Moose Jaw, Field, camping, photography
List of significant dates, hockey games and scores, weather record, Treats I owe and Treats I am owed, Cash Account
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 5, 1910 Trip: U.S.A. Trip: Sidney, B.C. to London, ENG. Personal diary accounting Easter trip to NY 24/3/10-29/3/10, travel and train details, Washington, DC Sidney, BC, Seattle, to London, Eng. September 5-23, tra…
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 6, Sept. 1912-Apr. 1913 India Personal diary accounting boat trip to Shanghai, rickshaw trip , travels within Shanghai and interactions and observations with locals, weather, homesickness, boat trip to Singapore, l…
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 6, Sept. 1912-Apr. 1913 India
Personal diary accounting boat trip to Shanghai, rickshaw trip , travels within Shanghai and interactions and observations with locals, weather, homesickness, boat trip to Singapore, leisure, Calcutta, train travel
Lists of expenses Glasgow to Calcutta
Two week long Kotdwara exploration, elephants, tigers, various other animals, shooting; list of expenses, packing list, Xmas 1913 expenses list
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 7, Apr. -May 1914 India Personal diary containing kit list, travel, extensive discussion of "coolies", hiking, mountaineering, dehydration, discussion of altitudes, several sketches of mountains, descriptions of nu…
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 7, Apr. -May 1914 India
Personal diary containing kit list, travel, extensive discussion of "coolies", hiking, mountaineering, dehydration, discussion of altitudes, several sketches of mountains, descriptions of numbered photos not present
Peaks include: NagTibba ridge, Dharassu, Dounda, Kedarganga, Glacier No.1, Batwari
Several pages stuck together throughout
Summary and notes including weather, routes, kit, food, topography, costs, wages, remarks
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 8, Jan.-Oct. 1915 war diary: France Personal diary. Front cover indicates it should be mailed to Mrs. A. O. Wheeler in Sidney, BC, book is a Field Message Book, with graph paper and tear out pages, written in penci…
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 8, Jan.-Oct. 1915 war diary: France
Personal diary. Front cover indicates it should be mailed to Mrs. A. O. Wheeler in Sidney, BC, book is a Field Message Book, with graph paper and tear out pages, written in pencil
Opens with discussion of leave, making shelters in front trench, daily routines of leave, trench maintenance, weather changes, discussion of orders for attacks, specific tasks if successful, postponing of attacks, "gave some water and chocolate to one wounded German", description of attacks, "yarn" about Canadian Div man regarding spies, second leave description, leisure, diagrams of dugouts, Dead Man's Trench
Diagrams at back of sick, wounded, killed- significant casualties on March 14.
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 9, Nov. 1915-May 1916 Mesopotamia Personal diary. Front cover indicates it should be mailed to Mrs. A. O. Wheeler in Sidney, BC, book is a Field Message Book, with graph paper and tear out pages, written in pencil …
Label supplied by Provincial Archives of British Columbia: 314 Wheeler, Oliver, Vol. 9, Nov. 1915-May 1916 Mesopotamia
Personal diary. Front cover indicates it should be mailed to Mrs. A. O. Wheeler in Sidney, BC, book is a Field Message Book, with graph paper and tear out pages, written in pencil
Weather descriptions, drills, Auchy-au-Boris, Marseilles, canal trip, Red Sea, first Christmas at sea, Magil, man shot himself in shoulder during march, Qalat Saleh, digging "Corps Trench", 'Orah, monitoring trench digging
Page with drawings of boats pinned to page near middle, drawing of skyline, drawings of mahaila and ballam, diagrams of mullah, map Persia and Turkey in Asia, diagram of British trench, main camp,Turk Line, drawing of British flag on back inside cover