The Quesnel and District Museum and Archives opened for the season on Wednesday, May 1.
While the museum continues to maintain its more famous exhibits, like Mandy, the Haunted Doll, or a vanity from the Titanic, it has also added to its C.D. Hoy collection.
C.D. Hoy was a prominent local businessman who immigrated to Canada from China as a teenager in 1902, and lived and worked in the B.C. Interior from 1905 until his death in 1973.
When he arrived in B.C., Hoy’s first job was as a houseboy in Vancouver, where he made $5 a month and used it to pay for English lessons. He worked several jobs across the Interior, before finally settling in Quesnel. At the peak of his success, Hoy owned a hotel, restaurant, dry goods and grocery store, rooming house and his family home. He also took portraits. His properties and businesses took up an entire city block in downtown Quesnel.
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Now, the Quesnel Museum has a gallery of his photos — which recently received a new edition.
Brandee Schutz, the museum assistant, says Hoy’s grandsons, Mark and Robert Hoy, recently donated the desk from one of Hoy’s businesses, as well as tools he used to make watches, a labeler from the C.D. Hoy Company, Hoy’s gold scale and his typewriter.
The new items were assembled this winter and a glass barrier was put in place to protect them.
In addition to the new items, Schutz says the museum’s summer students are set to start work soon, and they will spend the season organizing the events and working to get out in the community.
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