Want to add your voice to the history of the city?
Surrey’s Heritage Services branch has published a new digital tool to make local history easier for residents to access. The tool, called Memory Map, also allows users to add their voice to “help shape” the story of the city’s past, notes a press release from the City of Surrey.
Memory Map allows residents to mark a point of interest around town, upload their memory about why that spot is significant (in written format), and to upload a picture, if they’d like to.
“We’re excited to offer this new way for people to share their stories with each other,” Kristin Hardie, manager of Heritage Services, said in the release. “History isn’t only about major events, it’s also shaped by personal experiences that connect us through places, perspectives, and generations.”
Heritage Services said the interactive map is growing daily as more and more people add write-ups and photos about their favourite and memorable places across town.
"I'm excited to see the Memory Map. It's an opportunity to share our stories and reflect the diversity of Surrey,” said Surrey resident Lorene Oikawa. “I love hearing the origin stories of how families spent time in Surrey and how certain areas developed over the years.”
Oikawa was one of the first to share a story on Memory Map. She uploaded a childhood memory of when she visited a Japanese Canadian bazaar that was held at a church hall in north Surrey.
According to the release, Oikawa wrote about “enjoying traditional Japanese dishes quickly to make space for the next set of diners.”
While Oikawa hurriedly ate, “her mother chatted with friends. Little did young Lorene know at the time, such gatherings were a way for interned Japanese Canadians to rebuild their community after the internment of the Second World War when Japanese Canadians were forcibly removed from the West Coast, dispossessed, incarcerated and exiled.”
Heritage Services is urging other members of the Surrey community to share stories to help “fill gaps” in the history of the city.
“Residents are invited to pin their memories to help write a more inclusive, personal history of our city,” the release concludes.
Memory Map can be accessed by visiting surrey.ca/memorymap.
Heritage Services, a part of the City of Surrey’s Culture Division, operates Surrey Archives, Historic Stewart Farm, and Totest Aleng: Indigenous Learning House.
