Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Charles Vernon Smith fonds
General material designation
- Graphic material
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Titled based on contents of fonds.
Level of description
Fonds
Reference code
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
ca. 1943 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
1 photograph
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Custodial history
The Y-building or "chicken farm" was a top secret listening post for the Canadian Naval Intelligence Branch in W.W. II. According to Bruce Brown (who as Aide to the Admiral visited the station during this period), the Americans had broken the Japanese code prior to the war. Information retrieved from Japanese transmissions at this and other similar stations was forwarded to Ottawa and Washington. Initially it was staffed with naval personnel (starting ca.1940). Wrens replaced the station staff in 1944, for the duration of the war. Only in 1964, due to National Security issues, was information about the Station made available to the public. It was located on what is now the campus of the University of Victoria.
Scope and content
The fonds consists of a framed computer scan of a photograph. Vernon Smith, who is in the photograph, has supplied the Title and information above the picture. He has also provided identification of the staff below the photo. On the back of the photo is a photocopy of a clipping from the Victoria Times Colonist" dated 14 Aug 1995, relating to the history of the Station. Smith has typed on the top of it a list of early members of staff and below it, a list of people missing from the photograph. Copies of photographs of the station (from the National Archives of Canada) are located in the Bruce Brown collection (including the one in the clipping). There is also a copy of a scrapbook kept when the WRENS replaced the male personnel in 1944, in the Dorothy Robertson fonds.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Associated materials
Accruals
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
- Canada. Royal Canadian Navy
- Electronic surveillance
- Electronics in espionage
- Givenchy (Ship)
- Gordon Head Army Camp (Victoria, B.C.)
- Gordon Head Special W/T Station
- Military history, Modern--Canada
- Military history, Modern--Canada--British Columbia--Photographs
- World War, 1939-1945--Electronic intelligence
- World War, 1939-1945--Military intelligence
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Control area
Description record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules or conventions
Status
Final
Level of detail
Full
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Revised by JF, June 24, 2013.
Language of description
- English