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VIDEO: Grooving with the Surrey Archives

Using archival images, Surrey heritage staff takes a trip back the 1960s on Youtube.
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Do you remember the '60s?

Let the Surrey Archives help you, via Youtube.

Archives staffers have created The Sixties in Surrey, a 265-second vignette of the city in the 1960s, a decade known for groovy cultural, musical and social changes.

In Surrey, like now, the focus was on growth.

Using archival records and narrated by Pierce Smith, the video shows snapshots of the local experience: Three reeves and a mayor, new recreation and arts centres, new malls, the first McDonald's and a zoo in Newton.

"Yes, the zoo is always a popular topic," said Ryan Gallagher, manager of Heritage, Administration and Facilities at Surrey Parks, Recreation and Culture. "It stayed open for about ten years, located at 132 Street and 60 Avenue, run by George Galicz. The archives has dozen of images of Mr. Galicz posing with various animals."

Other changes to the city in that decade include the construction of the Port Mann Bridge and the opening of 18 schools.

Gallagher says a video like this allows staff to share the city's archival resources and tell a bit of a story.

"We like to think of them as being great entry points into specific local history topics."

Earlier this year, Surrey Archives produced a video of the 100th anniversary of Camp Alexandria.

For more information about the Surrey Archives, click here.

A database for the archives' photographs and documents are available using the Surrey Archives and Museum Online Access (SAMOA) link on that web page.

The Surrey Archives building is closed for the season until Feb. 7.