One of the top news stories for Richmondites in 2015 was the end of the local newspaper, the Richmond Review. 

The front page of the last edition of the Richmond Review, July 24, 2015.

The Review began life in 1932, a gesture of optimism in an otherwise depressed period of time. After a few issues published by founder Bill Carruthers, it was sold to Ethel Tibbits, who ran it until 1948.

The police news was a popular feature of the Marpole-Richmond Review where the latest police activities could be followed and names were named, even for minor infractions. This clip from 1937 relates the fallout from illegal liquor sales in Steveston.

For much of its existence it was known as the Marpole-Richmond Review. By the 1970’s it was BC’s largest circulating biweekly. The last issue came out on July 24th 2015; the publishers citing market forces as the culprit, making competition with another newspaper impossible to carry on.

The Richmond Review staff, ca. 1990; left to right – Publisher Susan Tweedie, Composing Room Foreman Fred Meyer and Editor Diane Strandberg. City of Richmond Archives photograph 2015 19.

Before the offices of the Richmond Review were completely vacated, the City of Richmond Archives was invited to visit the location to retrieve records which we would consider important to the community.

The Review was an important source of information for readers during elections, featuring interviews, candidate’s platforms, etc. This clipping shows well-known local politician Harold Steves beginning his successful run for the NDP in the 1972 Provincial election.

The bulk of this accession is more than 50,000 images taken by Review reporters, now housed in the climate-controlled and secure stacks of the Archives. These photographs are both in 35mm and digital formats, and represent the transition to the use of digital cameras.

The sports section of the Review showed images from many Richmond games, including this one from October 21, 1989. This is just one of the many thousands of photographs form the paper, now housed in the City of Richmond Archives. (City of Richmond Archives – Richmond Review photo 1988 121)

These recent images are in addition to previous accessions of photographs from the Review which date back to 1982, bringing the date range for Review photographs held by the Archives to about 33 years.

Advertising helps pay for the operation of any newspaper and the Review was no exception. Local advertising allowed Richmondites to choose which sales they would attend at local stores or, in this case from 1957, which local theatre they would attend to see Hollywood’s latest offerings.

The Archives has also newly acquired the collection of the Richmond Review from the Richmond Public Library, both recent hard-copy and historical issues on microfilm. Combined with the hard-copy and historical issues already in our holdings we now have a complete run of the paper to 2015 available to the public.