A key piece of Trail’s industrial heritage is now available online.
The Trail Museum & Archives and Teck Trail Operations have announced the digitization of Cominco Magazine, a publication of the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company of Canada.
First issued in February 1940, Cominco Magazine was published until 1971 and remains a valuable record of company operations, staffing, and culture.
“The Trail Museum & Archives is thrilled to finally make this important collection digitally available,” manager Sarah Benson-Lord said in a news release.
“Through our supportive partnership with UBO Okanagan Library’s archivist team and their BC Regional Digitized History program, the Cominco Magazine is another addition to our growing collection of digital assets made available for public research and enjoyment.”
“We are very happy that the Cominco Magazine collection is now available online,” said Matt Parrilla, general manager of Teck Trail Operations. “This remarkable archive is a window into the company’s history and showcases innovation, progress, and community.”
Parilla added that for many, the magazine “will be a nostalgic resource offering opportunities to explore family connections and to see how jobs and the operations have changed and evolved. The collection offers a broad view of the company’s foundation and the legacy we continue to build on, now accessible to families, historians, and anyone interested in our shared past.”
Teck granted the archives permission to digitize the magazine and provided funding for the work, which occurred in the summer of 2024.
The collection can be viewed and searched within the Trail Museum & Archives pages on the BC Regional Digitized History website.
Cominco Magazine began in the S.G. Blaylock era as The Employees’ Magazine, a journal intended to document, feature, and celebrate Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company of Canada Ltd. employees, their families, and company operations.
It also served as supportive outreach to the many military service members overseas during the Second World War, of whom CM&S sent thousands. Adopting the title Cominco in April 1940, it finally took the name Cominco Magazine in August 1945. The magazine grew from 18 pages to as many as 32 pages over the years.
Cominco published the magazine monthly with a dedicated staff team. Familiar names like Lance Whittaker, James Cameron, and Craig Weir are just a few of the many editors, while renowned photographers Mickey Brennen and Jack LaRocque visually documented the era. Joe Cushner’s unique safety posters are also prominent features.
Beginning in spring 1968, publication reduced to bi-monthly. Only one issue was published in 1971, the final edition of a storied legacy. In total, 356 issues were printed over 31 years.
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