The objective of this paper is to illustrate how the city came to have such a love affair
with the Woodward's Department Store, and how this love affair has led to the building
occupying a position of importance in the city of Vancouver. This thesis critically endeavours to
argue that Woodward's has become important through the role of social memory, which is able
to make and remake the idea of Woodward's, and through the social life of Woodward's objects.
Here I use the term social memory to refer to the collective memory that people share about
Woodward's, and also to the 'social' way through which this memory is formed. Not only is
people's memory of the Woodward's Department Store social, as they remember the 'social'ness
of what it meant to either work or shop there, but the objects associated with the building also
have a social life, where their function, ownership and meaning have changed over time.
Throughout this argument, I attempt to extract the meaning of the memories and memorabilia
submitted to the Woodward's Memories Project, in order to outline the reasons why the building
holds importance in the city.
The story of how Woodward's came to hold such a place of importance in the city can be
revealed from the 'social' aspect of both social memory and the social life of objects. Through
Woodward's various functions and roles the meanings become entangled, representing the
Woodward's building as an object, a memory and an agent of nostalgia. Because Woodward's
was an integral part of Vancouver for generations, the store became rooted in the memory of the
people and the city as a whole. This is evidenced not only by their memory of the department
store but also by the current revitalization efforts of the Downtown Eastside, to which the redevelopment
of Woodward's is key.
By outlining the social capital of the Woodward's location as a heritage site, as well as of
the Woodward's objects and the memories associated with them, one can finally begin to
understand the true importance of the Woodward's Department Store to the City of Vancouver.
This holds great importance for Vancouver, especially in this time of revitalization and
redevelopment. Not only is the past brought to the forefront of a new project, but by tracing the
social life of the building the new meanings and functions that the space served is revealed. This
research represents a new part of the city's history which is important to document and share
with the public. Aiding in understanding the Woodward's building, both in the past and present,
the significance of this project extends beyond the scope of this thesis. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/16819 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Thompson, Lindsay |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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