1894 The Legislative Library began to collect historical records (both official and non-official)
1908 The Provincial Archives was founded as a separate agency and R.E. Gosnell was appointed Provincial Archivist. The Archives continued to share space with the Legislative Library.
1910 Ethelbert O. S. Scholefield was appointed Provincial Archivist. He was appointed Provincial Librarian in 1900. Scholefield created the first inventory of archive holdings and made a concerted effort to collect government records from various regional centres.
1915 The Provincial Archives moved into the Connaught Library of the Parliament Buildings. The collections were not opened to the general public.
1919 Scholefield died. Today, a giant copper beech tree on the Parliament grounds honours his contributions.
1920 John Forsyth was appointed Provincial Archivist. He introduced a system for organizing the archives.
1926 John Hosie was appointed Provincial Archivist.
1934 Dr. W. Kaye Lamb was appointed Provincial Archivist. He later served as Dominion (now National) Archivist from 1948 to 1968.
1940 Williard Ireland was appointed Provincial Archivist. In 1946, he is also appointed Provincial Librarian.
1970 The Provincial Archives moved out of the Connaught Library into its present Heritage Court location.
1974 Williard Ireland retired. His 34 years is the longest tenure of any BC Provincial Archivist.
1974 The positions of Provincial Librarian and Provincial Archivist were permanently separated. Allan R. Turner (formerly Provincial Archivist of Saskatchewan) was appointed Provincial Archivist.
1977 The Honourable Grace McCarthy, officially opened the Emily Carr Gallery on Wharf Street, a satellite facility of the Archives and showplace of the archival paintings.
1979 John A. Bovey was appointed Provincial Archivist. Prior to his appointment, Bovey had been Provincial Archivist of Manitoba, and Archivist of the Northwest Territories.
1980 The Aural History Programme of the Archives expanded and was renamed the Sound and Moving Image Division.
1982 A formal records management program was created within the BC Government. It had a separate reporting structure but was closely allied to the Provincial Archives.
1987 The Records Management Branch and Provincial Archives were joined with the intended agency name of Provincial Archives and Records Services (PARS).
1988 Formal amalgamation as the British Columbia Archives and Records Service (BCARS). The new branch was an integrated records management and archives service.
1991 After fourteen years, the Emily Carr Gallery on Wharf Street closed.
1996 BCARS and the Information and Privacy Branch were merged to create the BC Information Management Services division with Information and Analysis Service (records management and information and privacy) and the Archives and Information Access branch (the traditional archives).
1998 John A. Bovey retired after nineteen years as Provincial Archivist
1998 Gary A. Mitchell, CRM, was appointed as the new Provincial Archivist.
1998 The Archives and Information Access Branch was renamed British Columbia Archives. Information and Analysis Service was renamed the Information and Data Branch.
2000 The BC Archives re-assumed staff and responsibility from the Information and Data Management Branch, for the corporate records management function within government. The remainder of Information and Data Management Branch was renamed Corporate Privacy and Information Access Branch, with staff and responsibility for privacy and the administration of Freedom of Information legislation.
2003 The Royal BC Museum Corporation was established, merging the Royal BC Museum, the BC Archives, Helmcken House, and the Netherlands Carillon, into a new "cultural precinct". The records management component of the BC Archives, renamed Corporate Information Management Branch is moved to the Ministry of Labour and Citizens' Services.