Trail Museum & Archives and Teck Trail Operations Announce Digital Collection

The Trail Museum & Archives and Teck Trail Operations are pleased to announce online access to the famed Cominco Magazine, a cherished publication of the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company of Canada, Ltd. First issued in February 1940, the 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,” states Museum & Archives Manager, Sarah Benson-Lord. “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,” says Matt Parrilla, General Manager, Teck Trail Operations. “This remarkable archive is a window into the company’s history and showcases innovation, progress, and community across sites including Trail, Yellowknife, Pine Point, Kimberley, and Potash (Saskatoon). For many, it 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."  

The Trail Museum & Archives is grateful to Teck Trail Operations for granting online access and funding the digitization of 356 issues of the magazine, which occurred in summer 2024. The collection can be viewed and searched within the Trail Museum & Archives pages on the BC Regional Digitized History website at https://bcrdh.ca/islandora/object/kcdh%3Aroot.

BACKGROUND:
First published in February 1940 in the S.G. Blaylock era, The Employees’ Magazine was a journal intended to document, feature, and celebrate Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company of Canada Ltd. (CM&S/Cominco) 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 of the publication were printed and distributed over 31 years.