Major James Skitt Matthews, the first city archivist, began in 1929 to gather three-dimensional artifacts significant to Vancouver. He salvaged wonderful curiosities and souvenirs of the citizens' past, and took great joy in searching for artifacts related to obscure firsts and lasts. Importantly, Matthews also saved the stories of objects (sometimes by writing them on the objects themselves in India ink.) Much of his collection was transferred to the Museum in the 1970s by the City Archives, although important correspondence and photographic material related to the artifacts can be found in the Archives (especially Matthews' papers). Curator Robb Watt (1973-1978) built a remarkable collection of Vancouver stained glass and had the foresight to purchase a group of older neon signs in 1977 when few recognized their value. Curator Ivan Sayers (1979-1991) built a large historical clothing collection and acquired two important Chinese Canadian collections - material from the Yip family and from photographer Yucho Chow. Curator Joan Seidl (1992-present) focused on cataloguing and exhibiting Vancouver material. In 2008, she acquired Doreen Margaret (Peggy) Imredy's collection of approximately 3,500 pieces related to Stanley Park for the exhibit, The Unnatural History of Stanley Park. The Museum is the repository for several important collections of Vancouver area archaeological material, including material from the Marpole Midden (surveyed by Charles Hill-Tout in 1902 and excavated in 1930 by Herman Leask under the AHSA) and the St. Mungo Cannery site in the Fraser Delta (excavated by Curator of Archaeology Gay Calvert in 1968-1970). Beginning in the 1890s, the Museum assembled a significant collection of Pacific Northwest Coast First Nations material, including the Ronald and Amy Campbell-Johnson collection, the Edward and Mary Lipsett collection, and argillite carvings from Dr. and Mrs. C.A. Ryan and May W. Henderson. In 1984, the Museum, working through Curator Lynn Maranda (1968-2008), purchased a number of First Nations objects collected in 1792 by members of Captain George Vancouver's crew. This purchase was made possible by the Government of Canada under the terms of the Cultural Property Export and Import Act. The Museum also includes material from other parts of the world, including an important collection of Japanese swordguards or tsubas collected by Captain Henry Pybus, the Hong Kong Bank collection of Asian ceramics collected by Jean Farhni and acquired by Curator Paula Swart (1989-2008), and Mrs. C. Gardner Johnson's collection from Oceania.