Ottawa, Jan 3 (IANS): A museum in Canada's British Columbia province has introduced a programme in an attempt to encourage people to write letters by hand, the media reported on Sunday.

In doing so, the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, the provincial capital, reminds people of the archival material they are forgetting in an age of emailing and texting, Xinhua news agency reported.

The museum has set up letter writing stations as part of its Community Days event until January 9.

Lamenting the fact that only a few write letters nowadays, Angel Williams, the museum's chief operating officer, said that unless people "start writing letters again, we won't have that sort of material in the archives".

Williams said letters make history, "whether it's soldiers writing home during World War I or public figures expressing their views."

"So it's one of those things that we're trying to encourage people to sit down, slow down a bit and handwrite a letter to somebody," she added.