Three years after the BC Historical News was founded by editor Philip Yandle in 1968, Bartroli contributed a ten-page article about the Spanish explorations and presence in the Pacific Northwest that marked the commencement of scholarship into the subject in British Columbia. There has since arisen the Vancouver Spanish Pacific Historical Society to promote public interest into the activities of Spanish explorers in the North Pacific.

A former UBC professor of Hispanic and Italian Studies, Tomas Bartroli of Burnaby self-published:

Discovery of the Site of Vancouver City by Jose Maria Narvaez in 1791 (1986)

Brief Presence: Spain's Activity on America's Northwest Coast, 1774-1796 (1991)

Genesis Of Vancouver City: Explorations of its Site 1791, 1792, 1808 (1992, 1997)

[BCBW 2003] "1700-1800" "Spanish"