The Wigwam Inn was built at Indian Arm in 1911 by Alvo von Alvensleben.

Edgar Wickberg was a professor of history at UBC from 1969 to 1992. Born in Oklahoma, he served in the US Army before earning a BA and an MA in history from the University of Oklahoma. In the 1950's he studied Chinese and Japanese language and Asian history at the University of California (Berkeley) and completed his Ph.D. in 1961 with a thesis on modern Chinese history. Wickberg taught at the University of Kansas from 1960 to 1969, with extended research periods in Taiwan. After joining the faculty of UBC, he taught courses on modern China and modern Chinese economic and social history. He made several research trips to mainland China, mainly Guangzhou (Canton), Nanjing (Nanking), and Hong Kong. In 1992 he was named Professor Emeritus at UBC. His main research interests are the history and current relationships of Chinese people outside China; land tenure systems in southern China since the 16th century; voluntary associations and ethnicity in Chinese society and overseas Chinese communities; and comparative histories of Chinese communities in Southeast Asia and North America. Wickberg also helped establish an exchange relationship between UBC and Guangzhou's Zhongshan University and the Vancouver Chinatown Historic Area Planning Committee. He has published several articles and two books: From China to Canada: A History of the Chinese Communities in Canada, which he wrote in collaboration with four other researchers and edited (1982), and The Chinese in Philippine Life (1965).

Jack Whittaker worked for 48 years in British Columbia sawmills before his retirement in 1959. His last position with British Columbia Forest Products Limited (BCFP) was superintendent of the Youbou Sawmill on Cowichan Lake, Vancouver Island.

Elvi W. Whittaker received her bachelor's and master's degrees in sociology from UBC in 1955 and 1957, respectively, and later earned a second M.A. (1971) and doctorate (1973) in anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. She returned to UBC as a visiting assistant professor of anthropology in 1973; she was appointed associate professor in 1975, and full professor in 1991. Dr. Whittaker has served as the President of the Canadian Anthropology Society / Société canadienne d’anthropologie (CASCA) and as President of the Social Science Federation of Canada (SSFC) (1993-94) and was a Member of the Board (1989-95). She also served as a Chair of the Scientific Steering Committee of Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme, UNESCO (1994-97) and consultant to UNESCO. Dr. Whittaker also served in the following positions: Anthropological representative on Aid to Scholarly Publications (1991-93) and on SSFC Women's Issues (1991-93), on the Task force on the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies, and chair of Scholarly Book Awards (1992). She retired in 1997 and received an honorary degree (LL.D.) from UBC in 2005. Dr. Whittaker has been awarded the Weaver-Tremblay Award for Distinguished Service (2004) and Women’s Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2011) by CASCA. She was awarded the UBC School of Nursing Centenary Medal of Distinction in 2019.

David Whittaker attended the University of British Columbia for his bachelor’s degree, graduating in 1960 with a Bachelor of Education. He obtained his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, where he conducted psychological research with the Center for Research Development in Higher Education (CRDHE). During his time at UC Berkeley, Whittaker and other researchers carried out extensive questionnaires, interviews, and studies involving the Free Speech Movement and the associated nonstudent and “fringe” populations at Berkeley. Whittaker completed his thesis in 1967, and in 1968 become the co-coordinator of the CRDHE.

In 1971, he left UC Berkeley along with his wife, Elvi Whittaker, and was employed at the University of Hawaii as the chairman of Educational Psychology in 1973. He became a visiting lecturer at UBC at the start of the 1975-76 school year, working in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Psychology. The following year he was named an associate professor, and taught in Educational Psychology until his retirement in 1997. His research while at UBC also focused on students in higher education, and included analysis of student’s personality profiles and studies of multicultural policies and international and exchange students. In 1997, Whittaker was named Associate Professor Emeritus of Educational Psychology and Special Education.

James Donald “J.D.” Whitham (1899-1972) was born at Westmount, Quebec and first came to Kelowna with his family in 1912. The family cultivated an orchard in the Glenmore area shortly after arrival. After graduating from Kelowna High School, Whitham went on to the B.C. School of Pharmacy and Science and then worked briefly in Vancouver, but soon returned to Kelowna. He worked as a pharmacist at Willit’s Drug Store before buying a store in Kelowna with his partner, G.A. Elliot. In 1964, Whitham sold his interest in the store to his partner but continued working in pharmacies in Kelowna and other parts of the Okanagan. Alongside his professional work, Whitham was passionate about photography as well as the history of the Okanagan region. He went on to become the president of the Okanagan Historical Society from 1955-1959, and an Honorary Life Member of the Okanagan Historical Society in 1967. He was also a charter member of the Cariboo Historical Society and a member of the Boundary Historical Society.

J.D. Whitham married Florence Bartlett Clements in June 1928. Together they had a son, James Gordon, and a daughter, Dorothy Jean.

Alan Whitehorn is a professor of Political Science at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. He is the author of Canadian Socialism: Essays on the CCF-NDP, co-author of Political Activists: The NDP in Convention and has written extensively on Canadian politics both academically and in the popular press.

The eldest son of William White, bookseller and printer, of Bedford, William Hale White worked as a civil servant for much of his career as well as being involved with the Westminster Review in the 1850s. His fame as an author rests chiefly upon his pseudonymous autobiographical works, The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford (1881), its sequel Mark Rutherford's Deliverance (1910), and Pages from a journal (1900).

William White began his career as an accountant at the University of British Columbia in 1950. By 1964, White was the University Bursar. His position was transferred from the Bursar’s Office to the Office of the President in 1969 when he was named Deputy President. The functions over which Deputy President White was responsible included management of the financial administration of the university, internal audit and control. White also sat on various presidential and ad hoc committees, which are reflected in the records. White's title was changed to Vice President and Bursar in 1975 due to the reorganization of the President's Office. This change was in title only as all White’s responsibilities remained stable. In 1984 William White retired from the University and was succeeded by A.B. Gellatly.

Howard White has spent much of his life on the Sunshine Coast of B.C. and at Madeira Park, B.C. He is the founder and editor of the "Raincoast Chronicles" series of books on British Columbia coast history and culture. In 1984 he incorporated the Harbour Publishing Company. It maintained the direction of "Raincoast Chronicles" as well as publishing more diverse works. In 1991 he was awarded the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for his "Writing in the Rain". His other books include "Ghost in the Gears" (poetry), "The Men There Were Then"(poetry), and "Patrick and the Backhoe". In addition, he edited "Accidental Airline", "Spilsbury' Coast", and "Forgotten Villages of the B.C. Coast", as well as writing Bill White's work history "A Hard Man To Beat".

For twenty-years from 1905 to 1925 White Studio was Broadway's foremost photographer of stage production. Founded by New York saloonkeeper Luther S. White (1857-1936), this photographic agency employed a series of cameramen from 1903 to 1936, some talented, some not, who recorded hundreds of performers and thousands of productions of the American stage.

Thomas Whaun emigrated to Canada from Toi-Shan County, Kwangtung province in China in 1907. He anglicised his name (from Tung Mow Wong) and became a Canadian citizen in 1950. Whaun was employed as the advertising manager for The Canada Morning News from 1923 until its demise in 1929 and became the public relations manager and advertising officer of The New Republic Daily, working there from 1933 until his retirement in 1973. Whaun, an early Chinese-Canadian graduate of the University of British Columbia (1927) and the first non-white resident of West Vancouver, became well-known during his nation-wide letter writing protest against the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Founded in 1900 in Washington State, Weyerhaeuser is a timberland, wood products, and cellulose fiber company. In 1999, Weyerhaeuser purchased MacMillan Bloedel Limited.

Born in Toronto in 1890, Weston worked as a police and sports editor for the Vancouver Sun prior to moving to Los Angeles to write for the film industry in 1923. Weston worked as a screenwriter in Hollywood, mostly for Paramount Pictures, for 20 years during which time he authored several plays and novels. Weston continued to write fiction and prose after he moved to East Sooke on Vancouver Island in 1942 with his wife Marion and their son Gray. In addition to over a dozen novels, Weston published a book of poetry in 1970 and his fiction appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. Weston passed away on October 4, 1980, in Victoria.