The Alcuin Society is a non-profit organization devoted to the art of the book and fine book publishing. The society‟s aims are to further the interests of book collecting and promote the interest of fine books and reading. To achieve this end, the society is involved in the production of limited edition books, memorabilia and a society periodical, the Amphora. The society was established in 1965 in Vancouver in response to the initiative of one of the original society members, Geoff Spencer. Since its creation, the Alcuin Society has continued as a limited editions venture while actively promoting other book related interests including “authorship, book design and production, bookselling, book buying and collecting, printing, binding, papermaking, calligraphy and illustration.” (Alcuin Society Website)
The Alcuin Society is actively engaged in a wide variety of cultural activities, including book design competitions, educational events, awards and prizes. The Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada and the Antiquarian Book Roadshow are the most prominent of these activities.
The Alcuin Society is a volunteer association, with members throughout Canada and the world. The Alcuin Society is governed by a Board, which is elected annually at the Annual General Meeting.

Rosemary Brown is remembered for her empowering speeches that inspired all who listened, but even more so for her contribution to Canadian politics, feminism, human rights, and international development. Rosemary was born in Jamaica on June 17, 1930. She moved to Canada in 1950 to attend McGill University where she obtained an undergraduate degree in Women’s Studies. In 1955, she relocated to British Columbia, where is earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of British Columbia and married Dr. William Brown after which she began a family. Drawn to feminism and the peace movement, Rosemary established the Vancouver Status of Women. In 1972, she became a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the riding of Vancouver-Burrard and thus became the first Black woman elected to the B.C. legislature, where she served as a MLA for 14 years until 1986 when she retired from politics. In 1975, she sought the federal leadership of the New Democratic Party and lost to Ed Broadbent by a matter of 4 votes. As a MLA for B.C., Rosemary promoted equality and human rights. In her political campaigns she fought for the elimination of sexism in textbooks, against discrimination, and for the equality of women, as well as legislation on issues such as affirmative action and laws that protected rape victims. After leaving politics in 1986, Rosemary became the Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Professor at Simon Fraser University in Women’s Studies. In1988, Brown became CEO for MATCH International, an international development agency. Following this, she served as the organization’s Special Ambassador and then President. Between 1993 and 1996, Rosemary served as Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Over her career, significant honors for Rosemary included earning many honorary doctorates from many Canadian universities including the University of Toronto, Dalhousie, and the University of Victoria, as well as being the 1995 recipient of the Order of British Columbia. Rosemary passed away on April 26, 2003 leaving behind three children, as well as many grandchildren.

Richard Butler was a Master of Arts candidate in the Department of English at the University of Victoria in the mid-1970’s. His Master’s thesis proposal was a bibliography of Roderick Haig-Brown’s works. After his thesis proposal was rejected by the Department of English, Butler intended to pursue the publication of the bibliography outside his M.A. program. He later directed his efforts towards the preparation of a biography of Haig-Brown. Butler was in correspondence with both Ann and Valerie Haig-Brown through the mid-late 1970’s and received their active assistance in the accumulation of material for the biography. There is no indication that Butler published either the biography or bibliography.

Eric Patrick Nicol was born on December 28, 1919 in Kingston, Ontario of English parents. He moved at an early age to Vancouver and attended the University of British Columbia, where he started his writing career as a contributor to the student newspaper, The Ubyssey, with a humour column written under the pseudonym Jabez. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree with honours in French in 1941. From 1942 to 1945 he served with the ground crew of the Royal Canadian Air Force, contributing to service publications such as Wings and Torch. He returned to UBC after the war as an instructor in English and obtained a Master of Arts degree in French in 1948. After spending one year at the Sorbonne, he moved to London to write radio and television comedies for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He also wrote occasional columns for the The Vancouver Province. In 1948 his first book, Sense and Nonsense was published. He returned to Vancouver to become a columnist for The Province and to freelance in radio and television. His career covers a wide range of writings such as stage plays, radio and television plays, revues, radio and television variety shows, humour books, magazine articles, and historical books. He received the Leacock medal for humour three times for The Roving I, Shall We Join the Ladies, and Girdle Me a Globe. To many people, he is best known as a columnist for The Vancouver Province, 195 1-1985. His columns included comments on many contentious issues such as capital punishment and fluoridation.
Some notable publications include, Bringing up Grandpa (1989), Back Talk: A Book for Bad Back Sufferers and Those Who Love (Put Up With) Them (1992), Your turn of the century – a review of the twentieth century (1998) co-authored by Eric Nicol and Dave Moore, The Casanova Sexicon: A Manual for Liberated Men (2001), Canadian Politics Unplugged (2003), and Old Is In: A Guide for Aging Boomers (2004).

In 1889, the Ross, McLaren Mill was opened at Millside, an area near New
Westminster, British Columbia. The mill had cost $350,000 to build, and was headed by President James McLaren, a Quebec timber investor and President of the Bank of Ottawa, and Vice-President Frank Ross. Production at the mill began in 1890. In addition to new facilities and a large amount of capital to support it, the mill also possessed the transportation benefits of frontage on the Fraser River and a spur line to the Canadian Pacific Railway system. However, despite these advantages, the mill soon faced several
events that affected its production in a negative way. In addition to the death of McLaren, the mill also experienced a decreased demand for timber due to a general economic depression in 1892. Even when other mills began to recover in 1895, Ross, McLaren’s productivity was curtailed by the silting of the Fraser River, which made it impossible for large vessels to reach the mill.
All of these factors contributed to the company’s decision in 1899 to place the mill and its timber rights up for sale. An American investment syndicate, headed by Lester David of Seattle and Mr. Jenkins of Minneapolis eventually purchased the mill in 1903. The new owners sought to resolve the mill’s difficulties by dyking the area, and holding the federal government accountable for dredging the Fraser River channel and ensuring its accessibility to ships. Now called Fraser River Saw Mills, the mill was
finally re-opened in 1905, as the largest mill in the Pacific Northwest. By 1906, the mill was already setting records for production levels and over 250 labourers were employed. As a result of the increased production levels and staff, both the mill and Millside were expanded; this included the construction of the Fraser Mills Sash, Door & Shingle Company Limited.

Production at the mill was so high by 1907, in fact, that the mill was nearly shut down due to a lack of available labour. The mill was taken over by an investment syndicate headed by A.D. McRae of Winnipeg and Senator Peter Jansen of Nebraska. The new owners instituted a major re-organization of the business. A half million dollar renovation and expansion of the original mill buildings was implemented and improvements made to increase transportation access to the mill via the Fraser River. The name of the town was changed from Millside to Fraser Mills.
The re-organization of the business culminated in 1910, with the purchase of
enough timber rights in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island for the company, now called the Canadian Western Lumber Company Limited, to be considered to have the largest private holdings in the world. Through direct or indirect purchase, the Canadian Western Lumber Company Limited acquired full or partial ownership of the following companies by 1916: Canadian Tugboat Company Limited; Coast Lumber & Fuel Company Limited; Coast Lumber Yards Limited; The Columbia River Company Limited; Columbia Western Lumber Yards Ltd.; Comox Logging and Railway Company; Crown Lumber Company, Limited; Fraser Mills Sash, Door, and Shingle Company Limited; Lumber Manufacturers’ Yard Limited; Security Lumber Company Limited.; and Western Canada Sawmill Yards Limited. Later acquisitions include The Golden Light, Power and Water Company Limited. In 1954, the Canadian Western Lumber Company, Limited was acquired by Crown
Zellerbach Canada Limited. The immediate successor company to Crown Zellerbach Canada Limited was Fletcher Challenge Limited of New Zealand, which purchased the company in 1983 and, with further acquisitions, became Fletcher Challenge Canada Limited in 1987. In 2000, Norske Skog, a Norwegian paper company, acquired all of Fletcher Challenge's pulp and paper assets, and a majority interest in Fletcher Challenge Canada Limited. This resulted in the formation of Norske Skog Canada Limited.

Jim Hamm was born in Abbotsford, BC, in 1949 . He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in history from Simon Fraser University in 1975 . Later, he received a Teaching Certificate (1977) and classes in Film Studies (1981-1983) from Simon Fraser University. He has been writing, producing and directing documentaries since 1983.

His documentaries have included :
Radical Attitudes : The Architecture of Douglas Cardinal (2004)
The Spirit Wrestlers (2002)
Turning Down the Heat: The New Energy Revolution (1999)
Between The Rock and A Hard Place (1996)
The Air We Breathe (1995)
Smile and Dial (1986)
Generic Desire (1983)

Over the years Jim Hamm has production managed the feature films: Terminal City Ricochet, Shelly, and Regeneration . He line-produced the docu-dramas, A Chance For Change, about aids awareness in native communities and The Sentencing Dilemma, an examination of the sentencing issues the courts face when prosecuting assault cases. He also production managed the documentary, Gurdwara – House of the Guru, on the spiritual life of the Sikh community in Vancouver.

John S. Keenlyside was born and raised in Vancouver and attended UBC and graduated with a degree in economics and political science. In 1973 he founded the investment counseling firm John S. Keenlyside & Co. which he manages with his two sons.
Stamp collecting was Keenlyside‟s initial collecting interest. Keenlyside is a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Societies of London and Canada. He is also a director of a number of national philatelic societies and is a qualified national philatelic judge.
Keenlyside has been collecting 19th Century historical papers for over thirty-five years with his primary collecting interest being the history of British Columbia with an emphasis on the colonial period (pre- 1871). He has also collected documents relating to the fur trade and the Canadian Pacific Railway. Keenlyside collects manuscripts, documents, maps, books and ephemera relating to B.C. He has also donated two collections to Simon Fraser University: a substantial collection of Doukhobor material and a collection of HIV/AIDs material.

Spider Robinson was born in 1948 in the Bronx, New York, He graduated from Suny Stony Brook, Long Island, N.Y, with a B.A. in English. He married Jeanne Rubbicco in 1975 . Born in Boston in 1948, she attended the Boston Conservatory of Music, Dance and Drama, 1966-1968, and studied ballet and modern dance techniques at numerous schools since 1968 . After their marriage they moved to Nova Scotia and Jeanne was the founder, director, resident choreographer/teacher of the Nova Dance Theatre, 1980-1987.
Since 1973 Spider Robinson has been publishing short stories, novelettes and novellas in Omni, Analog, Destinies and other magazines. In addition to science fiction novels and short stories, he has written book reviews and articles for magazines and publications of science fiction organizations . Three novels, Stardance (1978 ; Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards), Starseed (1991) and Starmind (1994) were written in collaboration with Jeanne. Spider and Jeanne Robinson won Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards for Stardance . Spider robinson also won other international, national, and regional awards including the John W . Campbell Award for the best new writer (1974), Hugo Award for Best Novella for a portion of Telempath (1976), Hugo Award for Best Short Story for "Melancholy Elephants" (1983) and frequent AnLab awards, 1973-84. Some of his other works included Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (1977), Antinomy (1980), Time Travelers Stricly Cash (1981), Mindkiller (1982), Night of Power {1985), Time Pressure (1987), Callahan's Lady (1989), Copyright Violation (1990), Lady Slings the Booze (1992), The Callahan Touch (1993), and Off the Wall at Callahan's (1994) . They lived in Nova Scotia after getting married until they moved to Vancouver in July 1987.

The Allan Boag Foundation is a grant giving non-profit society that was established in 1944. Its goals are to promote the principles of democratic Socialism. It sponsors educational projects, grants, and scholarships.

Allan Boag arrived in Vancouver from Scotland in 1894. Initially, he worked at his trade as a foundryman until 1918. Following a recession, he spent several years as a self-employed grocer and nurseryman, acquiring properties throughout Vancouver. The eventual increase in value of these properties led to the establishment of Boag’s wealth. In agreement with his views about the failings of the economic and social system which prevailed that he had formed during his less profitable years, Boag turned over all of his possessions to a trust at the time of his death in 1944. Allan Boag’s vision that a humane and equitable society could be achieved through the development of a democratic socialist society us reflected through the goals and activities of the Foundation.

The Foundation focuses on promoting the furtherance of workers’ education in the disciplines of history, economics, social and political economy and trade union organization. Through a diverse range of activities the Foundation seeks to accomplish these directives. Annual scholarships are maintained at three universities. Grants of books, studies and special collections have been provided to university and college libraries. The Foundation has published and has assisted authors to publish. For many years the Foundation operated a labour school called Boag House and continues to assist special programs at the Canadian Labour Congress Winter School.

Jan Drabek was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia on May 5, 1935, the younger of two sons of a lawyer-journalist. He moved to New York with his family in 1948. He holds a BA from American University, Washington, DC, 1960 and pursued graduate studies at Mysore, India and the University of British Columbia, where he received a teaching diploma in 1966.

Mr. Drabek worked as a newspaperman, broadcaster and refugee resettlement officer and travel agent. He taught in Vancouver at Kitsilano High School from 1966 to 1976.

Drabek has written a number of popular fiction books and some non-fiction. His fiction is fast-paced, often humorous and laced with intrigue and clandestine affairs. It also has a strong political flavor. His non-fiction reflects his social concerns and deals with the subjects of education and with retirement options. He has also written children’s fiction and has published numerous short stories, articles and critical reviews for newspapers and periodicals, including a column in The BC Teacher. He was a member of the National Council of the Writers’ Union of Canada and has served two terms as the President of the Federation of BC Writers. In the 1980s he also tutored for the Open Learning Agency.

Mr. Drabek returned to his homeland in September of 1990 after the reinstatement of democracy in Czechoslovakia. He worked there in various high-ranking civil service positions before deciding to return to Vancouver in December of 1998.

Thomas Rodney Berger, a Canadian lawyer, politician, judge, and author, was born March 23, 1933, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, the son of Maurice Theodore Berger and Nettie Elsie Perle McDonald. As a child he lived in many places across Canada, attending elementary schools in British Columbia and Saskatchewan and high school in North Vancouver, British Columbia. He studied at the University of British Columbia and received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1955 and Bachelor of Laws a year later. In 1955 Berger married Beverly Ann Crosby, with whom he had two children, Erin and David. After being called to the bar of British Columbia in 1957 he practiced law in Vancouver, rising to national prominence in the 1960s as a defender of the rights of native people in British Columbia. The 1960s also saw Berger active in party politics both nationally and provincially: he represented Vancouver-Burrard as a Member of Parliament from 1962 to 1963 and as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1966 to 1969, when he was briefly leader of the New Democratic Party of B.C. and campaigned unsuccessfully to be premier of the province. In 1971 he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, serving on the bench until 1983 when he resigned to resume his law practice. Berger headed a number of commissions of inquiry in the 1970s and 1980s related to family law, the rights of native people, and the environment. From 1973 to 1975 he chaired a Royal Commission on Family and Children’s Law in British Columbia. From 1974 to 1977 he was commissioner of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry established to determine the social, environmental, and economic impact of a proposed Arctic Gas pipeline. The Inquiry gained Berger considerable celebrity, and its report, Northern Frontier: Northern Homeland, was a Government of Canada best-selling publication. From 1979 to 1980 he was commissioner of the Indian and Inuit Health Consultation, and from 1983 to 1985 he headed the Alaska Native Review Commission for the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, examining the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act; the commission’s report, Village Journey, was published in 1985. Berger’s study of human rights and dissent in Canada, Fragile Freedoms, concerned in part with constitutional issues, was published in 1981. That same year he intervened with some effect in debates concerning the framing of the new Canadian constitution, successfully advocating the inclusion of aboriginal and treaty rights – although drawing critical attention from Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and the Canadian Judicial Council. Perhaps enjoying a wider latitude of expression after 1983, Berger continued as a notable speaker for audiences in Canada and the United States on questions of law, human rights, and especially the aboriginal peoples of northern Canada and the Arctic. He became involved in 1983 in efforts to gain redress for Japanese Canadians who suffered mistreatment during the war of 1939-1945. From the late 1970s Berger was also active teaching law at the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia, where he led efforts toward founding a First Nations House of Learning; he was also an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University, and assisted the establishment of its J. S. Woodsworth chair in the Humanities. In 1980 the United Nations Environmental Programme approached Berger about a commission planned (but never realized) to consider whales and whaling. For the World Bank he served from 1991 to 1992 as Deputy Chairman of an independent review of the Sardar Sarovar dam and irrigation projects in India. In 1992, quincentenary of Columbus’ voyage, his book on “white values and native rights in the Americas” appeared, entitled A Long and Terrible Shadow. Berger received the Order of Canada in 1990, and was recognized with honorary degrees from several universities for his contributions championing aboriginal peoples of Canada.

Maurice Rush was born in Toronto in 1915. After he and his family moved to Vancouver in the late 1920s, Rush left school at the age of fifteen to find work in the midst of the Depression. In 1934 he worked in a cannery and helped to organize British Columbia. Rush also joined the Canadian Communist Party (CCP) in 1934, and was elected as the secretary of the Young Communist League in 1935. Rush helped to organize unemployed workers and was involved in the famous post-office sit-down strike by unemployed workers in Vancouver in 1938.
When the CCP changed its position to support of the Second World War, Rush joined the Canadian Army and served as an artillery instructor from 1942-1944. Following this he was sent to Europe and fought in Holland and Germany. He was taken prisoner in February of 1945, and later liberated by British forces.
Upon his return to Canada in 1945, Rush became provincial organizer for the CCP in British Columbia. Following this, he also served as the partys labour secretary, its Vancouver regional organizer and the national education director. In 1960, Rush was appointed as an associate editor of the partys west-coast newspaper the Pacific Tribune. In 1977, Rush became provincial leader and the secretary of the CCP. During this time, the party campaigned against the arms race and was active in various labour struggles, but also became involved in Vancouver civic politics and Rush helped to organize what would later become the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE).
Also during this post-war period, Rush made a number of overseas trips to various socialist countries for Pacific Tribune and as part of his duties within the CCP. The countries he travelled to the USSR, East Germany, North Vietnam, and China. Despite the declining fortunes of communist parties worldwide, Rush continued as an activist, writer and leader of the Communist Party in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1995, Rush published his political memoir We Have a Glowing Dream.

John Morgan Harris (JMH) was born in 1865 in Vernon Mills, Virginia. He was the eldest son of a respected and aristocratic family, whose fortune and lifestyle collapsed during the years following the American Civil War. In hopes of redeeming his family’s name and wealth, JMH traveled westward in 1885 when he was barely out of his teenage years. In the spring of 1888, when rumours of a huge silver strike in Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene district circulated through the northern plains, he left for the Panhandle of Idaho.
He arrived in the heart of Idaho’s Silver belt in 1889 amidst the numerous thriving mining camps. Harris decided that the Wallace camp would become the “town” of Couer d’Alenes and bought more than twenty lots in the area; two of which cost him a total of 50 cents.

JMH was a man of old southern manners, soft spoken and slight of stature, not a man equipped for life on the rough and ready frontier. However, he was a quick study and very adaptable. He became a very successful real estate agent, and as a sideline, sold pianos to miners. Wallace was destroyed by a fire in 1890 but it did not falter and was rapidly rebuilt.
There were some hard edged drifters in the Couer d’Alene area in those years, men with names like “Arkansas” Ed Harroun, “Con” Sullivan, Wyatt Earp. A number of these men gravitated towards Wallace and “jumped” the lots owned by Harris and others.

One such tough individual was Zach Lewis who had a reputation as a gunman. Lewis ignored Harris’ claim to a one acre lot and proceeded to build a house on the lot, despite Harris’ objections. Harris challenged Lewis to a duel in 1891 and at the end Lewis lay dead from four gun shot wounds. In retaliation, several of Lewis’ friends threatened Harris who decided to relocate. Having heard of the discovery of high grade silver deposits in the area, he sold his lots and headed to the Slocan District of British Columbia, Canada.

He settle in the Sandon mining camp and paid a French Canadian by the of Ruecau $2,700 for several undeveloped claims on a steep mountain side east of the camp. For a year JMH had no success and he allowed a group to bond his properties. However, in 1894, Harris’ new company, Reco Mining Company hit the edge of a high grade lode.

In 1896 his company produced nearly 1,000,000 ounces of silver and almost 7,000,000 pounds of lead. The mine continued to be produce month after month.
Harris returned to Idaho a millionaire, built himself a mansion called “Glenora” and lived the life of a country squire for a few months, after which he returned to Sandon and to work. Sandon was still a thriving mining community and was now an incorporated city.

Although many miners began leaving for the Klondike Gold Rush, Harris decided to build Sandon into an ongoing success. He already owned the Reco company, the Sandon Light and Waterworks company and several hotels, including the Reco and the Goodenough and bought six other businesses, including a three storey office building he called “The Virginia”.

Sandon’s most productive years, 1895 through 1897, were over and Harris realized that he could no longer rely on the silver mines to increase his fortune. He decided to settle down and conserve.

In 1900 a fire leveled Sandon, leaving behind only Harris’ livery stable which he converted into the second Reco Hotel. He built a second building and called it “The Virginia” once again. Sandon did not have the same style it had once had but Harris never lost faith that it would prosper.

In 1902 Harris found out that one of his properties had been trespassed on and that another mining company, The Byron White Company from Spokane, Washington, was mining ore on his claim. Harris sued and was counter sued. These were the first disputes in what was to be years of bitter litigation over ‘Apex Rights’, a law which essentially allowed the original owner of a claim to follow a vein into other properties.

Harris won in County Court, lost on appeal to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and won the final round in the Supreme Court of Canada. The final step was the Privy Council of England where JMH won again. The cost of litigation for Harris was over $100,000 but he gradually recouped this through his various companies. He was once again comfortable, but Sandon, began to slip and took a sharp turn downward. By the mid-1920’s the city was on the verge of bankruptcy.

In 1928, at the age of 63, Harris decided to advertise for a wife. A succession of women traveled to Sandon, all expenses paid, but it was not until Harris met Alma Lommatzsch, age 26, that he married. JMH promised Alma that she would be his sole beneficiary.

The depression of the 1930’s saw a decline in the fortunes of both Sandon and Harris, and he and his wife had a strained relationship. The arrival of Japanese Canadians in the 1940’s alleviated the situation to some degree but after World War II the population shrunk to six.

Harris died in 1954, at the age of 90. His death was recognized throughout the West Kootenay area and the province. He was buried, according to his last wishes, in Virginia. When Harris’ last will was read Alma found out that The “Virginian”, the once celebrated “King of Sandon”, the wealthy mine owner, had left his wife exactly one dollar.

Al Knight was born in Germany and emigrated to Canada in 1928. After his wife joined him in 1929, they travelled across the country looking for work during the Great Depression, ultimately arriving in B.C. He died in Vancouver.

Ethel Davis Wilson (née Bryant) was born in 1888 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and was the only child of English Wesleyan minister Robert William and Lila (Malkin) Bryant. Following the death of her mother in 1890, she was taken to England and cared for by her maternal grandparents and other relatives. When her father passed away in 1898, she was moved to Vancouver, BC to be with her grandmother, Annie Malkin. After receiving her Teacher's Certificate from the Vancouver Normal School in 1907, Wilson taught in various Vancouver public schools until 1920. In 1921, she married Dr. Wallace Wilson and, together, they formed a highly respected couple due to her writing and his work with the Canadian Medical Association and World Health Organization.

Although Wilson began writing in 1937, she only produced a few short stories until 1947, when her first novel Hetty Dorval was published. That year began her most productive period, from 1947 to 1957, during which time she wrote her four other novels--The Innocent Traveller, The Equations of Love, Swamp Angel, and Love and Salt Water--as well as a small number of short stories. In 1961, Wilson's final published work, Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories, was produced. The same year, she was awarded a special medal by the Canadian Council for her contributions to Canadian literature. Her final years were spent in the Arbutus Nursing Home in Vancouver until her death in 1980.

Her writing legacy is still felt throughout Vancouver, British Columbia, and Canada at large. The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize was established in 1985 and is awarded annually to the best work of fiction written by a resident of British Columbia. There is also a Literary Landmark plaque recognizing her place in Canadian literary canon on a lamppost outside her former residence in Vancouver on Beach Ave., across the road from 1386 Nicola St.

George Woodcock was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was raised and educated in England, where, in the late 1930s, he met many members of London's literary circle, including Dylan Thomas, Roy Campbell, Herbert Read and George Orwell. Woodcock returned to Canada in 1949 and joined UBC's Department of English seven years later. He became editor of the newly-formed journal Canadian Literature and served until his retirement in 1977. In Canada, Woodcock is best known as a poet, critic, dramatist and social commentator, while in England, he is recognized as an author of travel books, political commentator and biographer. Throughout his career, Woodcock has received numerous awards and honorary degrees.

Alexander Malcolm Manson, a British Columbia politician and judge, was born October 7, 1883 in St. Louis, Missouri. He was of Scottish ancestry: his father, Malcolm Manson, was from the Orkney Islands and his mother, Katherine MacTavish, was Scottish-Canadian. Following the death of his mother in 1889, Manson moved to Ontario to live with his grandparents.

Manson was educated at a public school in West Middlesex, Ontario and at Niagara Falls Collegiate Institute. He attended the University of Toronto, graduating in 1905 with a Bachelor of Arts. He then studied law at Osgoode Hall and graduated in 1908. Manson was called to the Ontario Bar in June 1908 and to the British Columbia Bar in July 1908. He settled in northern British Columbia, and became the first lawyer to practice in Prince Rupert. He established a law firm in Prince Rupert with William Edward Williams, Williams & Manson. The firm would later become Williams, Manson & Gonzales with the addition of another lawyer, Milton Gonzales. Manson practised law at this firm until 1922.

Alexander Malcolm Manson married Stella Beckwith in 1909. They had three children, Malcolm Alexander, Katherine Marguerite, and Marion MacTavish. He belonged to the Presbyterian faith and was active in Presbyterian churches. Manson invested heavily in industry throughout his life, including becoming a shareholder in several mines operating in British Columbia.

Manson was a member of several social societies and was particularly involved with the Freemasons. He was initiated at the Orient Lodge No. 339 in Toronto in 1908, passed and raised at the Tsimpsean Lodge No. 58 in Prince Rupert in 1910 and affiliated with the Tsimpsean Lodge in 1911, and was a charter member of the Tyee Lodge No. 66 in Prince Rupert. As a Freemason, he served as the Worshipful Master of the Tyee Lodge (1914-1915), District Deputy Grand Master for District 11 (1916-1917), Junior Grand Warden (1922-1923), Senior Grand Warden (1923-1924), Deputy Grand Master (1924-1925), and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon (1925-1926). Manson was also an Honorary Life Member of both the Enoch Lodge No. 99 in Anyox, British Columbia, and Orient Lodge No. 339 in Toronto.

Soon after beginning his career as a lawyer, Manson expressed an interest in politics. He first ran for office in the Skeena riding in 1912 as the candidate for the British Columbia Liberal Party, but was defeated in the general election. He ran again in the 1916 election, this time successfully. Manson was elected to the provincial legislature in the Omineca riding in 1916, 1920, 1922 (a by-election), 1924, 1928, and 1933.

Manson held a number of positions in Premier John Oliver's government. He served as the Deputy Speaker from 1918-1920 and was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on February 8, 1921. He was appointed as Attorney-General on January 28, 1922, also becoming King's Counsel, and as Minister of Labour on April 12, 1922. He would serve in this dual capacity as Attorney-General and Minister of Labour for 6 years. During this period, Manson was involved in the high-profile and controversial Janet Smith murder investigation and trial (1924-1925). His handling of the Janet Smith case would irreparably damage his political career.

Manson resigned as Attorney-General and Minister of Labour on August 20, 1928, following the Liberal defeat in the 1928 general election. Manson also relocated to Vancouver in 1928, where, in addition to his political commitments, he resumed work as a lawyer. Although the Liberals won the 1933 provincial election, Manson was not given any cabinet appointments in Premier Duff Pattullo's government. Manson shifted his focus to federal politics and ran as the Liberal candidate for the Vancouver South riding in the 1935 federal election, but was defeated.

On November 27, 1935, Alexander Malcolm Manson was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. As a Supreme Court judge, Manson delivered over 400 judgements, including more than a dozen death penalties. He became known for his harsh sentences and his rulings would be changed on appeal more often than those of any other judge. During the Second World War, Manson also served as chairman of the War Services Board.

Manson served on the Supreme Court of British Columbia for 26 years. He retired on March 1, 1961, when a new law requiring judges retire at 75 years came into effect. Although Manson objected to this forced retirement, arguing that the appointment had been for life when he became a judge in 1935, it was to no avail. He was 77 years old at the time of his retirement.

Alexander Malcolm Manson died of cancer on September 25, 1964 in Vancouver. He was 80 years old.

Alistair MacLeod was involved in the socialist and labour union movement in B.C. for many years. At one time he served as associate secretary of the Nanaimo, Duncan and District Labour Council.

Ernest Edward Winch was born in Harlow, England, in 1879. He died at the Vancouver General Hospital in January, 1957. And during his restless life that stretched between those poles of destiny he established himself not only as a politician, and an uncompromising socialist at that, but primarily as a friend of the poor and the week. Settling permanently in the Lower Mainland of B.C. in 1910, Ernest Winch, bricklayer, joined the Bricklayer's and Stonemason's International Union, No. 1, Vancouver. During the next fifteen years he was an active unionist, especially as an organizer in the International Longshoremen's Association, B.C. Loggers Union, and Lumber and Camp Worker's Industrial Union of the One Big Union. He also served a term as secretary of the Vancouver, New Westminster, and District Trades and Labour Council.

In equating the advancement of the working class with the advancement of the socialist movement, he held membership cards in the Social Democratic Party of Canada, B.C. Federated Labor Party, Independent Labor Party, and Socialist Party of Canada prior to his involvement with the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. In 1933, he was elected to represent Burnaby in the provincial legislature on behalf of the C.C.F. and continued to represent that constituency until his death. During that period of time he was a leading proponent of social legislation in the areas of workers' compensation, prison reform, mental illness, drug addiction, and housing for senior citizens.

Angus MacPhee enjoyed a long period of union activity, mainly in the Prince Rupert area prior to the formation of the Pulp and Paper Workers of Canada in 1963. He served as first Vice-President of the national organization from 1964 to 1967 and Secretary-Treasurer from 1968 to 1969. The organization changed its name to the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada in 1971 and he became the business agent and national board member for Local No. 4. MacPhee served as national president from 1977 to 1982.

Ann Farrell was born and educated in England where she was apprenticed to the London office of a Calcutta newspaper during World War II. She came to Canada after the war, raised a family, and, in her sixties, resumed her career. She was employed as a reporter, feature writer, and editor prior to writing: "Grace MacInnis: a story of love and integrity."

Anna Scantland was born in Saskatchewan. In 1955 she received her B.A. at the University of British Columbia and then married Erik Lund. Her experience working at the Hastings Community Centre, Vancouver, B.C. sparked her interest in the problems of minority and immigrant peoples. She returned later to UBC to obtain her teaching certificate and began her teaching career in 1959.

Annie Dalton was born in Yorkshire, England and displayed an early interest in painting and poetry. In 1891 she married Willie Dalton and in 1904 moved to Vancouver, British Columbia. Although well-known in literary circles, Dalton did not gain a lasting popularity.

Anthony Walsh taught school at the Inkameep Indian Day School at Oliver, B.C. (1936-1941).

The Archives Collective serves as an umbrella organization for the collection of material relating to the gay community.

A provincial police force was established in 1858 and later, when the province joined Confederation in 1871, the BC police reported to the Attorney-General. The constables were under the direction of the government agent of the district who reported to the Superintendent. The BC Provincial Police were taken over by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in August, 1950.