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Authority record

Black, Sam

  • UBCA-ARC-AUTH-058
  • Person
  • 1913-1998

Noted British Columbia artist and art educator Sam Black was born in Ardrossan, Scotland, on 5 June 1913. He graduated from the Glasgow School of Arts in 1936. After receiving his Teachers Certificate and Art Teachers Diploma in 1937, he taught art in primary and secondary schools in Scotland. Black also continued his study of art in London, Paris and Brussels before World War II. When the war began in 1939, Black enlisted in the Royal Scottish Fusiliers and received a commission in the Officer Corps. Shortly thereafter, he became a camouflage officer. Black saw military action in France, Belgium and Germany and was decorated with three military stars, the Defence Medal, an Oak Leaf and the Belgian Medaille Civile for bravery. During the war, Black also worked for the War Artists Advisory Committee. His paintings are now in the permanent collection of the Imperial War Museum in London. Black married Elizabeth Morton Howie on 3 May 1941. Following the war, Black served as a school inspector for the British Ministry of Education from 1946 to 1949 and then as a Principal Lecturer in Arts at the Jordanhill Training College in Glasgow. In 1957, Black was a visiting professor at the University of British Columbia, teaching art at the summer school session. The following year, he joined the faculty at UBC as a professor of fine arts and art education. He enjoyed a distinguished career at UBC, remaining there until his retirement in 1978. In 1970, Black became the second faculty member to receive the Master Teacher award. Black's numerous public speaking engagements allowed him to share his ideas about art and education with various audiences. Black also contributed to the professional literature in his field. He participated in various art and education organizations -- he was a founding member and vice president of the International Society for Education Through Art. He served as president of the Canadian Society for Education Through Art.

Black was also one of British Columbia's most outstanding artists. He was an accomplished artist in watercolours, acrylics, oils, and graphic prints: woodcuts and lithographs. Throughout his career, Sam Black received many honours and awards for his artwork. He was elected to the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colour (1953), the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour [CSPWC] (1963) and the Print and Drawing Council of Canada (1964). Black received the CSPWCs Honour Award for "Me and My Straw Hat" (1983), "Church at Castro Marin" (1985), and "Encroaching Flowers" (1992). His painting "Old Pals" was selected for the CSPWCs Diamond Jubilee Collection presented to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for the Royal Collection of Drawings and Watercolours at Windsor Castle. A Black print was selected for reproduction as part of the Expo 86 print collection. One of Black's most prestigious honours came in 1977 when he was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. In 1990, the City of Vancouver commissioned Black to design street banners. Perhaps one of the unique tributes paid to Black came in the form of Stewart Grant's concert work for a full orchestra inspired by the coastal imagery of Black's paintings and prints. The "Sam Black Sketches" consists of nine inter-connected sections based on a single piece or collection of pieces. The world premiere of "Sketches" took place at the Yates Memorial Centre in Lethbridge, Alberta, in May 1988 [a recording of the performance is included in the fonds.] "Sketches" was later performed in other Canadian cities and was also broadcast by CBC radio. Although accomplished in many art forms, it is perhaps his watercolour paintings for which Black is best known. While his watercolours and other artwork include many different subjects, there is a "maritime" theme throughout much of his work. In particular, his art depicts land- and seascapes along the British Columbia coast. The affinity for maritime life probably dates back to his childhood growing up in Adrossan, a coastal town in western Scotland. His family home overlooked a small harbour. Black's father, James, who served in the Royal Navy, built boats with his son, who often went to an offshore island to study birds, a subject which would later become a common element in his artwork. Black often carried a sketchbook around with him wherever he went. These sketches served as a sort of memory or reference for possible future paintings. He also took many photographs, particularly during his travels. Still, he later explained that he preferred sketching his subjects because that would allow him to focus on various aspects, including proportion, scale, patterns, etc. Black was a powerful proponent of accurate observation and recording and talked about the importance of attention to detail. The artist heeded his own advice is evident from his artwork, particularly in his rendering of groups of seagulls, geese or crows where each bird is individually positioned and seems to project its own unique personality. Following his retirement from UBC, Black and his wife Elizabeth retired to Bowen Island. For many years Black had commuted between Bowen Island and Vancouver. There he continued to create many new paintings and other artwork. During his retirement, he continued to be recognized nationally and internationally for his outstanding creativity. In 1990, UBC honoured Black by conferring upon him the degree Doctor of Letters, honoris causa.

Black, William

  • UBCA-ARC-AUTH-054
  • Person
  • 1898-1978

Born in London, England, William Griffiths Black came to Canada in 1903 and attended UBC from 1919 to 1922. Before earning his MA from the University of Chicago (1926), he taught elementary and high school. He later became Associate Professor of Education at UBC (1929-1940). After serving, Black was appointed regional liaison officer for the province in the Citizenship Branch of the Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration while lecturing concurrently in the Department of Philosophy and Psychology at UBC. In 1964, he was appointed Director of Vocational Counselling for BC.

Blades, Ann

  • Person

Author and illustrator Ann Blades was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on November 16, 1947. Although Blades was enrolled in a number of schools during her childhood, her experience attending school in England at age 11 proved most influential to her future career. While there, Blades was encouraged to pursue her interest in watercolour painting, an activity which would continue to occupy her in her later years.
Despite her early artistic inclinations, Blades received no formal art training. Instead, she obtained a teaching certificate from the University of British Columbia in 1970 and a nursing degree from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in 1974. Following conferral of her education credentials, Blades moved to north-eastern British Columbia to teach in a two-room school in the small community of Mile 18. It was during this time that she wrote and illustrated her first book, <i>Mary of Mile 18</i> (1971). The following year, Blades moved to Tache in central British Columbia to teach; again finding inspiration for her second work, <i>Boy of Tache</i> (1973). In both of these early works, Ann Blades drew from the lives of her students, capturing the experience of growing up in rural isolation. Both books met with immediate success and critical acclaim.
<i>Mary of Mile 18</i>, won Blades a Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award (1972) and was later made into an animated film (1981), directed by Svend-Erik Eriksen. In 1978, <i>A Salmon for Simon</i>, written by Betty Waterton, and illustrated by Blades, was published, earning Blades the Canada Council’s Children’s Literature Prize for Illustration and the Amelia Francis Howard-Gibbon Illustrator’s Award. According to Gail Edwards and Judith Saltman, authors of, <i>Picturing Canada: A History of Canadian Children’s Illustrated Books and Publishing</i> (2010), Blades considers these illustrations to be her best work. Blades also collaborated with Waterton to produce, <i>Pettranella</i> (1980). Blades has illustrated the works of a number of other authors, including; Michael Macklem’s <i>Jacques the Woodcutter</i> (1977), <i>Six Darn Cows</i> by Margaret Laurence (1979), <i>Anna’s Pet</i> by Margaret Atwood and Joyce Barkhouse (1980), <i>A Candle for Christmas</i> by Jean Speare (1986), <i>Ida and the Wool Smugglers</i> by Sue Ann Alderson (1987), <i>The Singing Basket by Kit Pearson</i> (1990), <i>A Dog Came, Too: A True Story</i> by Ainslie Manson (1993), <i>A Ride for Martha</i> (1993) and <i>Pond Seasons</i> (1997), both by Sue Ann Alderson.
Blades has worked as an illustrator of children’s books and an artist full-time since 1980, winning the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian Picture Book Award in 1986 for <i>By the Sea: An Alphabet Book</i> (1985). In 1989, Blades published a series of board books on the four seasons; <i>Fall, Summer, Spring and Winter</i>. Several of Blades’ subsequent works have focused on her own childhood experiences and those of her children. These summer vacation stories include: <i>Back to the Cabin</i> (1996) and <i>The Cottage at Crescent Beach</i> (1977). Recent works written and illustrated by Blades, include: <i>Wolf and the Seven Little Kids</i> (1999) and <i>Too Small</i> (2000).
Today Ann Blades is considered an iconic figure in children’s literature and illustration.

Blais, Lois

  • Person
  • 1938-2008

Lois Blais was born in North Bay, Ontario on February 6, 1938. She received her RN Diploma from St. Michael’s Hospital School of Nursing in Toronto in 1959, and in 1967 completed her BA in English and philosophy at UBC. In 1993 she returned to university to enroll in the Masters in Nursing program at UBC, completing the degree in 1996. Her major paper for this degree was on moral agency.
She married Robert Gell in 1962, but was divorced from him in 1971. Lois worked at St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver for most of her career, from 1969 occupying a number of senior administrative positions. She was also Head Nurse for the Cancer Control Agency of British Columbia from 1977-1981.

Blais was also active on many RNABC nursing committees, including Public Relations, Programs, and Philosophy and Nursing Practice; she was also Director-at-Large for the Board of the RNABC from 1976-1979. She chaired the British Columbia Institute of Technology Med/Surg Advisory Committee from 1986-1988, and later was a member of the same committee. From 1987-1989 she was President of the Vancouver Metropolitan chapter of the RNABC, and later chaired Langara College’s Holistic Health Program Advisory Committee. She was recognized with an Award of Honour from RNABC in 1994.

Blais’ community involvements included membership on the Communication Committee and Selections Committee for the West Side community. She was also a member of the Interim Steering Committee for the development of a Community Health Council in the West Side.

During the 80s Blais took a break from her nursing career to assist in building a 36 ft. Wharram Catamaran. From 1981 to 1983 she sailed 15,000 miles off shore, including to Mexico, Hawaii and Micronesia.

When she retired in 1999 she joined the History of Nursing group, where she became successively treasurer, vice-president and president, and also chaired the Archives Committee. She also studied energy alternative therapies and was an Integrative Energy Healing Practitioner. She contributed a monthly column to the seniors’ section in the Vancouver Courier and was active in volunteer medical work. She died of pancreatic cancer August 31, 2008.

Blake Coulthard, Jean

  • UBCA-ARC-AUTH-722
  • Person
  • 1882-1933

Jean Blake Coulthard (née Robinson) was born in New Brunswick in 1882. She studied piano under Charles Dennée in New England, Boston. Coulthard moved to Vancouver in 1905 and was an organizer of the Vancouver Woman's Musical Club. She taught music and was the first teacher to her daughter, composer Jean Coulthard.

Bland, Charles Loftus

  • Person
  • ca. 1881 - 1973

Charles Loftus Bland was born to Major General Edward Loftus Bland and Emma Fergusson Franks near Antrim Ireland. He attended school in Wellington College in England from 1894 to 1897 and then Woolwich army school in 1898. In 1901 he was sent to China as Lieutenant in charge of a company. In 1904 he returned from China and resigned from the army. Due to his resignation from the army Charles was assigned to an insane asylum and released seven months later by his brother Jack Bland. Jack bought Charles passage to New York where he worked as a laborer building skyscrapers, and briefly as a newspaper reporter in San Francisco. In 1906 Charles received a loan from Jack to buy land in British Columbia. In 1911 Charles returned to Ireland and on October 3rd 1911 he married Lilian Emily Bland. In 1912 he began building a homestead in Quatsino Sound, British Columbia. Lilian and Charles had a daughter born April 13th 1913, who they named Patrick Bland.

In 1917 Mary Madden, daughter of Reverend Wyndham and Evelyn Madden of Shropshire, moved to Quatsino to help Charles and Lilian on the homestead. In 1932 Charles married Mary Madden and they lived on the homestead from 1936 to 1978.

Bland, John Humphrey

  • Person
  • 1828- ca. 1908

John Humphrey Bland, son of Reverend Robert Bland was born in 1828. He attended Trinity College and Dublin and studied fine arts at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He was a working artist and gardener throughout his life and married Emily Charlotte Madden in 1867. Together they had three children, Robert Bland, Eva Charlotte Bland, and Lilian Emily Bland.

Bland, Lilian Emily

  • Person
  • September 27th, 1878- May 11th, 1971

Lilian Bland is widely recognized as the first woman to design, construct, and fly her own aircraft. She was also an avid photographer, journalist, marks-woman, equestrian, motorist, and an early settler of Northern Vancouver Island.

Lilian Emily Bland was born September 27th 1878 in Kent, England. Her mother was Emily Charlotte Madden, born January 16th, 1847. Her father, John Humphrey Bland, was an artist, born in 1828. Lilian was the youngest of three children, and had an elder sister named Eva Charlotte Bland and a brother, Robert Wyndham Humphrey Bland.
During the first ten years of her life, Lilian traveled to Switzerland, Italy, and France —primarily with her father. From 1890 to 1891 she attended school at Westgate in Kent. As a young adult Lilian journeyed around the continent, occasionally moving back to Ireland to live with her father. She studied musical and visual arts and also enjoyed fishing, hunting, photography, horse-back riding, and reading. From 1903 to 1908 Lilian published several articles in various sport and lifestyle magazines. These articles were accompanied by her own photographs of horse-back riding, travel, and automobile racing. In September 1909, in Ireland, Lilian began modeling an idea for a plane, and in November she began building the biplane, called the Mayfly. The plane flew successfully for approximately 10 metres and she became the first woman to design and fly her own aircraft.

On October 3rd 1911, Lilian married her fathers’ brothers’ son, Charles Loftus Bland. Charles had recently purchased land in Quatsino, on the Northern part of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. He moved ahead of her to build a home for the two of them, and she travelled to Canada in April of 1912. In April of 1913 Lilian gave birth to her daughter, Patrick Lilian Bland.

Lilian spent the next several years making a life for her daughter and husband in Quatsino; raising livestock, farming, making wine, and selling goods. In 1917 Mary Madden, Lilian's cousin on her mothers' side, joined Charles and Lilian to work on the homestead in exchange for pay. In 1921 Lilian, Charles, and Mary all moved to California, where they purchased a farm and lived for 3 years in the small town of Calistoga in Napa County. They returned to Quatsino sound in 1925 via automobile with Mary’s son Jack Bland. In 1929 Lilian’s daughter Pat passed away from a Tetanus infection.

In 1932 Lilian and Charles separated and Lilian stayed on the homestead until 1934. After this, Lilian returned to England where she worked as a gardener, investing her savings in the stock market. In February of 1955 Lilian retired and moved to Land’s End in Cornwall. She lived there until the time of her death on May 11th 1971, at the age of 92.

Bloedel, Stewart and Welch Ltd. [master]

  • Corporate body
  • 1911-1951

American owned logging operation begun in 1911 Bloedel, Stewart & Welch was incorporated in British Columbia in July 1911. J.H. Bloedel, a Washington state lumberman, was the driving force while railway contractors John W. Stewart and Patrick Welch were silent partners. The company's most extensive logging operation was at Myrtle Point, south of Powell River, while it held timber land on Vancouver Island at Menzies Bay, Union Bay and in the Alberni Valley. The Alberni Valley was to become the major area for company operations including the Somass sawmill, the Franklin River logging operation, the Great Central sawmill, and by 1948, an integrated pulp and paper mill which utilized the wastes of the Somass sawmill. J.H. Bloedel was President about 1943 when he became Chairman, and Prentice Bloedel, his son, who had been Secretary and Treasurer since 1930, became President and Treasurer. Prentice Bloedel was instrumental in initiating and negotiating the merger with H.R. MacMillan Export in 1951 to form MacMillan & Bloedel.

Blondal, Patricia

  • Person

Patricia Blondal (née Jenkins) was born in Souris, Manitoba on December 12, 1926. At the age of seven she moved to Winnipeg with her family, where she would later study literature and poetry at United College at the University of Manitoba in the mid 1940s. On July 4, 1946, she married Harold Blondal who worked variously as a doctor, engineer and eventually as a cancer researcher. Following the completion of her degree, Blondal worked as a broadcaster for the CBC in Winnipeg. Before settling in Montreal in the fifties she traveled throughout Canada and England, where she lived for one year. In Montreal she resided with her husband and their two children, Stephanie and John, writing short stories, two posthumously published novels and the manuscript for an unpublished mystery novel. While writing, she worked in public relations and as a reporter and cigar clerk. Blondal died of cancer in November, 1959 at the age of 32.

Bluman, George

  • UBCA-ARC-AUTH-997
  • Person
  • 1943-

George Bluman was born in Vancouver in 1943, and completed his Bachelor of Science at UBC in 1964 with an honours degree in Physics and Mathematics. After finishing his PhD in Applied Science at Caltech, he joined the UBC Math Department in 1968 and worked as a professor until his retirement in 2014. During this time, Bluman served as the first undergraduate chair in Mathematics, the Head of Mathematics for five years, the co-founder of the Institute of Applied Mathematics, and a member of various UBC committees and task forces for admissions and recruitment. His mathematics research interests include symmetries and differential equations, and he has authored and co-authored numerous papers and books on these subjects, including Similarity Methods for Differential Equations (1974) and Symmetries and Differential Equations (1989).

Bluman has taken an interest in math education and readiness in secondary schools throughout his career, publishing studies and reports on mathematics competency in B.C. school systems, holding local workshops, and organizing aspects of the Euclid Mathematics Contest. In addition to this work, he has also served in various capacities for the Canadian Mathematics Society, including as Chairman of the Education Committee and a member of the Board of Directors. In 2001, he was the recipient of the Society’s Adrien Pouliot Award for his leadership and educational advocacy. He is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mathematics.

Boag Foundation

  • Corporate body
  • 1944 -

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.

Boggs, Theodore

  • UBCA-ARC-AUTH-301
  • Person
  • 1882-1969

Theodore Harding Boggs (1882-1969) became the University of British Columbia's first economics professor and head of the Department of Economics, Sociology and Political Science from 1916 to 1930. He was born in southern India, where his parents served as missionaries. He was educated at Yale (M.A. 1906) and Acadia (Ph.D. 1908) before his UBC appointment. He moved to Stanford University in 1930 and remained there until his retirement in 1947. As a Faculty member, he is recognized as one of the pioneers who helped build the University of British Columbia.

Bollert, Mary Louise

  • UBCA-ARC-AUTH-063
  • Person
  • [188-?]-1945

Mary Louise Bollert was the first Dean of Women at the University of British Columbia. She arrived at UBC in 1921 in the new role of Advisor to Women and became Dean of Women in 1922, when her position was renamed. She remained at UBC as Dean of Women until her retirement in 1941. She also held the Assistant Professor of English position and was a member of the UBC Senate from 1933 to 1941. She is remembered for her fight to create proper resident accommodation for women and for creating a women's student loan fund to help women. She possessed a strong belief that educated women could work together to change society for the better. Mary Bollert Hall, at 6253 Northwest Marine Drive, built initially as a women's residence, is named after her.
Mary Bollert was born in Guelph, Ontario, to Malinda (née Bowers) Bollert and Ernest Robert Bollert. Mary Bollert had three younger sisters, L. Grace, Helen, and Florence. She attended high school in Guelph. Subsequently, she attended the University of Toronto, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Modern Languages.
There is confusion over the exact dates and titles of post-graduate degrees she obtained. However, she did receive a graduate degree at the University of Toronto, studied at the Ontario Normal College, and subsequently obtained an additional post-graduate degree from Columbia University in New York. During her time in New York, she held posts as Principal of Alma College in St. Thomas. In addition, she taught at Curtis High School, Horace Mann High School and Teacher's College, Columbia University.
After her time in New York, Mary Bollert returned to Canada and worked as Dean of Women and Professor of English at Regina College (likely from 1914 to 1917 though here, too, there remains confusion as to dates and her exact title). Before 1917, she began work in Toronto with the Robert Simpson Company as its Director of Education and Social Work. In 1917, she accepted the additional role of Superintendent of Sherbourne House, a private club for businesswomen and girls in Toronto. Her sister, Florence Bollert, began as Mary's secretary at Sherbourne House in 1917 and subsequently became Superintendent from 1921to 1946. During her time at UBC, Mary Bollert was involved with many organizations. In 1926 she was one of two women representing Canada at the Institute of Pacific Relations in Honolulu. She was a Canadian representative at conferences of the International Federation of University Women in Paris, Geneva, and Edinburgh. She was a speaker at the International Congress of Women in 1933. In 1934 she was selected to tour Japan as one of 12 women who held the position of Dean of Women at universities across North America. When she passed away in 1945, she was the International President of the Pan-Pacific Women's Association, a position she was first elected to in 1937.
Additionally, Mary Bollert was a charter member of the Soroptimist Club, Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Student Christian Movement, UBC, National President of the University Women's Club, Honorary Secretary of the Women's Canadian Club, Honorary Regent of the University Chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire, member of the Toronto University Alumni Association, member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, as well as a member of St-Andrew's-Wesley United Church in Vancouver. The tradition of the time was at retirement; Deans were bestowed an Honourary Doctorate. All Deans were honoured in this way. However, Bollert never received an Honourary Doctorate.

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