Mary F. Bishop (née Fraser) was born in Cobourg, Ontario on July 29, 1913, the only child of James Kenneth Fraser and Anna Beeman. In 1935 she received a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Literature from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She married Joseph (Joe) Bishop in 1937 and had three children: Charles Walter Fraser (Chuck) Bishop, Ann Josephine Louise Bishop, and James Kenneth Branson Bishop.

Over the following decades, the Bishop family relocated several times, corresponding to Joe’s duties within the Canadian Military. They lived in Washington, D.C. (1952–1962), where he served as Commander Canadian Army Staff and Canadian Military Attache, then in Vancouver (1956–1962) where he was Commander of the Canadian Army’s B.C. Area. Between 1962 and 1964, they lived in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where Joe served as a consulting engineer. While in Sri Lanka, Mary began what would become a long-term dedication to voluntary service in family planning movements: she worked as a clinic volunteer, and served on the national executive committee for the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka.

After her return to Canada, Mary dedicated her efforts to groups concerned with reproductive rights, family planning, and population planning. She served on the board of the Planned Parenthood association of B.C. (PPABC) from the mid-1960s, and was its president between 1971–1973. She also served on the board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada (PPFC), was involved in the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and served on the IPPF Panel on Population Laws and Policies (Western Hemisphere Region). Her other volunteer involvements include the Canadian Institute of International Affairs; the University Women’s Club of Vancouver’s human rights committee; the University of British Columbia (UBC) Alumni Association heritage committee; Girl Guides of Canada (where she served as National Director from 1939–1949); and the Norman MacKenzie Scholarship Award jury at UBC. In 1984, Mary’s longstanding volunteer service was recognized when she received the Lifestyle Award from Hon. Monique Begin, Minister of National Health and Welfare in Ottawa.

Mary completed a Masters degree at UBC in 1971, her thesis titled “From ‘Left’ to ‘Right’: A perspective on the role of family planning in the West and in South Asia.” She subsequently worked as a research associate with the Department of Health Care and Epidemiology in the Faculty of Medicine, where she was later appointed an honorary lecturer. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Mary pursued a project of writing a history of the birth control movement in Canada, which she aimed to publish as a book. While her book project never came to fruition, she did publish several articles, including “The Early Birth Controllers of B.C.” (BC Studies, 1984), “The Politics of Abortion: Trends in Canadian Fertility by Larry Collins—Revisited” (Atlantis, Fall 1983), and an entry on “Birth Control” in the first and second editions of the Canadian Encyclopedia. She also contributed a chapter to Not Just Pin Money: Selected Essays on the History of Women’s Work in British Columbia on the life of B.C.-based birth control activist Vivian Dowding.

Mary died on November 1, 1997 in Vancouver at the age of 84.

The John Howard Society of British Columbia was initially established in Vancouver in 1929 and incorporated in 1932, becoming the first John Howard Society in Canada. The objects of the Society as outlined in its constitution were: to seek to remove conditions which lead persons into crime; to befriend the first offender; to work for the wise and just treatment of those confirmed to penal institutions; to guide and help the mothers, wives and children of men in prison; to help discharged and paroled men and women to re-establish themselves; and to work for wise and just legislation with reference to court procedures and penal administration. The John Howard Society of Canada was later established in 1962. In 1983, the John Howard Society of British Columbia moved its head office to Victoria to act as an umbrella organization for the various independent John Howard Societies operating throughout British Columbia, including the John Howard Society of British Columbia, Nanaimo Area Council.

Over their histories, regional John Howard Societies in British Columbia have aimed their services towards delivering programs and services for people impacted by the criminal justice system, as well as those facing multiple barriers such as homelessness, unemployment, substance abuse, developmental disabilities, and mental health disabilities. Programs and services have provided assistance with housing, education, employment, and other community-based needs. Regional societies have also been involved in services and advocacy to encourage alternatives to the social justice system, including parole, probation, bail supervision, and community assessments. The John Howard Society, Nanaimo Area Council specialized in local programs including addiction treatment, restorative practice, community reintegration, employment, and community health and wellbeing

In September 2022, the John Howard Society, Nanaimo Area Council partnered with Connective and changed its name to Connective Support Society, Nanaimo. In September 7, 2022 press release, the organization explained the change as a response to a need for unified programming serving the needs of marginalized people experiencing homelessness, addiction, and justice system involvement.

Founded in April 1983 and registered as a non-profit charitable organization in 1987, the Or Gallery is an artist-run centre located in Vancouver, B.C. The Or Gallery Society set its constitutional purpose to establish and maintain a non-profit art gallery for the benefit of the community as a whole; to hold exhibitions of paintings, etchings, statues, photographs, sculptures and other works of art; to do everything incidental to the above. This mandate has evolved to also: provide a space for experimental art practices; make art accessible to a wide and varied audience by organizing artistic projects as sites other than the Or Gallery; and place an emphasis on works that privilege ideas and an interrelation between curatorial and artistic practices. The Or Gallery supports emerging, conceptual, and experimental art practices via: exhibitions of local, national, and international artists; assorted outreach activities, including professional and general-interest lectures, workshops, and community-initiated programming; and collaborative work with formal educational institutions and community-based organizations. It also publishes artist books, editions, and anthologies, and since 2010 has operated the Or Bookstore which specializes in artists’ publishing.

The Or Gallery was founded in April 1983 at 1729 Franklin St. as a personal gallery space of Vancouver-based artist Laiwan. Laiwan had been living in a former deli on the ground floor of the Hillington, an apartment building whose residents were primarily artists and musicians. She opened the storefront as gallery space, inviting artists to exhibit and perform for a small fee to support rent payments. The Or Gallery’s name is derived from that of the former deli, “Food for Thought”—Laiwan altered an awning above the storefront’s window by whiting out most of the letters to leave only “or.” Laiwan operated the Or Gallery until October 1983, at which point Ken Lum moved into the space. Running the gallery as a personal curatorial project, Lum ran exhibitions purported to be financed primarily by his own funds and exhibition openings’ beer sales. In 1984, a small group of artists including Arni Runar Haraldsson, Petra Watson, Lori Hinton, Michelle Normoyle, and Ken Lum officially incorporated the gallery as the Or Gallery Society. After Ken Lum’s tenure, the Or Gallery’s Director/Curator would change over approximately once a year. The Director/Curator would use the space as both a gallery and living space, splitting rent and advertising costs with exhibiting artists. In its first few years, the Or Gallery hosted short exhibitions by emerging artists and programming related to larger collections and more established artists. By 1987, the gallery was incorporated as a non-profit organization to fund payment of artists’ and curatorial fees. As the Or Gallery’s organizational structure became more formalized, the tenure of Director/Curator was lengthened from one year to more indefinite terms. Although the approach has varied between Director/Curators, the Or Gallery’s exhibitions and programming have come to be associated with a critical, experimental, and socially responsive lens.

Since its founding in 1983, the Or Gallery has held early exhibitions, performances, publications, film screenings, and projects by well-recognized names in contemporary Canadian art, including: Dana Claxton, Stan Douglas, Geoffrey Farmer, Rodney Graham, Brian Jungen, Garry Neill Kennedy, Roy Kiyooka, Tim Lee, Myfanwy MacLeod, Luanne Martineau, Jeff Wall, Ian Wallace, Marianne Nicolson, and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun. The Or Gallery has also hosted exhibitions by internationally renowned contemporary artists including Francis Alÿs, Martin Creed, Tacita Dean, Matthew Higgs, Barbara Kruger, Martha Rosler, and Krzysztof Wodiczko. Many works exhibited at the Or Gallery have contributed to intersectional conversations about race, class, sexual orientation, and identity in the art scene.

The Or Gallery collaborates with art galleries locally, nationally, and internationally. As a member of the Pacific Association of Artist-Run Centres (1988), the Or shares advocacy principles with and participates in initiatives with other B.C. artist-run centres. Based on its gallery location, the Or has also collaborated with neighboring galleries in Vancouver. In 1987, when a fire destroyed the Or Gallery’s space and records at 1729 Franklin St, the gallery was relocated to the studio of contemporary Director/Curator Phillip McCrum on the third floor of 505 Hamilton St. The Or was subsequently located at 314 W. Hastings St. (1988-1993); 112 W. Hastings St (1993-1999); 103-400 and 103-480 Smithe St. (1999-2008); 555 Hamilton St. (2008-2019), a building that has also housed the Bau Xi Gallery, Contemporary Art Gallery, and Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery’s Satellite Gallery; and 236 E. Pender St. (2019-present), which had formerly housed the Unit Pitt Gallery. In 2010, the Or Gallery opened the first international satellite space operate by a Canadian artist-run centre, the Or Gallery Berlin. The Or Gallery Berlin operated at 37 Oranienstrasse until July 2014, at which point it moved and became the Or Gallery Berlin Project and Residency Space. Although this space closed in 2015, the Or Gallery has maintained involvement in Berlin’s contemporary art scene.

The Or Gallery is currently run by a volunteer, artist-member Board of Directors and a paid Director/Curator. The Board of Directors contracts practicing artists as Director/Curator, who determines the focus of programming. Director/Curators have included: Laiwan (1983), Ken Lum (1983-1984), Arni Runar Haraldsson (1984-1985), James Graham (1986), Ellen Ramsey (1986-1987), Phillip McCrum (1987-1989), Nancy Shaw (1989-1991), Susan Schuppli (1991-1993), Janice Bowley (1994-1996), Reid Shier (1996-2002), Sydney Hermant (2002-2005), Michèle Faguet (2005-2007), Jonathan Middleton (2007-2017), Denise Ryner (2017-2022), and Jenn Jackson (2023-present).

Chiyoko Szlavnics was born in 1967 in Toronto and is a composer and visual artist currently residing in Berlin. Her parents, maternal grandfather, and experiences from her childhood have greatly influenced her musical and graphical works. Born to two artists, her mother, Aiko Suzuki, worked with painting, textiles, sculpture, and designing dance sets, and was of Japanese descent; her father was a highly analytical artist, something Szlavnics says she inherited, and was of half-Serbian and half-Hungarian descent. Her maternal grandfather was an avid nature lover, and when Szlavnic would visit him they would often spend time at the beaches on the north shore of Vancouver where they would explore the life cycle of salmon. This time on the beach would influence her interest in beating sounds within her compositions, as she often reflected on how the light bounced and reflected on water.

Her musical endeavors started at the University of Toronto where she originally studied flute and saxophone in the Faculty of Music where she graduated in 1989. Post-graduation, she worked under the direction of Nic Gotham at Hemispheres, an improvising ensemble based in Toronto. In 1993, she was asked to compose a piece for Hemispheres, and that is when she used her line drawings for the first time to organize and create the sound. In 1994, she took private composition lessons from James Tenney, and during this time she began to start her own composing. She moved to Berlin in 1997 after winning a scholarship to attend the Akademie Schloss Solitude. There she began collaborating with various other musicians and developing her unique, experimental compositional approach to music. In her compositions she explores: states of harmonicity, beating and rippling sounds, exceptionally slow glissandi (gliding between pitches), intonation, and combing musical instruments with sinewaves. Her compositions are composed for violin, cello, flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, percussion, among others and can be found throughout her 30+ works. Szlavnics says her main goal when composing is to take risks and be surprised by her music.

As a visual artist, she predominately creates line drawings using a fine line pen. Drawing is an integral part of her compositional process, as a way to map her preliminary ideas for the music. The lines represent how the tones are extending though time, or could also represent specific instrumental intervals. These lines are an abstract way for her to represent her imagined sound world since she is not inclined towards the traditional graphic score. Similar to her musical compositions, the unexpected is central to Szlavnics’ drawings. The drawings consists of lines, dots, and how they connect; there are some drawings that are in a in a moiré fashion as well. Later in her drawing career, she focused more on the visual arts aspect of the drawings instead of drawing for musical composition.

Lori Freedman was born in 1958 in Toronto and is a composer and clarinetist. Having parents who were both musicians, from a very early age Freedman began to learn numerous musical instruments: piano, guitar, drums, and trombone. It is her mastery of the clarinet that has catapulted her to international acclaim and what she is most notably sought after and known for playing. Her compositions and performances have led Freedman to become a member of the international group known as “the renaissance musicians.”

Freedman studied clarinet at the University of Toronto, and after graduating in 1977 she continued her studies at the Academy of Woodwinds at the Banff Center for the Arts in Alberta. In 1981, two musicians, Pauline Oliveros and Eric Dolphy, would inspire her with their spontaneity and improvisation that would change her outlook on music completely. Their comfort with taking risks in their music would inspire her to begin studying with Larry Combs at the Chicago Civic Orchestra when she first started improvising with her own music. Improvisation would become a central component in her compositions and live performances of the clarinet and would bring her high acclaim.

Freedman has performed in over 100 cities in over 20 countries all around the world. With a packed touring performance schedule, it is not uncommon for her to have more than 75 shows in a single year. In the midst of her own full performance schedule tour, recording, and workshops, she also has been commissioned by numerous contemporary artists to create music for them to perform. She also composes musical scores for dance, theatre, cinema, and other visual arts. One of her accolades includes the Freddie Stone Award in 1988 for the “demonstration of outstanding leadership, integrity and excellence in the area of contemporary music and jazz.” In 2003, 2004, and 2006 she was awarded "Clarinetist of the Year" at the National Jazz Awards. Most recently, in 2017, she was elected to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for “outstanding artistic achievement.” In addition, she has taught at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal where she conducted classes on bass clarinet and coached the contemporary/improvised music ensemble.

In 1927 Matthew Lindfors opened the Scandinavian School of English; then from 1939-1954, he operated the Scandinavian film service. In 1951 he founded the Swedish Cultural Society. He also served as correspondent for the Canadian International Service of the C.B.C. from 1947-1959 and editor of the Swedish Press from 1933 until his death in 1971.

Elizabeth Raum is a prolific composer and oboist. She lived with her husband in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she was principal oboe with the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, until 1975 when they moved to Regina, Saskatchewan. She was an oboist with the Regina Symphony Orchestra from 1975 onward, and principal oboe with the Chamber Players from 1986 until 2010.

Her composition repertoire includes: four operas, 90 chamber pieces, 18 vocal works, and a variety of choral works, ballets, concerti, and major orchestral works. Three of her operas have been filmed for the CBC. She has been commissioned as a composer by orchestras and music organizations across Canada, the US, Europe, China, and Japan, and has received numerous Canadian achievement awards for her work, including an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Mt. St. Vincent University, Halifax, in 2004 and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2010.

CKOV Kelowna was established in 1928 by George Dunn, Bobby Johnston, Harry Blakeborough and James William Bromley Browne with the original call sign 10AY. The station broadcasted church services, plays, and performances by the Ogopogo Concert Club and was known as the Kelowna Amateur Radio Club. Significantly, it is recognized as one of British Columbia’s first radio stations. By 1931, it received a commercial license and 10AY switched to CKOV with the slogan “The Voice of the Okanagan.” The station had a firm grip on media in the Okanagan. It was a CBC Trans-Canada Affiliate by 1946 and it even began CHBC-TV in 1957, alongside CKOK Penticton and CJIB Vernon, although CKOV sold their shares in the late 1970s. Further, CKOV became the first licensed private radio network in Canada through obtaining CKCQ Quesnel in 1957, CKWL Williams Lake in 1960 and CKBX 100 Mile House in 1971.
Okanagan Broadcasters Ltd. (owned by the Browne family for 50 years) sold CKOV to Seacoast Communications Group Inc. in 1988, and by 1998, Jim Pattison Industries Ltd. acquired the assets for CKOV Kelowna from Seacoast. CKOV Kelowna moved to the FM band at 103.1Mhz in 2007 and as a tribute to the Browne family who aided in launching CKOV, the new station continued with the official CKOV call sign but identified on air as “B-103.” In 2010, the call letters were changed to CKQQ-FM and by 2017, the station was rebranded as Beach Radio 103.1 which provided Classic hits from the 80’s and 90’s.

Alan R. Sawyer (1919-2002) was an art historian, curator, museum director, collector, professor, author, and consultant specialising in pre-Columbian and Northwest Coast art. He was born in 1919 in Wakefield, Massachusetts, and enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942. In 1946 he married his childhood friend Erika Heininger Sawyer (1922-2012) and together they had five children (Dana, Diane, Brian, Lynn, and Carol). Alan and Erika were avid collectors, and their collection of pre-Columbian and Northwest Coast pieces was often consulted by researchers and exhibited across Canada and the US.

Sawyer received an undergraduate degree in geology from Bates College in 1941 before studying at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts from 1946-1948 and earning his MA in Art History from Harvard in 1949. That same year, Sawyer became an instructor for the art department at the Texas State College for Women. He was employed as the assistant to the Curator of Decorative Arts at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1952, and in 1956 was promoted to Curator of Primitive Art. While at the Art Institute of Chicago, he also worked as director of the Park Forest Art Center and taught courses at University of Chicago and the University of Notre Dame. From 1959 to 1971, Sawyer served as the Director of the Textile Museum in Washington, DC. He joined the faculty at the University of British Columbia in 1974, where he was a professor of art history until his retirement in 1984—when he was named Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts.

In addition to his teaching and writing activities, Sawyer traveled to South America to conduct field work and acted as an expert lecturer on study and leisure tours in Peru. As part of his research into Northwest Coast art and artifacts, he traveled to First Nation communities and assisted North American and European museums with determining artifacts’ provenance. He was the author of several works including Ancient Peruvian Ceramics : the Nathan Cummings Collection (1966) which was published through the Metropolitan Museum, and Mastercraftsmen of Ancient Peru (1968) that accompanied an exhibit at the Guggenheim which he curated. In 1969, Sawyer was awarded an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Bates College.

The Librairie Fuastroll was established in Paris, France, in 2009. They specialize in the trade of rare books, iconographic records, and literary autographs, with a particular interest in materials from the early 19th century to the present. They also offer expert consultations.

In addition to running Editions de la revue Fontaine, Clarisse Francillon, Lowry’s Swiss-French translator was an editor and author of 20 novels.

She had written to Harold Matson (i.e. Malcolm Lowry’s agent) in February 1947 to ask for the French rights to Under the Volcano and while nursing the novel and Lowry through the translation process she had become a close friend and supporter of his work.

Clarisse Francillon has been involved in the French translation, in most cases in collaboration with others, of most of Malcolm Lowry’s works, including: Under the Volcano (with Stephen Spriel), the two version of Lunar Caustic (one with Michèle d’Astorg), Ultramarine (with Jean-Roger Carroy), Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place (with Georges Belmont), etc.

Major French literary critic, revue director, editorial director and independent publisher, Maurice Nadeau (1911-2013) was the editorial director of “Le Chemin de la vie” collection at Buchet/Chastel (Corrêa) when Under the Volcano was first published in France.

He then moved to Julliard and afterwards to Denoël where he published Malcolm Lowry’s works in French (Lunar Caustic, Ultramarine, Écoute notre voix, Ô Seigneur, Sombre comme la tombe où repose mon ami, Choix de Lettres, En route vers l’île de Gabriola).

He also published in his revue, Les Lettres Nouvelles, a short story (Brave petit bateau, the French translation of The Bravest Boat) in November 1953 and two special issues about Malcolm Lowry in July 1960 and May-June 1974 respectively.

Dr. David Wells Narver received a PhD in Marine Biology from the University of Washington in 1966. He worked as a researcher at the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo, various positions in fisheries research, management, and administration, including as Anadromous Fisheries Coordinator and Acting Chief of Fisheries Management for the BC Ministry of Environment, and became Director of the British Columbia Fisheries Branch in 1977, which position he held until his retirement in 1994. During his career he published many reports and papers about his area of expertise, the effects of habitat degradation on salmonids, and he was responsible for the ongoing Carnation Creek study.

Archibald Murchie (1853-1930) was born in Scotland and immigrated to Victoria, BC as an adult on the recommendation of his brother John. John Murchie established Murchie’s Tea in 1894 and named his own son Archibald Murchie (1892-1925, and not to be confused with his uncle). Following his calling to become an evangelist minister for the Spiritualist Church (an off-shoot of the Church of England), he set off into the interior of BC to preach as a missionary.

Murchie’s photographic career began when he arrived in Williams Lake, BC, in 1893. Wherever his missionary calling took him, Murchie brought along his camera. Marcus Smith, CPR engineer and previous associate of Murchie’s via the Spiritualist Church, hired him to photograph the creation of a bridge over the Fraser River at Sheep Creek. Work on this project was slow enough to afford Murchie to engage in side trips to Quesnel, BC, and farther north. Here he made a connection with the Reverend A. H. Cameron who suggested he establish a parish in Princeton. After this failed, Murchie returned to the Cariboo and set up a photography studio in Ashcroft, BC.

In 1911 Murchie moved again to the Okanagan Valley and in 1916 at age 64 he married Amy Wood. His last attributed photograph was taken in 1918.

Eugen Ruus was born in Pärnu, Estonia in 1917. He graduated from the Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia with a degree in engineering. Ruus escaped to Finland during World War II, and in 1950 emigrated to Canada with his family. He then returned to Europe in 1957 to complete his Doctor in Engineering at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany. He joined UBC’s Department of Civil Engineering in 1958 as a lecturer, and became an assistant professor the following year. In 1972 Ruus was made a full professor, and remained a faculty member until his retirement in 1985, when he was named Honorary Professor. Outside of his civil engineering work, he was an ordained clergy member for the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church. Ruus died in 2000.

The Faculty of Arts at UBC has offered German language and literary programming since the University’s inauguration, with a separate Department of German created in 1946 to reflect an expansion in course offerings. The name was changed to the Department of Germanic Studies in 1974 with the addition of Swedish-language courses, and further courses on Scandinavian and Northern European language, literature, and culture continued to expand its scope. In 1999, the department merged with the former Department of Slavonic Studies to become the Department of Germanic Studies and Russian and Slavonic Studies. Following the addition of the undergraduate program in Modern European Studies, the department acquired its present name and focus.

The Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies (CENES) offers cultural, literary, and media studies courses that span the areas of Central, Eastern and Northern Europe. It offers undergraduate majors and minors in Modern European Studies, German Studies, Nordic Studies, and Russian; as well as a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy.

Leah Edelstein-Keshet was born in Israel in 1953, and earned both her Bachelor and Master of Science at Dalhousie University. She completed her PhD in 1982 at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, specializing in applied mathematics. Edelstein-Keshet was employed as a visiting professor at Brown University and Duke University before being hired as an associate professor in the University of British Columbia’s Department of Mathematics in 1989. Her research began in mathematic biology, and evolved to include cell biology and biophysics.

Edelstein-Keshet has published numerous articles and written several books, including Mathematical Models in Biology, an influential text for the field of mathematical biology. She has also won various awards: the Canadian Mathematical Society’s Krieger-Nelson Prize, the Arthur Winfree Research Prize of the Society for Mathematical Biology, the Canadian Applied and Industrial Mathematics Society Research Award, and the John von Neumann Prize from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). From 1995 to 1997, she served as the Society for Mathematical Biology’s first female President; in 2017, the Society created the Leah Edelstein-Keshet Prize to recognize notable contributions by women to the field of mathematical biology. Edelstein-Keshet retired in 2023 after 34 years as a professor at UBC.

Leonard Jay Angel was born in Montreal in September 1945, and received his Bachelor of Arts from McGill University in 1966. Angel then moved to Vancouver to study at the University of British Columbia where he completed an MA in Philosophy in 1968, an MA in Creative Writing and Theatre in 1970, and a PhD in Philosophy in 1974. He was an associate fellow in UBC’s Department of Philosophy in 1992, and taught philosophy at Douglas College from fall 1993 through 2012. Angel maintained a close relationship with UBC throughout his career, working on and off as a sessional lecturer for philosophy and creative writing courses, and participating in student study groups and departmental colloquia. He also produced at least two plays (“The Ballad of Etienne Brule” and “Eleanor Marx”) through UBC’s theatre department.
Angel was a poet, playwright, philosopher, and author, with 17 plays produced and 7 published books. He was an active figure in the Vancouver theatre scene from the 1970s through the 1990s, with plays produced and performed by Vancouver’s Street Theatre, Terrific Theatre, and the New Play Centre. Angel also had several of his plays produced in theatres in Toronto and Seattle. Outside of his academic writing on philosophy, he practiced and wrote at length about Jewish theology as well as Zen practices. He was connected to Vancouver’s Jewish community through his involvement in Or Shalom Synagogue and founded the Integral Studies Institute in 1987 to provide instruction on meditation and spirituality. Angel was also an advocate for World Federalism and was president of the Vancouver branch of World Federalist Movement Canada from 1996 through 2013. Leonard Angel passed away in August 2022.

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.

Henry Lock Tin Lee (李樂天, 李濟寬) was born in Taishan county, Guangdong, China. In October 1926, Lee officially enlisted in the Kuomintang (KMT), otherwise known as the Guomindang (GMD) or the Chinese Nationalist Party. He briefly attended the Republic of China Military Academy (黃埔陸軍軍官學校) in 1927 as part of the infantry division. With an academic background in education, Lee taught in elementary schools from the late 1920s to the mid-1930s in China.

Lee arrived in Canada in 1937. His wife, Gin Shew San (甄秀珊), remained in Taishan with their two children, both then recently born. Upon arrival, Lee served as a teacher in the Vancouver Chinese Public School; he also taught at the Chinese Public Schools in Nanaimo and Victoria, moving between cities as needed. In 1944, Lee remarried and settled with Annie Lore (羅巧鶯), a Chinese Canadian who resided in British Columbia. Together, they had four more children. On December 20, 1952, Lee formally received Canadian citizenship.

In 1952 and 1957, Lee was consecutively elected as a representative for the 7th and 8th National Congresses of the Kuomintang. He further served as a delegate for the overseas Chinese at the National Assembly, the constitutional convention and presidential electoral college of the Republic of China, in 1954 and 1960. Prior to his successful election as a National Assembly representative, Lee fulfilled numerous positions related to the KMT, public school education, and various associations for the overseas Chinese. Some of these included: standing committee member of the Chinese Nationalist League of Canada (Vancouver Branch); executive committee member of the Chinese Nationalist League of Canada (Western Branch); managing director for the Canadian branch of the Overseas Chinese Education Association; teacher and Disciplinary Officer for the Vancouver Chinese Public School; Director of Lee's Benevolent Association of Canada and Chairman of the Association’s Vancouver branch. He also worked as a secretary and publicity officer for the Chinese Nationalist League of Canada and was an editor of the newspaper The New Republic (新民國報).

Ever prolific in his roles, Lee was additionally a member of the Chinese Nationalist League of Canada (Headquarters) executive committee and a member of the Chinese Benevolent Association of Canada. He also served as part of the KMT central renovation committee and was the Chairman of the Victoria Chinese Benevolent Association. Furthermore, he was the executive director for the Federation of Overseas Chinese Association and an honorary director for the Free China Relief Association.

Lee was also a traditional Chinese medicine doctor. He was a lifelong learner and practitioner of the discipline, advancing his studies well into at least his fifties despite having already obtained numerous diplomas and certificates prior. In 1964, he was appointed as an honorary consultant for the National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine.

Despite his deteriorating health in later years after suffering a stroke, Lee persisted in many of his duties and was an active presence both abroad and in the overseas Chinese Canadian community. Lee passed away on January 21, 1980. His death received formal condolences from the KMT and was mourned by many in the local community. His funeral was held on February 1, 1980 by the funeral committee jointly formed by Lee’s Benevolent Association of Canada and the Chinese Nationalist League of Canada.

The Port Albion Cannery was located near Ucluelet, BC, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It was built ca. 1927, possibly by the Banfield Packing Company. The plant operated primarily as a canning and processing station; a modern cannery, reduction plant, and shipyard was built up on the site after the 1936 purchase by the Nootka Packing Company, and as late as 1948 the plant consisted of a cannery, mild cure station, fishing station, and fish meal and oil plant. The plant primarily processed herring and pilchards.

The Port Albion cannery was a branch plant of several companies between the 1920s and 1940s. It was likely in operation by the 1926/1927 fishing season. Possibly, the Port Albion cannery was operated by Albion Fisheries Ltd (previously the Albion Fish Reduction and Oil Refining Company). The Banfield Packing Company, which operated in tandem with the Nootka Packing Company, apparently took over operation of an Ucluelet plant owned by Albion Fisheries sometime between 1931 and 1936; the Port Albion Cannery was located in Ucluelet, and while it is unknown whether it is the same as the Albion Fisheries plant taken over by the Banfield Packing Company, it is likely the two plants were at least contemporaneous.

The Port Albion Cannery was definitely purchased by Nootka Packing in 1936 and by British Columbia Packers sometime after 1948. Nootka Packing was incorporated in 1916 and reorganized in 1937, at which time it was renamed the Nootka Packing Company Ltd. At around the time of the reorganization, a sibling company, the Banfield Packing Company Ltd. (1936), was incorporated; the two companies shared an office in Vancouver, their charters imply they were intended to operate in tandem rather than as competitors, and executives of the Nootka Packing Company signed Banfield Packing Company correspondence multiple times. A third company, the Nootka-Banfield Company, was incorporated in 1940 and also operated out of the shared Nootka and Banfield office in Vancouver. The Nootka-Banfield Company, Nootka Packing Company, and Banfield Packing Company were nominally distinct entities but worked very closely, and when the Nootka-Banfield Company was purchased by the Canadian Fishing Company (CFC) in 1945, all three (Nootka-Banfield, Nootka, and Banfield) went into voluntary liquidation within two months of each other. The Port Albion Cannery, as one of the Nootka Packing Company’s assets purchased by the Canadian Fishing Company, was transferred to the CFC at the time of purchase. Despite the liquidations, very little disruption of day-to-day operations at any of the Nootka-Banfield, Nootka, or Banfield plants seems to have occurred as a result of the 1945 CFC purchase. The Port Albion cannery was still in operation in 1948, and BC Packers purchased the plant sometime after that.

Born in Scotland in 1905, Amy Dalgleish emigrated to Canada at an early age and eventually settled in Vancouver. A long time Cooperative Commonwealth Federation supporter, she eventually ran as an NDP candidate in Vancouver. Active with a number of socially-concerned groups, she became president of INFACT, which is a breastfeeding advocacy group. She continued to have an interest in various social issues until her death in 1992.

The Alvey family emigrated from Stralsund, Germany to the United States in the late 1870s. Frederich Alvey (d. 1920) and Sophia Alvey (née Ott, d. 1925) had two children together: William James Alvey (1881-1920) and Ernest Alvey (1883-1974).

William James Alvey served in the United States Army, having enlisted in 1897 and served in the Spanish-American war and the Philippine-American war. En route home to Detroit, he travelled through Seattle, where he worked as a motorman on a cable car, then at the Seattle Police Department. In Seattle he met Eva L. Berneche (1885-1956), a descendant of French Canadians who came west during the gold rush era. William and Eva had two children: Melvin Gerard Alvey (1902-1964) and A. Alexis Alvey (1903-1996). Following the death of her husband, Eva (Richards) worked as a nurse and teacher in Wainwright, Alaska; she published a memoir of her time in the arctic, Arctic Mood: A Narrative of Arctic Adventures (1949).

Melvin Alvey was a lifelong seafarer, and had a long career as a coast guard, stationed at several locations in the Pacific northwest. Together with his wife Edna M. Huntley, he had three children: William Jerard Alvey (b. 1924), Charlene Alvey, and Huntley Darnell Alvey.

A. Alexis Alvey was born in Seattle and attended McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. She led a distinguished career with the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (W.R.C.N.S.) during the Second World War, having been selected as one of first class of that body, and she served as an officer on several naval bases across Canada.

Ernest Alvey was a seaman in the United States Navy, and served in the Spanish-American war. He later worked as an upholsterer, and retired as a Master Craftsman at General Motors. He married Aileen Casey (1884-1971), an Irish immigrant, and had a son, Maurice Francis Alvey (1903-1985). Maurice married Margaret E. Turban (b. 1911) and had two children: Robert Maurice Alvey (b. 1962) and Maureen Katharine Alvey (b. 1946).

Ken Heibert was an organizational member of the Vancouver branche of Socialist Challenge/Gauche socialiste, acting for over ten years as the minute taker at branch meetings and evidently keeping many documents and records related to the organization and its activist activity. Socialist Challenge/Gauche Socialiste was an organization dedicated to building popular revolutionary socialism in the Canadian state in the tradition of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky, while also embracing socialist feminism, democracy, and other progressive social movements like gay and lesbian rights. In particular, as evidenced in this collection, the organization was partial to the separatist movement of Quebec, understanding this movement as a right to political sovereignty and arising, as this organization saw it, in response to political opression within an Anglophone dominated Canada. The Vancouver branch, as evidenced in this collection, was predominately active in the 1990's and were involved in a number of political campaigns on issues such as anti-capitalist protest against expansion of international free trade, Clayoquot protests ("War of the Woods"), pro-choice abortion campaigns, and anti-fascism. Involvement included production of promotional materials, protest attendance, convening conferences and other educational events.

The Department of Commerce was established in 1917. Earle MacPhee was appointed Head of UBC's School of Commerce in 1950. Later the UBC Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration was established in 1956. It wasn't until 2003 that it was renamed UBC Sauder School of Business.

Initial attempts to establish a commerce undergraduate degree program began in 1916, with the impetus coming from the Vancouver Board of Trade. Shortage of funds temporarily delayed the implementation of the suggested program, but continued interest resulted in the introduction of five courses in 1929. In September 1939, Ellis Morrow became head of a separate Department of Commerce within the Faculty of Arts and Science. Under Morrow's direction, the department grew, and in 1950, its status was changed to a school under the leadership of Earle D. MacPhee. Six years later, the Senate and Board of Governors approved the Faculty of Commerce and Business Administration establishment, with Dr. MacPhee as Dean. UBC started helping establish overseas business schools in 1958, beginning in Malaysia, founded in 1961, and Singapore, founded in 1962. A partnership with Antai College of Economics and Management at Shanghai's Jiao Tong University was established in 2001. The faculty's name was changed to Sauder School of Business in 2003 after the most significant single private donation to a business school in Canada by William L. Sauder.

Len Bawtree (1924-2014) was born and raised in Ashton Creek, east of Enderby, BC. After enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force in World War II and marrying Ruth Swaby in 1944, Bawtree came back to the Okanagan and logged and raised cows for beef on his farm. He was a founding member of the North Okanagan Livestock Association and the long-time director of the BC Cattleman’s Association. When regional districts were created in the 1960’s, Bawtree was appointed the first representative from rural Enderby to the North Okanagan Regional District. He was elected to the BC Legislature in 1975 when Bill Bennett’s Social Credit Party defeated Dave Barrett’s NDP government. He was re-elected in the next election but lost the nomination in the following election.

Jean Rands (born Mary Jean Rands) was raised in Saskatchewan in the 1950s. Her parents, Stan Rands and Doris Rands (née Fraser), were both prominent figures in social activist circles in the province. She had two siblings: an older brother, Brian Rands, and a younger sister, Ailsa Curiel (née Rands). Jean attended high school in Regina at Sheldon-Williams Collegiate, and was politically and socially engaged from an early age. A member of the Young Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), Jean regularly participated in peace marches and joined picket lines in support of striking workers during her school years.

In 1963, Jean moved to Toronto with her long-term partner, Al (Allan) Engler. There she was a member of the League for Socialist Action (LSA), a Trotskyist socialist organization. In 1968, at age 19, Jean relocated to Vancouver, and began work as a typesetter for the student newspaper at Simon Fraser University. She became involved with the SFU Women’s Caucus, and grew increasingly active in feminist labour organizing, especially in sectors with high participation of women workers which the Canadian labour movement had historically neglected. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Jean was active as a labour organizer, particularly with SORWUC (the Service, Office, and Retail Workers’ Union of Canada) and several of its local chapters. She was a founding member of both AUCE (Association of University and College Employees) and SORWUC, and served in executive positions in both organizations. She maintained a lifelong interest and commitment to labour and feminist issues, which are reflected in her speaking and writing.

Over the course of her life, Jean worked in typesetting and clerical positions with several employers in Vancouver and Toronto. She retired in Vancouver in 2010.

The Lowry Family refers to parents Arthur Osborne Lowry and wife Evelyn Boden Lowry and their four sons, from oldest to youngest: Stuart Osborne (b. 9 May 1895), Wilfrid Malbon (b. July 1900), Arthur Russell (b. September 1905), and Clarence Malcolm (b. 28 July 1909). Arthur O. was born in 1870, one of many children of a Liverpool contractor and architect. Arthur himself became a successful cotton broker in Liverpool, as well as a director at various points of sugar and oil corporations. As a cotton broker, he was a head partner at Bustons and often travelled with Evelyn as the company’s international representative. Evelyn Boden, born in 1873, was the daughter of a Liverpool ship owner and mariner. Arthur and Evelyn were married on June 5, 1894, and the couple moved to various houses in neighbourhoods across the river from Liverpool until settling at what became the family home, Inglewood, in Caldy sometime shortly after youngest son Malcolm’s birth in 1909. Arthur died in 1945, survived by Evelyn, who died five years later in 1950.

Arthur was highly successful in his business, and all four of the Lowry sons went to the Leys Public School and later Cambridge. Eldest son Stuart achieved the rank of Captain in WWI. He married Marguerite (Margot) Peirce in January 1919, against his family’s wishes (Margot was a Catholic and the Lowrys Protestant; Margot was excommunicated for marrying Stuart because of the difference in religion). Stuart and Margot spent six years in Texas, where Stuart learned the cotton trade at the source of its supply chain, then returned to England where Stuart became a partner at Bustons under his father. Stuart and Margot settled in Upton, in a house called Corvelly, which the younger brothers visited frequently.

Wilfrid was a skilled sportsman in school and played on the school, local, county, and, once, the England rugby teams (he was on the England team for the game against France on January 21, 1920). Based on accounts from his brothers, Wilfred frequently acted as a stand-in father figure for Russell and Malcolm during their school years, visiting them at school and taking them on holidays during school breaks. Wilfrid became engaged, against his mother’s wishes, some time in 1924 and married in May 1925. He also became a partner in Bustons in 1926, with brother Stuart, and was a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in WWII.

Russell did well academically at school and went to Lile, France, in 1924/1925 to study commercial French. While in Lile he met Meg Gillies, a Scots girl with whom he fell in love; his parents were extremely opposed to his relationship with Meg. Russell became an apprentice and junior partner in Bustons, though not elevated to partner until 1 September 1938.

Arthur was obliged frequently to intervene in the affairs of youngest son Malcolm, with whom he had a strained relationship. Malcolm became a successful writer, but he was often in need of financial assistance, and his alcoholism and misadventures led to several periods where his finances were directly controlled by Arthur or by Arthur via intermediaries (lawyers and sometimes friends of Malcolm’s like Conrad Aiken). Malcolm’s relationships with his brothers were also fraught. He was closest Stuart throughout his life; though he was fairly close with Wilfrid and Russell in their younger years, they drifted apart as Wilfrid and Russell began pursuing their careers in the family business in earnest. Malcolm died in England on June 27, 1957.

Rudolph “Rudy” Wurlitzer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1937. He is married to photographer Lynn Davis, and they split their time between homes in New York state and Nova Scotia, Canada. Wurlitzer is an author and screenwriter. His first novel, Nog, was published in 1968 and his most recent, The Drop Edge of Yonder, in 2008. His first screenplay, Glen and Randa, was produced in 1969, and his most recent, Little Buddha, in 1993.

A. Alexis Alvey was born in Seattle, Washington on November 22, 1903. She attended McMaster University in Hamilton (1932-33). Following University, she was employed as a special technician in charge of photography at the University of Toronto's School of Medicine. Alvey also helped organize the business women's company of the Toronto Red Cross Transport Corps and commanded it for two years, and served as lecturer to the entire Transport Corps for Military Law, Map Reading, and Military and Naval insignia. In 1942, the Womens Royal Canadian Naval Service (W.R.C.N.S., Wrens) selected Alvey for its first class for training in Ottawa. Having passed a selection board to become one of the first commissioned officers, Dorothy Isherwood, W.R.C.N.S., appointed Alvey acting Chief Petty Officer Master-at-Arms. Her other assignments included duty as Deputy Unit Officer H.M.C.S. Bytown (Ottawa), duty with the Commanding Officer Pacific Coast H.M.C.S. Burrard (Vancouver), assignment as Unit Officer, Lieutenant H.M.C.S. Bytown, and Unit Officer to H.M.C.S. Stadacona (Halifax). Following her career with the W.R.C.N.S., Alvey rejoined University of Toronto in 1945. Eventually, Alvey returned to Seattle to work for the University of Washington Libraries as an acquisitions technician, but retired in 1969. Alvey died on June 5, 1996. Throughout her life, Alvey took special care to collect and preserve memorabilia related to the activities of the W.R.C.N.S. She regularly accepted donations from former W.R.C.N.S. to aid her documentary activities.

Since the initial donation by Margerie Lowry in 1961, multiple contributors have added to RBSC’s collection of materials pertaining to the life and works of Malcolm Lowry. In most cases, the only materials from these donors and sellers held by RBSC is related to Malcolm Lowry. The Collection is also a landmark collection for UBC and receives a relatively high degree of interaction from scholars around the world and others. Given this, in 1985 RBSC collated materials, collections, and fonds pertaining to Malcolm Lowry under a single umbrella collection, which has evolved into the current Malcolm Lowry Manuscripts Collection. Organizing Lowry materials under a single umbrella collection allows for ease of search for researchers and greater intellectual control for RBSC over this key collection of records.

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.

Rachel Epstein has been involved in activist work since at least the 1960s. While living in Vancouver, she worked with and for the International Committee Against Racism, helped found the Labour Advocacy and Research Association (LARA), did typesetting and publishing work for New Star Books and Press Gang (both activist publishers), worked with and for the Women’s Research Centre (WRC), and helped organize events for International Women’s Day (1977 and 1979). She was also involved with various feminist groups, including Act Up, a participatory theatre group.

Epstein later moved to Toronto where she worked for the Participatory Research Group (PRG), with which group she served as the North American coordinator for an international conference on the impact of micro-technology (microchips) on women’s work. After leaving the PRG, she worked as a coordinator for Second Look Community Arts, specifically with their Theatre of the Oppressed program, then as a teacher at Seneca Community College in the women in trades and Ontario basic skills programs. She received her Masters of Arts in Sociology from York while working at Seneca. She helped develop the Dykes Planning Tykes program for The Queer Exchange; with her female partner, Epstein had a daughter, Sadie, in 1992 using a sperm bank at a fertility clinic, an experience which she used along with interviews and research to help build up a community for LGBTQ+ prospective parents in Toronto. She started working for the LGBTQ (then LGBT) Parenting Network circa 2001 and was still working for them at the Sherbourne Health Center in 2015. She also partnered with a researcher at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) on several projects surrounding LGBTQ+ parenting and fertility clinics, and through that research became involved with the Assisted Human Reproduction Agency; she has served on several committees for that group.

Throughout her career, Epstein has published papers, articles, and contributed to various books and anthologies. Her book Who’s Your Daddy, a collection of writings on LGBTQ+ parenting and family planning, was published in 2009. She was the recipient of the Steinert Ferreiro Award (Community One Foundation) in 2008.

Clarence Malcolm Boden Lowry was born on July 28, 1909, in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England, to parents Arthur Lowry and Evelyn Boden Lowry. He was the youngest of their four sons, preceded by brothers Russell, Wilfrid, and Stuart Lowry.  

From 1924 to 1927, Lowry attended the Leys Public School, and it was here his writing career began. He published several short stories, among other non-fiction writing, in the school’s publication, the Leys Fortnightly. After graduating from the Leys School, Lowry joined the crew of a merchant ship bound for Asia and the subcontinent; while he only worked on the S.S. Pyrrhus for six months, the experience formed the foundation for his first book, Ultramarine. After his brief career at sea, Lowry attended Cambridge University, graduating in 1932 with a Bachelor’s degree in English. 

Lowry traveled for several months in France and Spain during 1933. He met his first wife, Jan Gabrial, during this tour while in Spain visiting Conrad Aiken. Lowry’s first book, Ultramarine, was also published in this year. In early 1934, Lowry and Gabrial were married, and the couple moved from continental Europe to the United States where, between 1934 and late 1936, they would live in several cities, including New York City, Los Angeles, and San Diego. In late 1936, they settled in Cuernavaca, Mexico, where Lowry began work on his second and more famous novel, Under the Volcano. Lowry remained in Mexico until July 1938, though his relationship and cohabitation with Gabrial ended in late 1937 (they were not formally divorced until 1940). In July 1938, Lowry left Mexico for Los Angeles, where he stayed for most of a year; during this stay in the United States, he met second wife Margerie Bonner Lowry. Lowry left Los Angeles for Dollarton, British Columbia, Canada, in July 1939 and was joined soon after by Margerie.  

Malcolm and Margerie Lowry resided primarily in Dollarton between 1940 and 1954, with short excursions to the United States, Mexico, and Europe throughout. During the Dollarton years, Lowry completed work on and published his second book, Under the Volcano, in 1947, and began work on and published many short stories, poems, and essays. Lowry’s third novel, October Ferry to Gabriola, a short story collection titled Hear Us O Lord From Heaven Thy Dwelling Place, and fourth novel, Dark as the Grave Wherein my Friend is Laid, were also begun during the Dollarton years, though all would be completed and published posthumously through the efforts of Margerie. The Lowry’s left Dollarton for the final time in August 1954 and travelled through the United States, from Los Angeles to New York City, back to Europe; late 1954 and early 1955 were spent in Italy before the couple returned to Lowry’s birth country, England, where they settled in Ripe, Sussex. Lowry and Margerie remained in England until Lowry’s death on June 27, 1957.

Zonia “Zo” Sekora (1936-2022) attended UBC as an undergraduate in the Faculty of Arts and Science in 1954. In her first year at UBC, she was nominated to run as Vice-President of the Frosh Undergraduate Society Executive. Sekora later went on to study at Simon Fraser University, graduating with honours.

William E. Willmott was born in 1932 in Chengdu, China, to Canadian Methodist missionaries. During the Second World War he was sent to India, with other missionaries’ children, to avoid the Japanese invasion. He later attended Oberlin College in Ohio (B.A., sociology), McGill University (M.A., anthropology), and the London School of Economics (Ph.D., social anthropology) – for the latter degree, his research focusing on the Chinese diaspora in Cambodia. His first academic appointment came in 1961, teaching anthropology at the University of British Columbia. While at UBC (1961-1973), Willmott researched the history and social development of the Chinese community in British Columbia. In the course of that research he conducted interviews with prominent members of the local Chinese-Canadian community. He later moved to New Zealand, where he spent the rest of his career as professor of sociology at the University of Canterbury. His teaching and research continued to focus on China and the international Chinese community. He died in 2021.

Lois Cudmore (née Still) was born in 1915. She attended UBC from 1934 to 1938, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree. While at UBC, Lois was an active member of the Biological Discussion Club and UBC Players Club. After graduating from UBC, Lois received a Master of Sciences in Zoology and Botany from the University of California, Los Angeles. Lois lived with her husband Ralph Cudmore in New Westminster and Montreal. After Ralph passed away in 1980, Lois moved to Guelph, Ontario to be closer to family and had retired from her career by 1988. Lois was an artist, passionate gardener, field naturalist and environmentalist. In her later life, she took a special interest in Carolinian forest preservation. Lois passed away on September 5, 2010.

Ralph Cudmore attended UBC from 1933 to 1937, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Horticulture. While at UBC, Ralph was president of the Ice Hockey Club from 1935-1936 and president of the Agriculture Club. Ralph lived with his wife Lois in New Westminster and Montreal, where Ralph worked for CIL Chemicals Division, and then Windsor and Port Credit where he worked for Ford Motor Company of Canada, eventually becoming General Manager of the Tractor and Equipment Division.

The Brave New Play Rites festival began in 1986 under the initiative of UBC creative writing professor Bryan Wade. Wade sought a means for creative writing students to witness their theatrical works in front of a live audience and to become engaged in the theatrical process as a normal part of their coursework. Submitted plays were typically 20 minutes in length and student-authors were encouraged to participate in their play’s production from attending rehearsals to selecting actors. Creative writing courses that have participated in the festival included CRWR 407 and CRWR 507.
Brave New Play Rites continues as an annual festival into the present and a number of notable writers such as Dennis E. Bolen, Stephanie Bolster, Maureen Medved among others have had their plays featured in the festival. Wade also edited a published collection of one-act plays featured in the festival, Brave New Play Rites: Highlights plays from UBC's Creative Writing Department (Anvil Press, 2006).

Founded in 1996, the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies is the senior research institute at UBC. It supports research through collaborative, interdisciplinary initiatives that have the potential to make significant advances in knowledge. The Institute brings together scholars from UBC with distinguished researchers and experts worldwide to investigate fundamental research, drawing upon and contributing to a wide range of diverse disciplines. In recognition of the current intellectual and funding landscape, one of the primary goals of the Peter Wall Institute is to foster new collaborative, multidisciplinary research groups, meetings, and international exchanges to tackle a wide range of research. As well as helping to bridge Departmental and Faculty boundaries within UBC, the Institute is committed to facilitating contacts between outstanding researchers at UBC and distinguished researchers from around the world. The Institute aims to create a community of scholars, composed of renowned researchers from faculties and schools across the UBC campus, contributing significantly to the university's intellectual life. The primary, overriding concern in all Institute activities is to promote excellence in interdisciplinary, innovative and unique research unlikely to occur without Institute funding. The Institute's programs, including financial awards, are centred on UBC's Vancouver campus and can be grouped into two categories: Thematic and Residential. Thematic Programs involve establishing an overall research theme in which scholars with the relevant expertise are gathered together. These consist of Exploratory Workshops, colloquia, Theme Development Workshops and the Major Thematic Grant, which provides funding of up to $500,000 over a three to five-year period to a broad interdisciplinary team of UBC and external scholars to research a new area. Residential programs focus on bringing together distinguished researchers from UBC and worldwide to spend time at the Institute. These residencies, ranging from one month to one year, encourage scholars' interaction from various disciplines in exploring new research directions. These include the Peter Wall Distinguished Professor, Distinguished Scholars in Residence, Early Career Scholars, Distinguished Visiting Professor, and the Wall Summer Institute for Research (previously the Visiting Junior Scholar program).

Vivaxis is a term coined by Frances Maude Nixon (1910-1984), a Canadian woman who lived on Thetis Island, B.C. and spent almost thirty years conducting pioneering research in this field. Vivaxis derives from the Greek "life" and "centre," and it refers to a unique energy flow that connects an individual's energy field or etheric body with that of the Earth at the time of birth. The link functions as a two-way connection between the individual and place of birth, and the relationship remains even as the individual moves. Each person's circuit has a unique individual frequency. The Vivaxis connection can be harmed or distorted by chemicals, electromagnetic fields or even lightning. It is believed that a disturbed Vivaxis connection can make an individual ill. But once restored, it can keep a person healthy. To carry out Nixon's research and, more broadly, Vivaxis research, education and training, the Northwest Magnetics Research Society was established in 1970. It continued until 1974 when at a special meeting in April, it was superseded by the Vivaxis Energies Research Society. Constitutional changes in 1976 resulted in a name change to Vivaxis Energies Research International Society (V.E.R.I.S.). The Society was registered with Revenue Canada as a charitable organization in January 1977. V.E.R.I.S. operated a number of chapters in various locations in British Columbia, including Vancouver Island, Lower Mainland and the Interior. In California, several area coordinators were located in the Bay area of San Francisco, and a chapter was established in Australia. V.E.R.I.S. continued to exist until 2001, at which time the affairs of the Society were wrapped up. When the Society ceased operation, the bulk of the learning materials were transferred to the Alternative and Integrative Medical Society (AIMS) at the University of British Columbia.

George Van Wilby was a University of British Columbia student who completed his BA in 1921 and an MA in 1924. While on campus, he was well known for documenting various aspects of campus life through his photographs. Some of his photos were used to illustrate the UBC student yearbook, The Annual. Wilby was later a zoology instructor at UBC and did post-graduate work in biology at the University of Toronto. He also compiled the 1925 Alumni Directory.

The 1965 Conference of Learned Societies was held at UBC. The UBC Committee on Arrangements was responsible for arranging conference facilities, accommodation and publicity.