The collection consists of a series of interviews carried out by Michael Welton with various friends and colleagues of Watson Thomson as part of his dissertation research for "To Be and Build the Glorious World: The Educational Thought and Practice of Watson Thomson, 1899-1946" (1983).

The collection consists of 20 audio recordings one of which is a recording of the UBC 50th anniversary commemorative ceremonies on 1 October 1965, and the others being CBC interviews with prominent alumni and former faculty on 7-8 September 1965.

The collection consists of materials acquired or collected by Elmer K. Nelson, primarily relating to the UBC criminology programme and his work for the B.C. Office of Corrections. It includes biographical information (1954-2007), correspondence (1952-1987), newspaper clippings (1952-1957), and publications (1953-1957). Also included is an audio cassette recording (catalogue # UBC 3415) of an interview with Nelson. Corrections Branch History Committee, dated 1978. Additionally, a copy of an article written by Gary Parkinson in 2007, "Recovering the early history of Canadian criminology: Criminology at the University of British Columbia, 1951 to 1959", is included at the request of the collector.