Fonds captures the life of Jack Pearcey in British Columbia in the 1920s when he was an engineering student at the University of British Columbia (class of 1927) and when he traveled the province as part of his work for the Geological Survey of Canada. Photographs depict Pearcey and his colleagues doing survey work in rural areas and feature such locations as Nakusp, Prosperity, Green Point, Wreck Bay, Victoria, Marmor Glacier, and Blair Glacier. Pearcey’s Geological Survey of Canada work in the Slocan region features Slocan, Slocan Lake, Kaslo, Kootenay Lake, Sandon, New Denver, and Carpenter Creek Valley. Photographs also depict Britannia Mine and miners, bunk houses, work camps, regional flora, UBC (including construction of the science building), camping/hiking, and more.

Fonds documents MacLeod’s research on and interviews with early 20th-century B.C. fishermen. It includes audio cassettes, video cassettes, transcript excerpts, notes, articles, and reports.

Audio and video cassettes record interviews with early 20th-century B.C. fishermen. Most interviews were conducted by Ken MacLeod from the mid-1970s to early 2000s, although several are copies from the Campbell River Museum & Archives and the British Columbia Provincial Archives. Interviews are primarily with early commercial salmon fishermen and commercial rodmen, their relatives, and salmon conservation scientists. Interviews address fishing methods (i.e., gillnetting and seine nets), boat types, natural disasters, poaching, salmon management and conservation, and interviewees’ assorted personal anecdotes. Although mainly focused on salmon fishing, interviews also address sports fishing, other types of fish (e.g., cod), seals, and sea lions. Additionally, several audio cassettes are radio show segments related to fish farms recorded by MacLeod between 2001 and 2003. Textual records include partial transcripts of interviews conducted by MacLeod, as well as published articles and reports that MacLeod notes are related to fishermen he interviewed.