The first part of the collection contains letters between Haldane from his mother, Mary Elizabeth Haldane (née Burdon Sanderson) and other family members regarding familial matters. These letters range from 1883 to1926. There are other letters pertaining to Mary Elizabeth Haldane and Edinburgh professors that are in the collection as well ranging from 1887 to 1922. Haldane’s personal documents, including his birth certificate and university certificates are also in this collection, ranging between 1878 to1897.

His reports, tables and correspondences are contained within, as well as his papers and speeches. These are largely undated and concern topics such as miners’ eye problems, tuberculosis in the Navy, regulation of normal breathing, functions of sweat, kinetic theory of gases, death by suffocation and the like. According to H.M. Sinclair: “Mrs. Haldane told me that her husband destroyed his MS as soon as the paper was published, and these lectures and addresses to various societies were not published. Haldane always wrote his addresses out in full, and this collection is mainly written in full in his own hand.”

A section of the collection contains reports and correspondence of Haldane’s work with the use of gas in WWI. H.M. Sinclair states that the collection is: “A most important collection of papers relating to his and Douglas's researches in World War I when gas was first used. Included are long autograph letters from Douglas (who was in the field in France), very out spoken about the military authorities and giving full descriptions of the casualties and attempts to prevent them.”

Finally, there are 2 drafts of an unpublished book written by Haldane on vitalistic physiology. H.M. Sinclair notes that: “The first draft is copiously corrected . . . This has been entirely rewritten in nine chapters of the final draft. . . . This very interesting book was never published, but illustrates the state of physiology at the turn of the century as seen by a young graduate of about 30 years.”

The collection contains records related to Oscar Orr’s career in law, his professional and political affiliations, and records relating to his role as a prominent resident in the province of British Columbia. There are also historical records that Orr gathered as part of his collection. The collection consists of five series: British Columbia records; American records; Canadian provinces and politics records; Britain and Europe; and Books and miscellaneous records. The series contain correspondence, autographed clippings and notes, invitations and miscellaneous documents of prominent political individuals, businessmen, and royalty.
The series British Columbia records contains Orr’s correspondence with prominent and political members in British Columbia in the early to late 1900s. The series includes the autographs of BC political members as well as prominent BC court officials. Also includes a letter from Dan Cranmer of Alert Bay regarding a possible potlatch. The series American records contains documents and autographs of prominent US political, literary, and war figures. Records in this series date back to the 18th century and were part of the collection Orr gathered as part of his interest in history. The series Canadian provinces and politics records include early 19th century documents relating to the Canadian political landscape as well as Orr’s own correspondence with Canadian politicians and court officials. The series Britain and Europe contains records and autographs of British and European political, literary, and military figures, dating back to 1698. Books and miscellaneous records include books, newspapers, photographs and other records from Orr’s collection that relate to his interest in history.

The Uno Langmann Family Collection of B.C. Photographs, donated by Uno and Dianne Langmann and Uno Langmann Limited, consists of more than 20,000 rare and unique early photographs from the 1850s to the 1970s. It is considered the premiere private collection of early provincial photos, and an important illustrated history of early photographic methods. The photographs were taken by a wide range of photographers. Some well-known photographers represented in the collection include William Notman, Charles MacMunn, Frederick Dally, Charles Horetzky, Charles Gentile, Philip Timms, Yucho Chow, R. Maynard, and Leonard Frank.

This finding aid will provide access to the collection in the interim period while UBC Library digitizes the collection. For updates on the collection and its digitization, please visit http://langmann.library.ubc.ca

This collection consists of correspondence and published materials gathered by Betty Clarke Pearson about the last voyage of Empress of Canada that was sunk by an Italian submarine on March 14th, 1943. Betty's father, John St.Claire Clarke, was the chief officer of Empress of Canada at the time of the attack. He survived while nearly 400 others were lost. Betty gathered these documents which include newspaper clippings, photographs, correspondence, and a memorandum speech, reflecting stories of her father along with other survivors of the attack.

The collection reflects the genealogical interests of its collector, Robert Alvey, with a particular focus on the life of his first cousin once removed, A. Alexis Alvey, and on the movements and history of various Alvey family members. The collection consists mainly of correspondence between Robert Alvey and A. Alexis Alvey; other types of materials in the collection include photographs of Alvey family members, correspondence, newspaper clippings, reproductions of historical military certificates, and a miniature book created by Eva Louise Alvey Richards.

The collection consists of records generated by the Canadian Officers' Training Corps (UBC) and the 196th Western Universities Battalion. Except for the Daily Orders volumes and the Air Force's annual reports, the bulk of the remaining material relates to World War I and the UBC Roll of Service. The photographs and photo albums, the albums include memorabilia and photos, depict World War II and post-war activities.

Collection consists of materials acquired by Peter Moogk and used in his research and his teaching activities. Four photocopied maps of the World War II Point Grey artillery battery were acquired by him from the Canadian Department of National Defence during research for his book Vancouver Defended. The remaining items – loose photographs, UBC publications, and a photograph album – were purchased by Moogk at collectors‘ shows and used as teaching materials for his UBC course History 304 “Local History from the Ground Up”. Some of the latter materials are of uncertain provenance; the photograph album has been identified as originally belonging to Jean Woodrow (Arts ’26).