The records of Gary Lauk and his Executive Assistants Eric Green and Albert Mellul, are described in this finding aid. They were created in the course of the operations of the Minister's Office during the New Democratic Party (NDP) administration of government. The majority of the material pertains to Lauk's term of office as the Minister of Economic Development (1973-75), Minister of Mines and Petroleum Resources (October - December, 1975), and as Education Critic (1976-1982). Some material predates Lauk's appointment and relates to his responsibilities as a MLA.

Much of the material given in the initial donation deals with the direction given to the Department of Economic Development in its activities of promoting the economic development and diversification of BC while much of the material in the subsequent donation deals with the Education sector in BC from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s. Other records deal with the Lauk's communications with the British Columbia Cabinet and with the NDP party of Canada. A smaller amount of material relates to Lauk's role as a member of the NDP Caucus and the MLA for Vancouver Centre and a few files are of a personal nature.

The records have been arranged into three series: MLA for the Governing Party; Executive assistant to Lauk; and MLA for the Official Opposition Party. Within the first series are subseries of government department and subject files, as well as outgoing correspondence and Printed reference material. In addition, a subseries titled General government files, has been created of the documents that accumulated unfiled, while Lauk was Minister of Mines and during the provincial election.

The Executive Assistant to Lauk series contains two subseries: Subject files and Outgoing correspondence.

The MLA for the Official Opposition Party series contains Lauk's records that he acquired and/or accumulated during the time period from 1976-1985. The series contains four subseries including Education Critic; Subject files; Correspondence; and General government files.

The records largely consist of typewritten documents, such as correspondence, memoranda, briefings, minutes and itineraries. The records also contain printed materials such as press kits, new releases, brochures, newsletters, and newsclippings. Also included are a substantial amount of published and unpublished studies, reports, and proposals produced by the Department of Economic Development or by the other government departments and non-governmental agencies. The non-textual materials include an album of colour photoprints of the BC government's delegation trip to Japan, which Lauk was a part of, as well as a number of loose colour and black and white photoprints.

The fonds also contains correspondence files of Leo Nimsick (1972-1973), Lauk's predecessor as Minister of Mines and Petroleum. Lauk acquired these papers when he was appointed Minister.

The fonds consists of manuscripts, research files and printed material relating to Knight's activities as a student and university professor in the field of anthropology. Included are manuscript copies of A Very Ordinary Life, Indians at Work, Along the No. 20 Line and transcripts of interviews with Bob Chestnut, Harvey Murphy, and John Smith. Fonds also includes a typescript copy of Knight's and a manuscript copy of an autobiography of Homer Stevens.

The fonds consists of legal documents collected by John Keenlyside over the last thirty five years. The documents give insight into the formation of British Columbia's legal system when it consisted of two colonies. The legal records (including writs, testimony, judgements, and other court documents) were produced by judges, magistrates, defendants, claimants, and other relevant parties. Some figures of historical significance who created legal records in this fonds are the first judge in BC, the first Attorney General, and BC's earliest clergy, businessmen, and other prominent figures from the colonial period.

This fonds also consists of documents related to the British Columbia Provincial Police force and various Japanese-Canadian and civil rights groups.

The fonds consists of correspondence between Hill-Tout and eminent anthropologists (1884-1931), manuscripts and published works by Hill-Tout and others, and clippings, documents and photographs.

The fonds consists mainly of subject files created by Anthony Gargrave in his work as a CCF MLA for the riding of Mackenzie, British Columbia, 1952-1958. Some of the subject areas include forestry, fishing, parks, education, municipal affairs, and Indian affairs.

This fonds consists of 12 series; meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, welfare funds, videos, regulations and legislation, related organizations, general business records, land referrals, herring (roe), financial, First Nations, and salmon. Each of the series relates to the F.V.O.A.'s work with fishing and water concerns. The same issues defined within each of these series are also documented through the newspaper clippings. The minutes span over 40 years, beginning in 1938, and include general, committee, director's and membership meetings. The fonds also includes copies of legislation and regulations relating to various fishing and water related concerns, such as ports and harbours, maritime codes, vessel construction, shipping, and research. The F.V.O.A.'s ongoing cooperative work with relevant outside groups is documented through numerous drafts, proposals, agreements, reports, and correspondence. The videos are of the Skeena River Steelhead, Salmon, the Sportfish Observer Program and First Nations fishing rights. There is a large amount of land referral material (the application for use of Crown land) including several maps. With reference directly to fish; there is information on herring (roe) related issues, and a significant amount of documents covering Salmon. A vast portion of the Salmon series deals with Canadian-U.S. negotiations regarding poaching, water boundaries, salmon shares, runs and catches. The fonds provides overall insight into the workings of the F.V.O.A.

The fonds consists of a photocopied diary recording personal experience, climatic and geographical conditions, and observations about nature written while Elias worked as a trapper on Banks Island, 1959-1966.

The fonds consists of a notebook entitled "Legends of the Siwash Indians" (1891).

The fonds consists of the logbook of the Danube which contains five cruise entries with log entries relating to Sitka, Refuge Bay, Pribiloff Islands, Alert Bay, seal slaughters, shooting polar bears, heavy seas and gales, trading with First Nations, Russian officials, and American commissioners.

The fonds consists of the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Rev. Thomas Crosby and his wife, Emma Douse Crosby, manuscripts, documents, printed material, photographs, and sketches pertaining to missionary work and family life. The correspondence includes letters written and received by Thomas Crosby on behalf of the Port Simpson people relating to land issues and letters written by Emma Crosby to her mother during her early years at Port Simpson.

The fonds consists of manuscript notebooks filled with sermons, sermon notes, and liturgical pieces written on loose paper. Also included is printed material such as clippings and journal articles on divine subjects.

The fonds consists of thirteen series of records pertaining to the activities of Thomas Berger, including two series of files arranged with reference to file classification schemes, related to party politics and to the Sardar Sarovar Projects Independent Review, as well as eleven series of subject files generally arranged alphabetically, related to the Royal Commission on Family and Children’s Law, the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, the Advisory Commission on Indian and Inuit Health Consultation, a proposed United Nations Environmental Programme inquiry on whales and whaling, Japanese Canadians’ redress, the Alaska Native Review Commission, the Canadian Judicial Council and its investigation concerning Berger, the University of British Columbia President’s Ad Hoc Committee on British Columbia Native Indian People and Communities, the Simon Fraser University J. S. Woodsworth Chair committee, speeches given by Berger (arranged by event in subseries of two to seven year periodic groups), and subject files related to aboriginal peoples, the Arctic and the north in general.
There are also files related to his resignation from the Supreme Court of Canada in 1981. The files were used by Berger when he wrote his autobiography <em>One Man’s Justice: A Life in the Law</em>.

The arrangement by the records’ creator of series and file order within series has been respected. Several series contain files housed in multiple folders, indicated by notes where applicable.

The fonds consists of correspondence and legal documentation sent between Ben Alexander and the office of Indian Agent, later the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. The fonds reflects official business such as land claims, financial transactions, and grievances and also deals with Alexander's personal business with the tribe.