Fonds consists of materials pertaining to Ben Gadd's personal life and career as an environmental researcher, educator, interpretive guide, publisher, public speaker and author, ca.1956-2018. Fonds includes maps, research materials, publication notes/drafts, correspondence, contracts, photographs, …
ca. 7.9 metres of textual records -- ca. 274 maps -- 29 VHS tapes -- ca.15 discs with digital files -- 21 cassettes -- photographs -- oversized materials -- USB stick with 15 sldeshows
History / Biographical
Ben Gadd (1946-) is a retired naturalist, guide, geologist, instructor, freelance writer and award-winning author based in the Canadian Rockies.
Ben was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1946. He met his wife, Cia (Langdon) Gadd at Colorado College in 1965, and the couple married four weeks later. Ben and Cia had two sons, Will and Toby. Ben and his family relocated to Jasper in the late 1960s. Ben later attended the University of Lethbridge and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Earth Science in 1972.
Between 1976 and 1980, Ben taught classes at Mount Royal College and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology; he later taught additional classes at Grant MacEwan College and Lakeland College. From 1981, Ben also worked as a seasonal naturalist/guide for Parks Canada. Ben left Parks Canada in 1985 to start an independent naturalist guiding business with Cia based in Jasper and other parts of the Canadian Rockies, which the couple continued to operate for over two decades.
Ben published his best-known work, "Handbook of the Canadian Rockies", through his publishing company Corax Press in 1986. The second edition of "Handbook of the Canadian Rockies" received multiple awards after its release in 1995. Ben's fiction book, "Raven's End" won the title of Best Canadian Rockies Book at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival in 2001 and became a Canadian bestseller. Overall, Ben has authored or co-authored 11 books and received nearly one dozen awards for his achievements as a writer, researcher and guide.
Ben continued to lead guided hikes and school programs until his retirement in 2016.
Scope & Content
Fonds consists of materials pertaining to Ben Gadd's personal life and career as an environmental researcher, educator, interpretive guide, publisher, public speaker and author, ca.1956-2018. Fonds includes maps, research materials, publication notes/drafts, correspondence, contracts, photographs, video and sound recordings, and other related material. Materials donated in 2024 include one USB stick containing
Notes
Ben Gadd fonds arrangement:
Series I : Personal records
- Subseries A : Travel guides and maps
- Subseries B : Education and early writings
- Subseries C : Personal interest files
- Subseries D : Other personal and collected
Series II : Research and publication records
- Subseries A : Handbook of the Canadian Rockies
- Subseries B : Other publications
Series III : Professional records
- Subseries A : Parks Canada Records
- Subseries B : Interpretive guiding
- Subseries C : Teaching records
- Subseries D : Other contracts and projects
Series IV : Legal and financial records
- Subseries A : Legal records
- Subseries B : Financial records
File consists of 70 personal and family photograph prints. Content pertains to trips to the Okanagan region in British Columbia, Jasper, New Hampshire, and Banff; and views of the Luxton family property [206 Beaver St.]
File consists of 70 personal and family photograph prints. Content pertains to trips to the Okanagan region in British Columbia, Jasper, New Hampshire, and Banff; and views of the Luxton family property [206 Beaver St.]
File consists of photographs pertaining to travel photos, family and group portraits, and other events involving friends of the Luxton family. Includes images of unidentified individuals in Egypt, standing by a large glacier in the Rockies, visiting Stanford University, and feeding birds in Paris[?…
27 photographs : b&w and col. prints ; 13.5 x 19.5 cm or smaller
Scope & Content
File consists of photographs pertaining to travel photos, family and group portraits, and other events involving friends of the Luxton family. Includes images of unidentified individuals in Egypt, standing by a large glacier in the Rockies, visiting Stanford University, and feeding birds in Paris[?]; group portraits of unidentified children; a pack train fording the Pipestone River; and related views.
File consists of 72 photographs pertaining to various friends and family members of Eleanor Luxton. File includes images of a hike along the Great Divide Trail[?]; taxidermy displays from Norman Luxton's curio shop; photographs from Eleanor Luxton's cruise to Hawaii, Japan and China in 1937; a choi…
72 photographs : b&w and col. prints ; 17.5 x 11 cm or smaller
Scope & Content
File consists of 72 photographs pertaining to various friends and family members of Eleanor Luxton. File includes images of a hike along the Great Divide Trail[?]; taxidermy displays from Norman Luxton's curio shop; photographs from Eleanor Luxton's cruise to Hawaii, Japan and China in 1937; a choir performance; and various friends and family members.
File consists of 18 photograph prints given to Norman Luxton by family and friends [mostly annotated]. Includes signed portraits of Red Cathcart, Emory Staley, Norman Ferguson, Tommy Burns, Jack Fuller, Eugene LaPorte, Robert LaPorte, Ernie Kehr, E. E. Gammon, “Norma”, and Mark Poucette. File also…
18 photographs : b&w prints ; 20 x 25 cm or smaller -- 2 newspaper clippings
Scope & Content
File consists of 18 photograph prints given to Norman Luxton by family and friends [mostly annotated]. Includes signed portraits of Red Cathcart, Emory Staley, Norman Ferguson, Tommy Burns, Jack Fuller, Eugene LaPorte, Robert LaPorte, Ernie Kehr, E. E. Gammon, “Norma”, and Mark Poucette. File also contains two newspaper clippings pertaining to Eugene LaPorte and Ernie Kehr.
Notes
Newspaper clipping re: Ernie Kehr stored with related photograph [LUX/I/E4/PA-481].
File consists of one scrapbook containing photograph prints, postcard prints, newspaper clippings, and two typed pages pertaining to John McDougall and the "Indian Uprising" in Alberta in 1880, and Marion Carson. Visual content pertains to various members and friends of the Luxton family attending …
1 scrapbook (59 b&w and col. prints ; 16.5 x 21.5 cm or smaller -- 3 newspaper clippings - 2 textual records)
Scope & Content
File consists of one scrapbook containing photograph prints, postcard prints, newspaper clippings, and two typed pages pertaining to John McDougall and the "Indian Uprising" in Alberta in 1880, and Marion Carson. Visual content pertains to various members and friends of the Luxton family attending domestic and international trips between 1954 and 1970, including trips to Victoria, B.C., Hawaii, Italy, Egypt, Hong Kong, Japan, Ireland, India, Greece and England.
Notes
Some items are heavily annotated on back, some dates and locations provided on pages of scrapbook
File consists of 35 photograph prints. Content pertains to trips with Eleanor Luxton and friends/family to various regions within Canada, including the Okanagan area in British Columbia, Jasper, Prince Edward Island, Montreal and High River; a 1969 trip to the United States including views of Los A…
35 photographs : b&w and col. prints ; 25 x 20 cm or smaller
Scope & Content
File consists of 35 photograph prints. Content pertains to trips with Eleanor Luxton and friends/family to various regions within Canada, including the Okanagan area in British Columbia, Jasper, Prince Edward Island, Montreal and High River; a 1969 trip to the United States including views of Los Angeles and the Grand Canyon; and the Calgary Stampede, 1960. File also includes one portrait of an unidentified man, and one photograph of Eleanor Luxton and Frank Kaquitts at the top of the Banff Gondola in 1968.