A head and shoulders portrait of a First Nations Chief in full headdress. He is turned slightly to the right, his right hand is raised in salute. Written in the lower right corner is “To my fine old friend Col. Moore Anis-ta-ma-ka Pal. Banff, Sept. 7 1927.”
A head and shoulders portrait of a First Nations Chief in full headdress. He is turned slightly to the right, his right hand is raised in salute. Written in the lower right corner is “To my fine old friend Col. Moore Anis-ta-ma-ka Pal. Banff, Sept. 7 1927.”
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
General colour: white, black, orange. The man's white fur hat fills upper third of the drawing. His eyes look out. He wears an orange tie. There is some purple colour on his left lapel. The title is in orange in the lower left corner. In the lower right corner, the words are in black.
General colour: white, black, orange. The man's white fur hat fills upper third of the drawing. His eyes look out. He wears an orange tie. There is some purple colour on his left lapel. The title is in orange in the lower left corner. In the lower right corner, the words are in black.
File consists of 2 printed paper copies of older hand-illustrated works. Pertains to a copied 1947 blueprint of Connaught Tunnel depicting burn damage on tracks from an accident that year; and a copied hand-drawn map of Deutchman Cave from 1902, with annotations bottom right (copied from the origin…
File consists of 2 printed paper copies of older hand-illustrated works. Pertains to a copied 1947 blueprint of Connaught Tunnel depicting burn damage on tracks from an accident that year; and a copied hand-drawn map of Deutchman Cave from 1902, with annotations bottom right (copied from the original).
Notes
Items were stored together in a poster tube labelled:
"Canadian Pacific
Blueprints - CPR Passenger Train in Connaught Tunnel
- Nakimu Caves at Glacier"
File consists of 5 textual items, various authors. Content pertains to a copy of 'The Last of the Buffalo' given to Nicholas Morant in 1940 by Norman Luxton; an Illustrated booklet hand-drawn by Cyril Harris for Nicholas and Ivy Morant; a copy of 'Paintings from the Wild' by Clarence Pillenius; a 1…
File consists of 5 textual items, various authors. Content pertains to a copy of 'The Last of the Buffalo' given to Nicholas Morant in 1940 by Norman Luxton; an Illustrated booklet hand-drawn by Cyril Harris for Nicholas and Ivy Morant; a copy of 'Paintings from the Wild' by Clarence Pillenius; a 1946 journal publication containing a poem written by Mollie Morant; and a copy of 'Weathered Wood' by F.O. 'Pat' Brewster, signed.
Storage Range
In file box M300 / III / D / 5 / 1 to M300 / III / D / 5 / 11
General colour: pencil on white. Two points of land come in from left and right respectively with water in between and behind. The far shore starts quarter way up and becomes a mountain left of enter and right banks up each side. Sketchy clouds appear to be raining left and right.
General colour: pencil on white. Two points of land come in from left and right respectively with water in between and behind. The far shore starts quarter way up and becomes a mountain left of enter and right banks up each side. Sketchy clouds appear to be raining left and right.
Pencil sketch of foothills with mountain range in background. A river indicated in foreground flows from left bottom corner to right, brc is river bank. Light and heavy pencil lines with shading, indicating trees and hills. Colour notes throughout. Drawing made on light sketchbook paper, serra…
Pencil sketch of foothills with mountain range in background. A river indicated in foreground flows from left bottom corner to right, brc is river bank. Light and heavy pencil lines with shading, indicating trees and hills. Colour notes throughout. Drawing made on light sketchbook paper, serrated top edge, rounded corners bl and br.
General colour: black on white. In the foreground is a lake and ten trees on the opposite shore. Beyond is a treed slope up to rocky peaks. Behind is cloudy sky.
General colour: black on white. In the foreground is a lake and ten trees on the opposite shore. Beyond is a treed slope up to rocky peaks. Behind is cloudy sky.
One central large facial image (on top of which is an arm and smaller face) under which is a beak and eye of a bird, two hands and a third and final facial image below that in the shape of a C off centre to the viewer’s left bottom. Vestiges of former drawing showing through.Au verso: “CLOUDS” brhc…
One central large facial image (on top of which is an arm and smaller face) under which is a beak and eye of a bird, two hands and a third and final facial image below that in the shape of a C off centre to the viewer’s left bottom. Vestiges of former drawing showing through.Au verso: “CLOUDS” brhc encircled “35” topped by encircled “6”
Fonds consists of cartoon drawings by Dermot Kennedy pertaining to construction of the Banff Windermere Highway. Textual item is mock-up of booklet titled Camp 51, prepared by J. R. Webb, 1974
Dermot Kennedy was born in Ireland, ca.1930, and came to work for the Canada Department of Public Works at Camp 51 on the Banff-Windermere Highway in 1956. He worked under J. R. (Jim) Webb, Resident Engineer, and gave Webb some of the numerous cartoons of survey life he sketched. Kennedy left the area in 1958 to work for Disney Enterprises and returned to Ireland, ca.1960
Scope & Content
Fonds consists of cartoon drawings by Dermot Kennedy pertaining to construction of the Banff Windermere Highway. Textual item is mock-up of booklet titled Camp 51, prepared by J. R. Webb, 1974
A single figure study of partially reclined figure with left leg bent and right leg extended, with arms supporting behind the back and head tilted back.
A single figure study of partially reclined figure with left leg bent and right leg extended, with arms supporting behind the back and head tilted back.
Colour: black on white. A cowering figure at centre is surrounded by three hands at the right (one hand becoming a face) and a large face and two black figures to the left and above.Au verso: THE FIRST STEP BEYOND
Colour: black on white. A cowering figure at centre is surrounded by three hands at the right (one hand becoming a face) and a large face and two black figures to the left and above.Au verso: THE FIRST STEP BEYOND