A mountain landscape sketch. Two peaks rise on the left, a rounded peak with tree coverage sits in the bottom right. Bottom left “5 Mile Banff July ‘72”, bottom right “Glyde.”
A mountain landscape sketch. Two peaks rise on the left, a rounded peak with tree coverage sits in the bottom right. Bottom left “5 Mile Banff July ‘72”, bottom right “Glyde.”
A seated nude (no furniture indicated) facing left, legs crossed, chin rests on her right hand, left arm lays across her right knee which is crossed over left. The model has long hair, face and one foot are indistinct. The drawing is done in a brown, red colour with light yellow highlights. Tit…
A seated nude (no furniture indicated) facing left, legs crossed, chin rests on her right hand, left arm lays across her right knee which is crossed over left. The model has long hair, face and one foot are indistinct. The drawing is done in a brown, red colour with light yellow highlights. Titled and signed on back as well.
Located in the center and filling most of the image area is an Inuit dancer. He stands with his back toward the viewer. His tunic is a yellow colour and he holds a drum stick in his right hand. He has medium length straight hair depicted in graphite and a colourful belt tied around his waist. His t…
Located in the center and filling most of the image area is an Inuit dancer. He stands with his back toward the viewer. His tunic is a yellow colour and he holds a drum stick in his right hand. He has medium length straight hair depicted in graphite and a colourful belt tied around his waist. His tunic has fringes at the sides and bottom and he has a decorative strip around the top of his mukluk.
Located in the center and filling most of the image area is an Inuit dancer. He stands with his side toward the viewer. His tunic is a yellow colour and he holds a drum stick in his right hand high above his head. He has medium length straight hair depicted in graphite and a colourful belt tied aro…
Located in the center and filling most of the image area is an Inuit dancer. He stands with his side toward the viewer. His tunic is a yellow colour and he holds a drum stick in his right hand high above his head. He has medium length straight hair depicted in graphite and a colourful belt tied around his waist. His tunic has fringes at the sides and bottom and he has a decorative strip around the top of his mukluk. He is holding a large round drum in his left hand.
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 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
Drawn lightly are two bison running toward each other ready to bang heads. Under foot you can see the suggestion of ground represented by a few lines. One bison is running from the upper left corner and the other is running from the center right.
Drawn lightly are two bison running toward each other ready to bang heads. Under foot you can see the suggestion of ground represented by a few lines. One bison is running from the upper left corner and the other is running from the center right.
A bull elk is almost in the center of this image. He is running to the cl or bl from the center. In the background behind him you can see another bull elk and several other elk far off in the distance.The closest elk has lots of grass around his feet and has just left a cliff area where the other b…
A bull elk is almost in the center of this image. He is running to the cl or bl from the center. In the background behind him you can see another bull elk and several other elk far off in the distance.The closest elk has lots of grass around his feet and has just left a cliff area where the other bull elk is still standing.The remaining elk are on a different ground level and have trees drawn behind them.