Landscape painting of glacial area. Background has a blue sky that is filled with tall glacial formations. Right at the centre of the middle ground are silhouettes of two people rendered in black. Off to the the right side of the foreground is a weather station. The colour palette is made up of blu…
Landscape painting of glacial area. Background has a blue sky that is filled with tall glacial formations. Right at the centre of the middle ground are silhouettes of two people rendered in black. Off to the the right side of the foreground is a weather station. The colour palette is made up of blue, purples, orange, black, brown, green, and white.
Landscape pastel drawing of a glacier area, colour palette made up of purple,orange, yellows, blues and black. In the background there are glaciers, hills,or mountains. Middle ground is filled with vertical and horizontal lines that represent the pattern of glaciers. In the foreground, off to the l…
Landscape pastel drawing of a glacier area, colour palette made up of purple,orange, yellows, blues and black. In the background there are glaciers, hills,or mountains. Middle ground is filled with vertical and horizontal lines that represent the pattern of glaciers. In the foreground, off to the left hand side is a weather station made up of black and blue.
Landscape pastel drawing with a colour palette made up of purples, blues, and soft peach. in the background there are glaciers or mountains. In the middle ground, just slightly off to the right, there is a weather station composed of black and blue pastel. in the foreground are vertical lines of pu…
Landscape pastel drawing with a colour palette made up of purples, blues, and soft peach. in the background there are glaciers or mountains. In the middle ground, just slightly off to the right, there is a weather station composed of black and blue pastel. in the foreground are vertical lines of purple, white, and blue, that represent patterns of the glaciers.
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
An ink drawing of a young man facing away from the viewer towards a tank rolling over a hill, with mountains in the background. The text BLIND DATE/ appears above the tank. JOHN WINDSOR in blcP.W. in brc
An ink drawing of a young man facing away from the viewer towards a tank rolling over a hill, with mountains in the background. The text BLIND DATE/ appears above the tank. JOHN WINDSOR in blcP.W. in brc
A pencil and ink drawing of the cover illustration of BLIND DATE BY JOHN WINDSOR. A young man is turned away from the viewer and towards a tank, which sits at the horizon. A group of soldiers march from the foreground in the direction of the tank.
A pencil and ink drawing of the cover illustration of BLIND DATE BY JOHN WINDSOR. A young man is turned away from the viewer and towards a tank, which sits at the horizon. A group of soldiers march from the foreground in the direction of the tank.
An ink and pencil drawing of a title page where the title is arranged as such: BLIND DATE In the foreground a male figure in shorts, knee-high socks and a cap, stands contemplating the scene with his back to the viewer. He carries luggage. Troops carrying weapons march in lockstep away fro…
An ink and pencil drawing of a title page where the title is arranged as such: BLIND DATE In the foreground a male figure in shorts, knee-high socks and a cap, stands contemplating the scene with his back to the viewer. He carries luggage. Troops carrying weapons march in lockstep away from the viewer, and in the direction of the title text. Above the title, a tank drives to the viewer’s right, with mountains and clouds in the background.At the bottom and foreground, text reads: BY JOHN WINDSOR. The initials P.W. appear In the bottom right corner of the drawing.This part is rendered in ink and enclosed within hand drawn frame. Handwritten below the frame in pencil is the comment:Excellent- think title “BLIND DATE” should be bigger, bolder, dressier. Add “BY” John Windsor.At the topmost part of the paper, there is a pencil sketch of a tank, and a comment: “NO” with an arrow pointing to the ink-drawn tank within the frame.
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"