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Ellen May Neel was the niece of Mungo Martin and granddaughter of Charlie James, and she began drawing and painting very early in life, at age 12. Ellen Neel's father was Charles Newman who in turn was the son of James Newman. She attended St. Michael's Residential School in Alert Bay and learned outside of school how to carve from her grandfather, Charlie James. Ellen married Ted Neel and had a large family with him. In 1946, Ellen had to solely support the family by carving full-time, since Ted Neel suffered a serious stroke which impaired his health for life. Thus, her husband dealt with the business side of her work, while Ellen carved and painted. She worked on a number of restoration projects (including some at UBC) and commision projects as well. In 1950, she was elected onto the board of the Vancouver Centre Liberal Association--a support group for one of Canada's strongest political parties-- she became the first native woman to hold office. Ellen Neel produced works for the tourist trade and sold things through Totem Art Studios in Stanley Park. All the while Ellen worked, she taught her children her skills; at the age of 12, Dave Neel, the oldest son, was as good a carver as his mother, but in 1961 he died in a car accident in Washington State, and both Ellen and her husband never recovered from the pain. Her Kwakwaka'wakw name was Kakaso'las, which means "people come from faraway to seek her advice".

Elizabeth Lominska Johnson was born in Ossining, New York in 1941. In 1963, she received a B.A. in Psychology from Bucknell University. After receiving this degree she travelled in Europe for a year. In 1965 she married Graham Johnson. In 1967, she received a M.A. in Anthropology from Cornell University. Subsequently Johnson moved to Hong Kong where she lived from 1968 to 1971. Johnson continued to study at Cornell and in 1976 she received a Ph.D. in Anthropology upon completion of her dissertation, "Households and Lineages in an Urban Chinese Village," which is a study of the effects of rapid urbanization upon kinship groups in a two-lineage Hakka village.

In 1974 and 1975 Elizabeth Lominska Johnson was engaged as the "Coordinator, China Resources Project," at the University of British Columbia (UBC). In this position she acted as a liaison between local schools and researchers focusing on China at UBC. In 1977, she was employed as a museum cataloguer on a part-time basis both by MacMillan Bloedel, and by the Museum of Anthropology (MOA). From 1978 to 1979, she was employed as the Public Programmes Coordinator by the Vancouver Museum and Planetarium Association, where she developed, implemented and supervised new courses, social events, and lectures. Since March 1979, she has been an employee of the Museum of Anthropology. Until August 1986, she was Curator of Collections. In this position Johnson was responsible for the intellectual and administrative control of artifacts in the museum’s collection through registration, conservation, loan procedures; development of policy and procedures, the planning a new textile storage system, providing collections information to the public and the creation of publications relating to the collection.

Since August of 1986, she held the position of Curator of Ethnology. Several of her responsibilities continued to the new position, including curatorial activities and development of policies and procedures. New responsibilities included: teaching the course "Museum Principles and Methods" in Anthropology as well as occasional courses in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, the maintenance of collections documentation, maintenance and development of museum archives, managing public access to archives and supervising archival workers, appraising artifacts where required for accessioning or income tax receipts, maintaining financial records on the collections curating and coordinating exhibits, as well as taking on curatorial initiatives to develop and promote the East Asian collections in specific and the world-wide textile collection in general. In 1988, the responsibility for the MOA Archives was transferred to Johnson from Audrey Shane. Subsequently, in 1999 responsibility for the archives was transferred to the newly hired museum archivist.

Johnson’s work however was not restricted to the tasks required by her various positions at the museum. Johnson has also published works suitable for academic, museum and public audiences. These publications include exhibit catalogues, articles and book reviews. She has been active in community and professional associations, including: the Canadian Museums Association; the British Columbia Museums Association; the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch; the Association for Asian Studies; the Archives Association of British Columbia; the Textile Society of Hong Kong; and the Canadian Asian Studies Association. She has regularly attended and participated in conferences, where she has presented papers on such diverse topics as Chinese ethnology, textile conservation, museum studies, archives, the development of curatorial partnerships, visible storage, textiles, repatriation, and Cantonese opera. Apart from her involvement with conferences Johnson has also been an active participant in the academic and museum communities at an international level. Beginning in 1998, she was a grant application assessor for the University Grants Committee in Hong Kong. In the same year she also took on work as an external examiner for the Department of Anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong as well as taking on a position as an advisor to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. Johnson was also highly involved in the local Vancouver community. From 1983 to 1995 she was a member of the Chinatown Historic Area Planning Committee in Vancouver. Beginning in 1998, she was also a member of the Vancouver Chinese Cultural Centre Museum and Archives Committee. In the fall of 2006 Johnson officially retired, though she continues to maintain her relationship with the Museum of Anthropology in a research capacity.

Dorothy Grant, OC, is an internationally renowned fashion designer and traditional Haida artist. She is a member of the Raven Clan of Kaigani Haida, and learned to sew and weave traditional Haida garments and ceremonial regalia from her maternal grandmother. In the early '80s, she was the first Indigenous designer to combine traditional Haida artwork with contemporary fashion.

Don was raised in Vancouver where he attended King George High School and the University of British Columbia, followed by postgraduate work at the Institute of Archaeology, London University and Washington State University, Pullman. In 1960 Don joined the staff of the Royal BC Museum as the first professional archaeologist in BC. In his 35 year career, Don continuously and selflessly promoted the discipline of archaeology. He conducted excavations on sites on southern Vancouver Island that contributed significantly to an understanding of Coast Salish history. Under his direction the Museum became the provincial centre for the documentation of archaeological sites and the storage of artifacts and associated data, held in trust for First nations. He was a member of the Archaeological Sites Advisory Board, of the committee that created 'Ksan Cultural Centre in Hazelton, worked on the Exxon Valdes Recovery Programme.

Donald N. Abbott, Acting Curator of Anthropology at the Royal B.C. Provincial Museum

David Pokotylo is an anthropological archaeologist whose research and teaching expertise has focused on the archaeology of hunter-gatherer-foragers, lithic technology, public archaeology, archaeological heritage management, and the use of quantitative methods in archaeology. His focus in archaeology of hunter-gatherer-foragers and lithic technology have allowed him to participate in a range of fieldwork projects in northwestern Canada (British Columbia, Northwest Territories), northern China, and Kenya. He is an Associate Professor Emeritus in UBC's Department of Anthropology.

David Neel is a fifth generation Indigenous artist who draws on both his heritages, Kwakwaka'wakw and European, for his artistic creations. He studied the work of his ancestors by looking at collections and publications of Kwakwaka'wakw art and uses traditional materials to create his contemporary works. He attended the Mount Royal College in Calgary and the University of Kansas where he studied photography. He has also created a series of masks on contemporary issues, which continues to be a focus of his work in photography, graphic arts, and sculpture. He comes from rich cultural and artistic roots: his father was Dave Neel Sr. who was taught to carve by his mother, Ellen Neel, and her uncle, Mungo Martin.

Chief Willie Seaweed, known as Kwaxitola ("Smoky-Top"), was born in 1873 at a time when Kwakwakw'akw culture flourished. He died in 1967 having seen nearly a century of technological change, such as dugout canoes replaced by diesel-powered fishing boats and airplanes. A 'Nakwaxda'xw chief, he was born just eleven years before the passage of the anti-potlatch law. He did, however, create very elaborate art for potlatches. "The name 'Seaweed' is an anglicization of the Kwakwala 'Siwid', which can be translated as 'Paddling owner', 'Recipient of paddling', or 'Paddled to'; all metaphors for a great chief who sponsors potlatches to which guests come from far off" (Holm 1983). Seaweed was a singer, storyteller, wood carver, and artist who kept the traditional potlatches alive through the years in which it was illegal. Willie Seaweed was a traditional artist who passed on his skills to a younger generation and his work is scattered throughout collections in Canada and the United States.

Chief Thomas Hunt, was a singer, orator, and hereditary Chief of the Kwagulth Band of the Kwakwaka'wakw Nation. He was married to Emma (nee Billy) Hunt (Maxwalaogwa), the daughter of Mowachaht Chief and Shaman, Dr. Billy from Yuquot, Friendly Cove. Emma was an instructor of Kwagulth and Nuu-chah-nulth culture. Their children are: Ross Hunt Sr., Calvin Hunt, Tony Hunt, and Eugene Hunt and his grandfather was the renowned carver Mungo Martin.

Hereditary Chief of the Da'naxda'xw / Awaetlala Nation of the Kwakwak'awakw people.

Chief Albert Edward Edenshaw was born near Cape Ball on the east coast of Haida Gwaii. The uncle of Charles Edenshaw, Albert was the head chief of the Stastas, one of the Eagle divisions. In the 1840s, he piloted New England trading vessels and Royal Navy ships visiting Queen Charlotte waters. On Sept. 26, 1852, Edenshaw became a central figure in a historic event. Hired as pilot of the American schooner, Susan Sturgis, they encountered, head-on, canoe-loads of Masset Haida. Edenshaw was able to hold off the attack for seven hours, and was commended by Captain Matthew Rooney. He was known as an ironworker, coppersmith, jewelry-maker, and carver of large wooden poles. It has also been stated that he was very likely a carver of argillite, however, no pieces have been definitively assigned to him.

Charlotte Townsend-Gault is an art historian, author, curator, and Professor Emeritus of UBC's Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory. Her research, teaching, and scholarship concerns contemporary visual and material Native American and First Nations cultures, particularly those of the Pacific Northwest. She is the co-editor of "Native Art of the Northwest Coast: A History of Changing Ideas" (2019, UBC Press) with Jennifer Kramer and Ḳi-Ke-In, a canonical text and historical survey of Northwest Coast First Nations' art.

Charles Sidney Leary (often referred to as Sid Leary) was born in England and moved overseas in 1907, eventually settling in Nakusp, British Columbia. He began working in the lumber industry and eventually came to own a mill. He served as an officer in the first World War, eventually rising to the rank of Captain. He was posted to Cyprus for timber operations in 1917 and it was there that he began to collect ancient artifacts. On returning to Canada, Leary continued to work in the timber industry. He later served as an MLA in the British Columbia Legislature, including two years as the Minister of Public Works. His collection of antiquities acquired in Cyprus was eventually shipped to Canada. After his death in 1950, his family donated his collection to the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia.

Charles F. Newcombe was a British physician, botanist, and ethnographic researchers and collector. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K., he studied medicine in Aberdeen, Scotland. He immigrated to the United States with his wife and three children, moving to Oregon, before moving to Victoria, B.C., in 1889.

Shortly after his arrival in Victoria he became an unpaid researcher at the provincial museum in Victoria, where he met people with whom he shared interests in botany, geology, marine biology, geography, palaeontology, and anthropology. [...] In 1895, with Francis Kermode of the provincial museum, Newcombe had travelled by steamer on an expedition to the Kwakiutl community at Alert Bay and to Haida Gwaii. On this trip, he began acquiring anthropological artefacts for his personal collection and he also established a practice of recording detailed field notes. In 1896, he became a founding member of the Victoria Natural History Society. By 1897, Newcombe had had a boat specially made for his fieldwork. The Pelican, a 24-foot double-ended Columbia River boat, was easy to row and to sail, could be transported by steamer, and permitted independent expeditions to the remotest areas of the coast. That year he returned to the same regions on his first major independent collecting trip. At the request of the provincial government he purchased a Haida totem pole for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (London) and he acquired artefacts for George Mercer Dawson of the Geological Survey of Canada. [...] By 1900, he had received commissions from major American museums. American anthropologist Franz Boas hired him to conduct research on the Haida history of the southern portion of Haida Gwaii. Newcombe was accompanied on this expedition by assistant, Douglas Scholefield, and Haida Chief, Elijah Ninstints. As they rowed and sailed together, Ninstints described the geography and history of his homeland, while Newcombe took notes and photographs, made sketches, and collected specimens. In late 1901, he agreed to work on a full-time basis for the Columbian Museum of Chicago, an arrangement that would last until late 1905. He acquired comprehensive ethnographic collections for displays on the Haida, Kwakiutl, Nootka, and Salish peoples. In 1904, he was commissioned to assemble ethnographic exhibits for the Louisiana Purchase exposition in St Louis that would include a group of Nootka and Kwakiutl cultural performers and artists, as well as a traditional Native house, a canoe, and other artefacts purchased and shipped for the event. He eventually developed a web of patrons, clients, and colleagues that extended throughout British Columbia and around the world.

For decades most ethnological artefacts from the northwest coast of Canada were purchased by foreign interests. Newcombe was dismayed that he could not interest provincial and federal governments in the collection and preservation of native artefacts and specimens of natural history. Since his overriding concern was to preserve these items for posterity, he was obliged to deal with American and other foreign institutions. In response to this situation, in 1911 the provincial museum at Victoria hired him as its agent. For four years he travelled throughout the province, compiling a major collection of artefacts. After 1914 his pace began to abate and he turned to researching and writing about the exploration history of the British Columbia coast. After a collecting trip to Alert Bay, he contracted pneumonia and died in 1924. From: http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/newcombe_charles_frederic_15E.html

Charles Edenshaw (Da.a xiigang), was a Haida carver who was born in Skidegate (Saangga.ahl Sdast'aas Eagle Clan). It is recorded that he was sickly when young, and at this time began carving argillite. His father, a noted canoe carver, died a few years later, so at eighteen he went to live with his uncle, Albert Edenshaw, in qang (Kung) village. When Albert moved to Masset in the 1870s, Charles would have accompanied him. He married Isabella in a Haida ceremony around 1873. After choosing his english name, Charles, and surname, Edenshaw (based on the Haidi name Edinso), he was baptized and remarried in an Anglican church. He worked as a full-time artist for most of his life, producing painted bentwood boxes, miniature and large totem poles, masks, chiefs' staffs, argillite totem poles, and gold and silver jewelry. The objects were created for First Nations' use, as well as for commissions by collectors for major museums. Like other Haida artists of his time, Edenshaw did not sign his work. The works are usually attributed to his hand through a combination of stylistic analysis and provenance. Edenshaw was able to speak Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Chinook jargon, and some English and lived and worked in numerous communities, including Sitka, Ketchikan, Port Simpson, Port Essington, and Victoria. He died at the age of 86 and is buried in Massett on Haida Gwaii.

James Cook was a British naval captain, navigator, and explorer who sailed the seaways and coasts of Canada (1759 and 1763–67), and conducted three expeditions to the Pacific Ocean (1768–71, 1772–75, and 1776–79), ranging from the Antarctic ice fields to the Bering Strait, and from the coasts of North America, to Australia and New Zealand. It was during his third voyage that Captain Cook sailed into the waters of what is now known as British Columbia. He spent a short period in the Pacific Northwest along what is now Vancouver Island during an expedition to find the fabled Northwest Passage. He never located the Passage, but paved the way for others to make a tremendous impact by establishing a British presence in the Pacific Northwest - he particularly influenced George Vancouver, who would sail as a midshipman with Captain Cook during his Pacific voyages.

When mapping the west coast of Vancouver Island, Cook gathered and recorded a vast amount of information about the Indigenous peoples of the area and their cultures. Cook also established a trading relationship with the Mowachaht Nation and their Chief Maquinna. The knowledge gathered by Cook contributed significantly to future expeditions, which eventually led to the European settlement and colonization of British Columbia. Cook died on February 14, 1779, on the Island of Hawaii.

William Ronald Reid (Q'adasru qiirawaay, Raven Clan of T'anuu) was born in 1920 in Victoria, B.C. His mother, Sophie Gladstone, was from the Kaadaas gaah Kiiguwaay, Raven-Wolf Clan of T'anuu (Haida), but she was educated at the Coqualeetza Residential School. His father was an American of Scottish-German descent. At twenty Reid began his career in broadcasting, as a radio announcer. From 1948 to 1958 he worked for the CBC in Toronto and Vancouver. Also, while in his twenties, he decided to emulate his maternal grandfather, Charles Gladstone and become a silver and goldsmith. Gladstone was trained by Charles Edenshaw, a master Haida artist. In conjunction with his grandfather's training, Reid analyzed many pieces held in museum collections. He also trained in traditional European jewellery techniques in Toronto, Ontario and London, England and applied those techniques (eg. repousse) to Northwest Coast metal work. When Reid returned to the West Coast he began seriously to pursue Haida imagery in both jewelry and sculpture. His works, known for their superb craftsmanship, range from exquisite carvings in precious metals and argillite to monumental sculptures in bronze and cedar. They have been collected and exhibited all over the world. Some of his most acclaimed sculptures include The Raven and the First Men at the Museum of Anthropology, and The Spirit of Haida Gwaii (1991), castings of which are located at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Vancouver Airport. Other celebrated pieces include Chief of the Undersea World at the Vancouver Aquarium, and Lootaas (Wave Eater), a cedar canoe that has been shown in Paris, and is now at home in Haida Gwaii. Bill Reid was the first living artist to have his work displayed in the Musée de l'Homme in Paris, in an exhibition celebrating the works of ethnologist Claude Lévi-Strauss. It can be said that Bill Reid's work forms a link between ancient and contemporary artistic styles, and was instrumental in the revitalization of the northern Northwest Coast artistic tradition. Reid received many awards in his lifetime, including the Canada Council Molson Award, the Bronfman Award for Excellence in Crafts, the Vancouver Lifetime Achievement Award, the Royal Bank Award for Outstanding Canadian Achievement, and the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Lifetime Achievement. UBC awarded Bill Reid an Honorary degree in 1976 for his contribution to the cultural life of Canada. He died on March 13, 1998 after a 30-year battle with Parkinson's disease.