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Thomas Laurie and Mildred Laurie were a married couple who managed the B.C. Packers general store in Alert Bay for many years. Their daughters Leslie and Cathie attended the first local integrated school there in the 1950s, and their son Tom was born in Alert Bay in 1962. After leaving Alert Bay in 1964 the family moved to Powell River, where Thomas and Mildred ran the Columbia Store, and then to Ocean Falls, where they managed the mill store. The Lauries later relocated to Kitimat and then to Prince George, where they ran a motel for 22 years.

Tom price was born on Anthony Island. He was known to have been chief of Ninstints. His work was known to have been collected by Dr. C.F. Newcombe and Mr. Lansberg. He often used whale and fish designs and often inlaid bone, ivory, and shell into his work. He died in Prince Rupert at an estimated age of 66. For further information on his life and work please see the Masters' thesis by Trisha Corliss Glatthaar at http://hdl.handle.net/2429/35004

From 1978 to 1981, the functions of the Public Relations and Communications Office, including public programming and public relations activities, were fulfilled by the museum’s Extension Curator.

In 1982, Ruth Anderson was appointed Public Relations Coordinator. In 1985, the position was re-titled Public Relations Officer. In January 1986, Christopher Miller took over the position of Public Relations Officer. In 1987, the position’s title was changed to Public Relations and Development Officer, and was changed again in March 1990 to Public Relations and Marketing Officer.

In October, 1990, the functions of the Public Relations Office were assumed by the newly created Communications Office, headed by Kersti Krug, Director of Communications. From 1994 to 1998, Anna Pappalardo held this position and in 1998 Jennifer Webb took over. During Webb's time the Public and Community Services Department was created, and in 2006 the position was renamed Communications Manager. Webb held this position until 2013. This management position has often been supported by one or more assistants.

The Public Relations and Communications Office was established to increase the public’s awareness of the Museum of Anthropology and to promote its programs and special events. Functioning as an intermediary between the museum and the public, the Office is responsible for developing the public image of the museum. To achieve these functions, the Communications Manager is responsible for developing and maintaining media contacts, holding press conferences, writing press releases, advertising and producing publications about the museum, its programs, events, and services, building relationships with tour guides and hotel operators, and developing techniques for increasing museum attendance. In addition, the Manager is also responsible for coordinating fundraising and promotional events, conducting VIP visits, and representing the museum on various committees and at community events. Historically, this position has also been responsible for administering the museum’s Print Out Art Loan program and acting as a liaison for the Gallery Guides program.

On March 15, 1976, a steering committee was formed to realize a programme of volunteers at the Museum of Anthropology. Sixteen volunteers made up the organizing committee. In April of that year, 34 interested volunteers took part in a general meeting, and the steering committee served as the executive for the following year. Because of the Museum of Anthropology's relocation from the library's north wing to its present location, the steering committee was initially primarily concerned with tasks related to the official opening ceremonies for the opening of the new museum in May of 1976. In 1977, the official policy for the Volunteer Associates was put in place. Originally the volunteer associates were known as the Friends of the Museum, but ca. 1979, the volunteer committee changed their name to better reflect their commitment to the Museum. The purpose of the Volunteer Associates is to provide assistance and services to the Museum of Anthropology and members of the public, and to provide a fulfilling experience for the volunteers. The Volunteer Associates are a self-administered organization with an executive committee working closely with the director and staff members. The organization is made up of committees, and members' work with the head of their committee who in turn coordinates activities with a staff member.

Vickie Jensen and Jay Powell are partners in both life and work. Since the early 1970s they have worked together in Washington State and British Columbia to study, document, and help revitalise indigenous languages in the communities in which they were active. In addition to language work, the couple promoted Indigenous artists and assisted First Nations in their efforts to achieve self-determination.

James V. Powell (Jay) completed his first degree in archaeology at Wheaton College in Illinois in 1959. He then studied Near Eastern languages at the National University of Mexico, the University of Chicago, and Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Between 1958 and 1965 he worked on excavation sites in Mexico, Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In 1965, seeking a quieter life, he began a degree at the University of Denver studying Archival Science, which he completed a year later. He then took a research librarian position at the New York Times and published two books on the translation history of the bible. In 1968 Powell began graduate studies in linguistics at the Pacific and Asian Linguistics Institute, University of Hawaii. In 1969 he began to conduct research on the Quileute language in La Push, Washington State for his M.A. and PhD degrees in Anthropological Linguistics. His dissertation, Proto-Chimakuan: a Reconstruction was completed in 1974.

Jensen earned a B.A., magnum cum laude, in English from Luther College in 1968. She then went on to do a Master of Arts in Teaching at the University of Iowa, which she completed in 1970. For her Master’s degree she specialised in education for children and youth that have trouble fitting into mainstream schools. During this period she also studied photography. She was employed in alternative education programs, and while teaching in South Dakota worked with Sioux adults. These experiences led to her strong conviction that teaching materials should reflect the students’ own environments and that language education should be pragmatic and realistic in its goals. She felt that incorporating photography that the students could relate to would lead to success in achieving these objectives.

In the summer of 1972 Jensen travelled to La Push to visit Powell, with whom she had been corresponding. While there, she photographed the community. In December of the same year she immigrated to Canada to join Powell in Vancouver where he had taken a teaching job at the University of British Columbia (UBC). At that time, the two began their collaborative work with Northwest coast communities, travelling to the villages in which they produced educational materials during Powell’s breaks at the University. Powell taught linguistics at UBC until his retirement in July 1999. Throughout his career he researched the languages of a number of indigenous groups and produced approximately 130 publications in linguistic, anthropological, pedagogical and popular journals, and books. Jensen’s first job in Canada was at the Gallery of Photography in North Vancouver where she worked and taught. In addition to a number of other photographic projects, many as part of her collaborative work with Powell, Jensen was editor of Westcoast Mariner Magazine from March 1988 – June 1991, and for Office @ Home from 1997 – 1999. Between 1995 – 2001 she published a number of articles and books on marine themes, focussing on underwater vehicles.

In addition to their work in the Northwest Coast, Jensen and Powell have also photographed and conducted research in communities around the world. This includes work in the USA, Mexico, South America, as well as four sabbatical years that took the couple and their two sons through Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa. As well as research trips, Jensen and Powell have spent recent years lecturing on cruise ships and travelling for pleasure.

Powell has remained active as an ethnographic and linguistic consultant throughout the Northwest coast since his retirement from UBC. He and Jensen continue to work with communities with which they have established relationships, on both a formal and an ad hoc basis. Powell has an ongoing contract with the Haisla, and there will likely be more work with the Quileute, in addition to casual projects that come up periodically.

Victor Othello dos Remedios was born in Macau in 1893. He spent most of his life in Shanghai, China until 1951. He was trained as an accountant and worked for most of his adult years at the Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank of Commerce and at an American-owned pulp and paper mill. He married his first wife at the age of twenty-four and had a son who developed polio and was sent to Switzerland for schooling and health care. He married again at about the age of forty and had a daughter in 1938. At age fourteen he registered in the Shanghai Volunteer Corps and served until 1942 when war broke out. He took photographs of two bombing incidents in Shanghai in the 30s as a member of the Corps. In 1942, Victor along with his wife Valentina and daughter Elizabeth were interned at one of many of the camps set up by the occupying Japanese forces in Shanghai for expatriates. They were released in April 1945 and had no place to live as their house was occupied by Korean allies of the Japanese, so they remained for another year in the camp.
The family eventually repossessed their home and Victor resumed work at his previous job as a manager of the pulp and paper mill. With the impending threat of invasion by the recently formed Red Army, his wife and daughter were sent to Hong Kong to live with relatives. Victor stayed in Shanghai until he had trained a Chinese replacement to manage the mill. In 1950, he was able to join his family and after a short stay in Hong Kong the family immigrated to Canada. In 1981, Victor passed away in a care facility in Victoria, BC. As of March 2014, his wife Valentina still lives in Victoria.

Victoria Yip joined the Chinese Times in Vancouver in 1929 and was responsible for local Vancouver and Canadian news. She was also the part-time editor for the cultural and literary columns and she later assumed the role of Advertising Manager.

No biographical information available.

Virginia Catherine Kehoe was born in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver on November 2, 1916. Upon marrying Bruce Kehoe, Virginia travelled with him to Ottawa, Calgary, Toronto and France as his career in the Royal Canadian Air Force lent itself to a significant amount of travel. Virginia Kehoe trained as an artist, and became close friends with Kwakwaka’wakw artist and carver Douglas Cranmer. She assisted in taking care of Cranmer’s store The Talking Stick on South Granville in Vancouver for part of its existence. Kehoe and her husband moved to Vancouver Island after Bruce Kehoe retired from the RCAF, first settling in Sooke and then moving to Victoria. Towards the end of her life, after the passing of her husband Bruce, Virginia Kehoe moved to Riverwest in Ladner, B.C. to be closer to family. Virginia Kehoe died in Ladner on September 15, 2008.

No biographical information available.

Walter C. Koerner was born in what is now known as Czechoslovakia (formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). In 1939, fleeing the expansion of Nazi Germany, he left Europe and emigrated to Canada. Upon his arrival in British Columbia, Koerner, with members of his family, founded a company known as Alaska Pine. He became a major figure in British Columbia's forest industry. Koerner was a significant collector of art, most notably European ceramics and North American First Nations art. In 1941, Koerner began collecting Northwest Coast First Nations art. He is credited with making important contributions to the artistic renaissance of First Nations art through his philanthropy and patronage. Walter Koerner played a significant role in the development of the University of British Columbia campus, lending financial and political support to several projects including UBC Library, the University Hospital, and the Museum of Anthropology. Walter Koerner died on his birthday July 21, 1995.

Wayne Suttles was an American anthropologist and linguist. He was a leading authority on the ethnology and linguistics of the Coast Salish people of British Columbia and Washington State. Suttles taught at the University of British Columbia from 1952-1963, the University of Nevada-Reno from 1963-1966, and Portland State University until he retired in 1985.

Suttles received his doctorate from the University of Washington in 1951 - the first to receive a doctorate from UW's anthropology department.