Norman Swartz joined the Department of Philosophy at SFU in 1967 and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1998.

During Swartz's early years at SFU, the Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology Department was in academic and administrative turmoil, which culminated in the Department being placed under trusteeship by the University administration and eight faculty members going on strike.

Various faculty members, administrators and students produced documents to support their points of view during the PSA crisis. As he explained in his autobiographical notes, Swartz collected all of the PSA material that circulated around the University and that reached his desk from 1969 to 1970. Collection includes correspondence, memoranda, newspaper clippings and other documents related to the ongoing events in the PSA Department at this time.

The Archives established the Sterling Prize Collection in 2000 at the suggestion of Professor Ted Sterling, who, with his wife Nora, established the Sterling Prize for Controversy in 1993. According to the terms of reference for the prize, it may be given for work in any field including—but not limited to—fine arts, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and education. The primary aim of the prize is to encourage daring, creative, controversial, unconventional, and non-traditional work at SFU that also meets high standards and is morally and ethically sound. An ancillary aim is to encourage the study, at SFU, of the role of the controversial. The prize is normally awarded to a member of the SFU community—students, faculty, staff, or alumni. The winner is selected by the Sterling Prize Committee, composed of faculty. student and staff representatives.

Dr. Sterling, Professor Emeritus at SFU, was the founder of the University’s computing science program in 1973, and is an expert in computational epidemiology and the social implications of computing. He was awarded an honorary degree by SFU in 2001.

For further information on Ted and Nora Sterling and the Sterling Prize, see the file "Background Information."

In 2000, the archivist asked each previous Sterling Prize winner to give the Archives a copy of his or her Sterling Prize lecture. Some winners were able to supply a prepared text; other winners spoke from notes and supplied these. The archivist added more information to the files including announcements, press releases, articles from Simon Fraser News, print-outs from the Sterling Prize website, (http://www.sfu.ca/sterlingprize/) and other documents. SFU Media and Public Relations gave the Archives a cassette copy of Russel Ogden’s lecture for 1995. Please note that there was no prize winner for 1996.

For a list of speakers included in the collection, see Access Points.

In September of 1974, 12 members of the SFU Geography Department voted to form a Vancouver chapter of the Union of Socialist Geographers (USG). For the first few years this chapter, comprised of both faculty and graduate students, was responsible for collecting, editing and publishing content for issues of the USG newsletter. Eventually, volumes comprised of multiple issues of newsletters were produced and the first few of these were also published from SFU. By 1978, however, support from the Geography department at the University was waning. M. E. Eliot Hurst, a key founding member of the USG, was replaced as Chair of the Department of Geography and graduate students were leaving, so the Minnesota chapter stepped in to become the principle organizing and publishing collective for volumes 5 and 6.
Superseded by a splinter group, the USG fizzled out of existence around 1981. In the years since, several original members of the Union have worked to collect and digitize original published content, though it remains incomplete. SFU Special Collections and Rare Books holds 17 issues of the USG newsletter, representing volumes 1-4 in their entirety and portions of volumes 5 & 6. A few more issues can be found at the website for the Antipode foundation (https://antipodefoundation.org/2017/06/28/usg-newsletter-archive/).
This collection is comprised of miscellaneous contextual records that serve to illustrate some of the atmosphere and attitudes towards socialist geography that existed at SFU in the 1970’s. There are source project reports that clearly inspired SFU students to develop their own geography project in Vancouver; notes and memos from within the SFU Department of Geography discussing the relative merits of a socialist geography course or agenda; a compilation of collaborative papers generated by USG members for presentation at a conference; and minutes from meetings of the Vancouver chapter of the Union of Socialist Geographers.

The collection consists of photographic images and printed materials relating to the life and death of E. Pauline Johnson. Some of the material is associated with her sister, Evelyn Johnson, but the provenance and nature of compilation is largely unknown.

Collection consists of newspaper clippings and periodicals about Simon Fraser University.

Fonds consists of material acquired by Anne Roberts as a member of Vancouver Women's Caucus. Includes minutes, correspondence, flyers, pamphlets, reprints, news clippings, briefs, position papers, copies of The Pedestal, and other documents.

Journalist Peter Stursberg interviewed Hugh Keenleyside as part of an oral history project for the Parliamentary Library and the National Archives of Canada. Dr. Keenleyside was a former chair of the B.C. Power Commission and played an important role in the development of hydroelectric power in B.C.

The collection consists of three files containing the complete transcripts of two interviews.

The Simon Fraser Public Interest Group (SFPIRG) was established in 1981 as part of a movement of PIRGs established at universities across North America to advocate for social change. SFPIRG's mission is to engage students in social and environmental justice. Areas of work include education, action, research and community. SFPIRG is funded through student fees, is non-partisan, and is a registered non-profit organization. The collection consists of publications of the organization, including their newsletter Antithesis, and a number of special topic brochures, booklets, and leaflets.

The University Archives regularly receives donations of material related to SFU history from members of the University community (e.g., alumni, former staff and faculty, members of the general public, etc.). These donations usually consist of a small number of files and/or items that either focus on a single subject or event, or form a more general collection of material accumulated through a donors' connection to SFU.

When the Archives first started acquiring these types of materials, individual collections were created and named after the donor(s) (e.g., Mr. and Mrs. X SFU history collection). Very quickly, the Archives had several small collections on SFU history spread across its holdings, which it made it difficult for researchers to search and identify such similar groups of records. As a way to make these collections more accessible, the Archives decided to group them together under the umbrella of this collection, with a series created for each donation to preserve the chain of custody.

A description of the activities and and topics documented in the collection can be found in the scope and content note at each series level.

The collection has been arranged into 8 series that consist of material received from separate donors:

• Gene Waddell SFU architecture manuscript (series 1)
• Carolyn Hegberg SFU history collection (series 2)
• Kersti Krug SFU staff experience article (series 3)
• Sally and John Pankratz SFU Athletics collection (series 4)
• Breaks Bros. Construction Ltd. SFU construction collection (series 5)
• Helena Turner SFU charter student colloquium collection (series 6)
• Bob and Donelda Wilson SFU Sports Car Club collection (series 7)
• Koenraad Kuiper graduate student mailbox collection (series 8)

Collection consists of 16 mm film, transcripts, master audio recordings and audio cassettes. These records form part of the production elements used by Stanley Fox and Aquarian Productions to produce Series Two of Gestalt Sessions with Fritz Perls, filmed in 1969 and edited in 1972. Films are introduced by Dr. Karl. E. Humiston, and record psychotherapy sessions between Perls and volunteer patients that took place over five days and 55 hours in 1969.

Covering the time period from February 1942 to November 1943, the collection consists of records created or received by various staff of the Department of Mines and Resources, Surveys and Engineering Branch in the course of their activities establishing, administering and operating road work camps for evacuated male Japanese Canadian nationals along the proposed route of the Yellowhead Highway between Blue River, British Columbia and Jasper, Alberta. Also included among the files are some records of Department of Public Works staff pertaining to their role in the establishment of the camps, as well as a significant amount of correspondence with the British Columbia Security Commission (B.C.S.C) and related records. In addition to documenting the evacuation of Japanese Canadians from the B.C. coast to interior road work camps and other areas in early 1942, and many of the activities and events that occurred in the camps, the records also provide evidence of the economic and labour conditions in British Columbia during World War II.

Records within the collection pertain to the following road work camps: Albreda, Black Spur, Blacks Spit, Blue River, Gosnell, Grantbrook, Lampriere, Lucerne, Pratt, Pyramid, Rainbow, Red Pass, Red Sands, Tete Jaune / Yellowhead, and Thunder River in British Columbia, and Geikie, Jasper and Decoigne in Alberta. In addition, some records reference detention camps at Greenwood, Kaslo, Lemon Creek, New Denver, Roseberry, Sandon, and Slocan.

Record types include correspondence, reports, lists, nominal rolls, bills of lading, invoices, operational memos, purchase orders, and balance sheets. A significant number of records relate to the establishment and ongoing supply of the road work camps; these include supply orders and invoices, architectural plans for camp buildings, and status and other reports concerning the preparation of camps. Administrative personnel records document the hiring, management and activities of non-Japanese Canadian road camp workers, such as foremen, sub-foremen, and carpenters, and include information pertaining to the previous work and life experiences of these men, their age, ‘character,’ medical conditions, and home address, as well as positions and wages expected and received.

Many records within the fonds relate to the management of Japanese Canadian road camp workers, including the administration of pay, Workmens’ Compensation claims, and payment of assignment fees for dependents; medical and perceived psychological issues and the treatment of such issues; and the movement of Japanese Canadian men between camps and the policies and procedures governing these movements. This includes records pertaining to the granting of temporary leave, transfer to other camps or areas, family re-unification, the release of workers to private jobs, either within B.C. or in another province such as Ontario or Alberta, and the attitudes of certain communities towards Japanese Canadians. Correspondence in several files relates to supervisors’ attitudes towards road camp workers, including those identified as agitators or troublesome, and the methods used to deal with them, such as transfer out of camp and the censorship of Japanese Canadian mail. Included also are records relating to the organization and collective resistance of Japanese Canadian road camp workers, their demands, complaints and refusals to work, and the techniques identified to deal with these situations.

Several files include nominal roles and other lists of Japanese Canadian and other road camp workers, including some or all of the following personal information: name, registration number, occupation, previous work experience, age, place of birth, address, marital status, number of dependents, ‘physical defects’ and medical, dental or mental health issues. Some correspondence from Japanese Canadian road camp workers to camp administrators provides insight into their lives both in camp and prior to evacuation.

The negatives depict Hudson in his shops in Vancouver (Cambie Street and later Marine Drive), as manager of the Kingait print cooperative at Kinngait (previously Cape Dorest), and socializing in Vancouver, Burnaby and Powell River.
The individuals depicted in the photos, sometimes identified by first name in the file titles, include:
Wil Hudson
Keith, Betty and Brendan Shields
Fritz Jacobsen
Bill Shoebotham
Harold Johnston
Frances Johnston
Sean Johnston

Collection consist of books, newspaper clippings and photographs related to the life of de Mishaegen, and letters from de Mishaegen to de Trémaudan. Books by both women are included.

The collection offers insight into the imprisonment of the “Sons of Freedom” between 1932 and 1934 at Piers Island Penitentiary. The “Sons of Freedom” Doukhobors began as a small, radical movement to reinvigorate the faith, restore traditional Doukhobor values, and protest the sale of land, education, citizenship and registration of vital statistics. They would achieve infamy through civil disobedience, nude marches, and burnings. In 1932, over 600 Sons of Freedom protestors were convicted of public nudity. As B.C. Penitentiary was unable to handle such a rise in inmate population, a satellite prison under the authority of B.C. Penitentiary was constructed on Piers Island to house these prisoners. The records document how the prison was set up and run and the problems that the federal prison system encountered regarding both staff and prisoners. The correspondence and telegrams shed light on the internal discussions of senior officials concerning the management of the prison and its prisoners.
Fonds consists of correspondence, memoranda, telegrams, and other textual records pertaining to the Piers Island Penitentiary created or accumulated by H. W. Cooper during his career as the warden of B.C. Penitentiaries. The fonds also contains photographs which were all taken at Piers Island. The textual records predominantly consist of letters to and from H. W. Cooper regarding the penitentiary, staff, and prisoners. The records have been arranged into the following two series: Correspondence and other documents (1932-1934); and Photographs ([between 1932 and 1934]).

The collection was compiled by the University Archives staff to illustrate the construction of Simon Fraser University.

The history of Simon Fraser University is reflected in its world-renowned architecture. Located atop Burnaby Mountain, SFU's design was the result of a competition held in 1963 by Dr. Gordon Shrum, the newly-appointed Chancellor of the University. The goal of the competition was to produce five winners. One architect would be awarded first prize for the overall design of SFU, while four other architects would each be invited to build a section of the University under the supervision of the winner. All entries were limited to applicants from British Columbia.

The informal guidelines for SFU's design consisted of a directive from Dr. Shrum entitled, "Notes from the Chancellor," which was distributed to the applicants. In this directive, Dr. Shrum noted many of the features that he felt were essential to the new university based upon his previous experience at the University of British Columbia. Among his recommendations were that students should be able to move from one part of the university to another without going outside, and that the large lecture theaters should be grouped together rather than scattered over the whole campus. Perhaps the most important of his criteria was that SFU should appear in 1965 essentially as it would look in 1995. In other words, it should look like a finished university, but also be designed for expansion. The design chosen was that of a young UBC architecture professor, Arthur Erickson, and his colleague Geoffrey Massey. The four other winners were William R. Rhone and Randle Iredale; Zoltan Kiss; Duncan McNab, Harry Lee, and David Logan; and Robert F. Harrison. The Erickson and Massey design had been the unanimous choice of the judges, and had met all the requirements that Shrum had outlined in his memo.

The collection consists of photographic prints and contact sheets that illustrate the physical development of SFU including site clearance, excavation, the construction of individual buildings, and completed buildings and interiors. There are a number of aerial photographs. The collection also includes photographs of the University's opening ceremonies and the installation of Dr. Shrum as Chancellor and Patrick McTaggart-Cowan as President.

The Apiculture (beekeeping) collection is an artificial grouping of documentary materials relating to the methods, science and culture of beekeeping. The collection was established by the SFU Archives as a complement to its other holdings relating to apiculture, such as the fonds of the British Columbia Honey Producers' Association (F-147), and the papers of SFU faculty member Mark Winston (F-174).

The collection consists of publications, conference proceedings, minutes, correspondence, photographs, and moving images. Material includes government publications, correspondence and registers of provincial beekeepers in British Columbia; published research articles, presentations and reports; course outlines and course material relating to the Bee Masters program and honey judging in British Columbia; photographs of various BC beekeeping activities and personalities; copies of meeting minutes and other records of various beekeeping associations in British Columbia and Canada; moving images featuring beekeeping activities and topics; and various subject files relating to the history of beekeeping in BC.

The Political Science, Sociology and Anthropology (PSA) Department was established in 1965 as one of the original departments at SFU. It marked a significant academic innovation in that it united three separate disciplines under one head—the distinguished Marxist scholar Tom Bottomore. By the late 1960s, Bottomore had returned to England, and the department entered a period of scholarly and administrative turmoil. The crisis culminated in the Department being placed under trusteeship by the University administration and eight faculty members going on strike.

The collection consists of various files collected over the years by the staff of the University Archives to assist history students and other researchers. Includes press releases, reports, publications and other documents.

Peter Stursberg was a journalist who interviewed Pauline Jewett for his book on Lester B. Pearson. Dr. Jewett was President of SFU from 1974 to 1978. She was a former university professor and a member of Parliament.

The collection consists of 2 audio cassettes and the transcript of the interview.

Collection consists of an interview (audio recording and transcript) of Dr. Kenneth Strand by Gordon Hardy.

Strand was Acting President of Simon Fraser University from August 1968 to September 1969, and was President of the University from September 8, 1969 to September 1974. Gordon Hardy is a former student of Simon Fraser University. Mr. Hardy first interviewed Dr. Strand for the "The Peak" when Dr. Strand was named Acting President in 1968. The present interview was conducted in 1977 for the SFU Alumni Magazine, "Afterthoughts."

The interview is on Side A of the cassette tape. It is approximately 45 minutes long. Unfortunately the interview ends rather abruptly in mid-sentence, because the tape ended. Side B of the tape contains a short (about 10 minutes) interview of Gordon Hardy by the Library Assistant for Archives. This interview provides some background on Mr. Hardy's interview with Dr. Strand. Both interviews were conducted in offices, and consequently the background noise and interruptions detract from the interview.

The transcript of the interview is available.

The Indo-Canadian Oral History Collection documents the histories of immigrants from the Punjab Province of India who came to Canada between 1912 and 1938. The project was initiated by Hari Sharma, Professor of Sociology at SFU, who conducted the interviews with the assistance of a graduate student.

The interview subjects, primarily Sikhs, discuss such topics as why they came to Canada, the journey to Canada, adjustment to Canadian society upon arrival, employment in Canada, family life, and their ongoing links with their country of origin. Appendices include an interview guide prepared by Hari Sharma and an article about the project.

The collection consists of agendas and minutes from the Women's Studies Coordinating Committee and the Women's Studies Graduate Committee. The collection also includes a proposal for a minor in Women's Studies and a correspondence file that contains letters exchanged between Lolita Wilson, Assistant to the Vice-President, Academic and the Committee on the Status of Women of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC). The latter file also contains a copy of Wilson's 1972 report, "Women at Simon Fraser University."

This collection consists of 15 photographs, as well as a postcard. Subject matter is pertaining to Japanese Canadians in the decades leading up to, and including, the Second World War. Content has been divided into 2 identifiable series: Photographs (ca.1925-1945?) and Correspondence (1908).

The collection consists of 2 complete interviews over 3 CDs conducted by Andre Isakov with Jack Munro and Francis (Frank) Wall and two additional CDs of excerpts of the same interviews.

The collection consists of a draft commentary regarding SFU history, several pieces of corresondence relating to Lolita Wilson's career at SFU, a 1973 oral history interview of Wilson by Liisa Fagerlund (University Archivist at the time), and a copy of the first admissions packet to SFU from the University's opening in 1965. Collection also includes a five-minute cassette, "Sounds of SFU," recorded by arts student Robert Mcaninch in 1970.

Collection consists of records created or accumulated by Roger Stonebanks over the course of, and following, his research for the book “Fighting for Dignity: The Ginger Goodwin Story,” published in 2004, as well as for numerous newspaper articles about Goodwin, mining, and labour history in British Columbia. Records include interview notes, correspondence, photographs and other graphic material, audio cassette tapes containing interview recordings and radio broadcasts, research records from various sources, and Stonebanks’ notes about sources consulted. Research records are primarily reproductions from sources such as museums and archives, and include records such as birth, death and marriage certificates, photographs, and newspaper articles. Some records date past 2004, after the publication of Stonebanks’ books, and thus were not used as research sources. The collection also contains various articles reviewing and publicizing Stonebanks’ book.

Collection has been arranged into the following four series: Correspondence (1985-2004); Subject files (1908-2011); General clippings and publicity (1990-2010); and Photographs (1909-2004).

Collection consists of records such as press releases and publications that document activities of the Gay Alliance Toward Equality (GATE). It includes copies and drafts of A Guide for the Naive Homosexual (called the "Blurb"). The collection also includes photographs of various GATE boycotts or protests and personal photographs of Roedy Green, some of which include members of GATE.

This collection contains 18 cassettes (approximately 27 hours) representing 10 interviews compiled for the oral history project that resulted in "Tides of Men: A Documentary on the Lives of Gay Men in British Columbia, 1936 to the Present.". The interviews are narratives of gay life in Vancouver, compiled approximately between 1995-1996 by Robert Rothon and Myron Plett.