"It is said that by 1930 there were more Kwakiutl artifacts in Milwaukee than in Mamalillikulla, more Salish artifacts in Cambridge than in Comox." -- Joan Givner reviewing Douglas Cole's biography of Franz Boas.

QUICK REFERENCE ENTRY:

The name Douglas Cole rings very few bells beyond academic circles, but his writing career was nothing short of exemplary. Cole was born in Mason City, west of Spokane, in 1938. As one of the foremost authorities on relations between First Nations and non-aboriginal cultures, Cole produced two essential volumes, Captured Heritage: The Scramble for Northwest Coast Artifacts (1985) and An Iron Hand upon the People: The Law Against the Potlatch on the Northwest Coast (1990), with Ira Chaikin. Captured Heritage has been hugely influential in the social movement to regain artifacts that were taken from B.C. As Joan Givner noted in a review of Cole's work, "It is said that by 1930 there were more Kwakwaka'wakw artifacts in Milwaukee than in Mamalillikulla, more Salish artifacts in Cambridge than in Comox.";

With Bradley Lockner, Cole co-edited The Journals of George M. Dawson 1875-1878 (1989) which shed new light on the explorer. These journals chronicled the survey process and exploration of the Interior of B.C., the Fraser River and the Queen Charlotte Islands. A second set of journals, dated 1879 to 1900, was in the process of being edited and prepared for publication when Cole died in 1997 of a heart attack.

Posthumously, Cole was credited as co-editor of At Home with the Bella Coola Indians: T.F. McIlwraith's Field Letters, 1922-4 (2003), with John Barker, and, more significantly, Franz Boas: The Early Years, 1858-1906 (1999). "Cole's account of Boas' early scientific work is important for anthropologists and the references to Boas' field work are of special interest to B.C. readers,"; wrote Joan Givner. "But this biography also paints a vivid picture of life in the Jewish communities of German provincial towns, it describes Boas' education at leading German universities and it recounts how and why Boas settled in New York as part of the German expatriate society there. Like all magisterial biographies, Franz Boas: The Early Years successfully depicts one man's life against the backdrop of his historical period.";

As well, the third Eaton's B.C. Book Award went to Douglas Cole and Maria Tippett for their critical study of B.C. art, From Desolation to Splendour (1977), a study of changing European attitudes to West Coast landscapes. Prior to the creation of the B.C. Book Prizes in 1985, the Eaton's Book Award was widely considered to be the province's top literary prize. Its perennial judges Margaret Prang (UBC), Walter D. Young (UVic) and Gordon Elliott (SFU) maintained unusually high standards. For a complete list of Eaton's Book Award recipients from 1975 to 1983, search for "Eaton's"; at www.abcbookworld.com.

Douglas Cole, a founding professor at SFU, died at age 58.


FULL ENTRY:

Douglas Cole was one of the foremost authorities on relations between First Nations and non-aboriginal cultures. In particular Cole wrote Captured Heritage: The Scramble for Northwest Coast Artifacts and he co-wrote Iron Hand Upon the People: The Law Against the Potlatch on the Northwest Coast, two essential text of B.C. ethnology.

Cole was born December 9, 1938 in Mason City, later renamed Coulee Dam, west of Spokane. His family moved to Westland, Washington when he was 15. He attended Whitman College in Walla Walla (B.A. Art History), George Washington University in Washington, D.C. (M.A.) and the University of Washington (Ph.D). He took a teaching post at SFU as a founding professor in 1966 and became president of the faculty association (1986-88) and chair of the history department (1978-80). With his wife Maria Tippett, he co-wrote From Desolation to Splendour (1977), a study of changing European attitudes to West Coast landscapes which received the first Eaton's B.C. Book Award in 1978. [The Eaton's Book Award was one of the top literary prizes in British Columbia prior to the BC Book Prizes in 1985; its perennial judges were professors Margaret Prang (UBC), Walter D. Young (UVic) and Gordon Elliott (SFU)]. Prior to their divorce, Tippett and Cole also co-authored Phillips in Print: The Selected Writings of Walter Phillips on Canadian Nature and Art.

Douglas Cole also won a 1986 Molson Research Prize for his study of the impact of the 1884 federal law banning the potlatch ceremony. Cole co-edited The Journals of George M. Dawson which shed new light on the hunchbacked explorer who surveyed more territory than any other surveyor for the Geological Survey of Canada. These journals chronicled the survey process and exploration of the Interior of B.C., the Fraser River and the Queen Charlottes between the years 1875 and 1878. A second set of journals, dated 1879 to 1900, was in the process of being edited and prepared for publication when Cole died on August 18, 1997 of a heart attack. A memorial gathering was held at SFU's Halpern Centre on October 9th. He was 58. Cole had only recently completed his first volume of a Franz Boas biography [see review below]. He was also involved in the North Lonsdale Historic Area Working Committee to preserve the heritage character of North Vancouver. Posthumously, he co-edited At Home with the Bella Coola Indians: T.F. McIlwraith's Field Letters, 1922-4.

Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
Captured Heritage: The Scramble for Northwest Coast Artifacts
To the Charlottes: George Dawson's 1878 Survery of the Queen Charlotte Islands
An Iron Hand upon the People: The Law Against the Potlatch on the Northwest Coast
The Journals of George M. Dawson: British Columbia, 1875-1878
Phillips in Print: The Selected Writings of Walter J. Phillips on Canadian Nature and Art

BOOKS:

From Desolation to Splendour: Changing Perceptions of the B.C. Landscape (Clarke, Irwin, 1977). With Maria Tippett.

Phillips in Print: The Selected Writings of Walter Phillips on Canadian Nature and Art. (Winnipeg: Manitoba Record Society, 1982.) Co-editor with John Barker.

Captured Heritage: The Scramble for Northwest Coast Artifacts (Douglas & McIntyre, University of Oklahoma Press 1985)

The Journals of George M. Dawson: British Columbia 1875-1878 (UBC Press, 1989). Co-editor with Bradley Lockner. Two Volumes.

Iron Hand Upon the People: The Law Against the Potlatch on the Northwest Coast (D&M, University of Washington Press, 1990), co-authored with Ira Chaikin.

History of the Early Period. Handbook of the North American Indian, Vol. 7 Northwest Coast, Washington (Smithsonian Institution, 1990). With David Darling.

To the Charlottes: George Dawson's 1878 Survey of the Queen Charlotte Islands (UBC Press, 1993), co-edited with Bradley Lockner

Franz Boas: The Early Years, 1858-1906 (D&M 1999 $45)

Barker of At Home with the Bella Coola Indians: T.F. McIlwraith's Field Letters, 1922-4 (UBC Press, 2003). Co-editor with John Barker

[BCBW 2010] "Eaton's"