The notebooks of William Beynon are among the most significant written records of Northwest coast potlatching, and they were published for the first time in Potlatch at Gitsegukla: William Beynon's 1945 Field Notebooks(UBC $29.95) edited by Margaret Anderson and Marjorie Halpin.

Born in 1888 in Victoria to a Welsh father and Tsimshian mother, Beynon had a long career as an ethnographer of Tsimshian, Nisga'a and Gitksan communities. In 1945 Beynon attended and participated in five days of potlatch at the Gitksan village of Gitsegukla where the focus of the ceremonies was the raising of five totem poles. The event marked a struggle between the traditions of the older members and the modernizing impulse of the young. The introduction by Margaret Anderson and Marjorie Halpin puts Beynon's account into a Gitksan cultural perspective. "We are left with a deep appreciation not only for the immense amount of work done by Beynon, but also for the profound debt owed to the elders of Gitsegukla, who saw so clearly that their ways are the continuing strength of their people and who, in 1945, brought the young people of their village from reluctant acquiescence in these events to a deeper awareness and celebration of their identity and heritage."; 0-7748-0743-1

[Lisa Kerr / BCBW 2001]