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honourary membership

ASA’s Honourary membership is awarded to those who are distinguished for their archives work..

Honourary Membership

ASA’s Honourary membership is awarded to those who are distinguished for their archives work. Anyone may nominate someone to become an honourary member.

For nominations, please include a brief biography as well as a listing of relevant accomplishments such as publications, lectures, research activities, ASA activities, other professional association activities, institutional contributions and any other significant accomplishments. Send the application form to the ASA office and the applications will be adjudicated by the Nominations and Awards Committee.

The ASA has the following honourary (lifetime) members:

Dr. L.H. Thomas

Lewis Herbert Thomas was born April 13, 1917, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The son of Reverend Robert and Margaret Thomas, he received his elementary education in Nova Scotia, and took his high school at Nutana Collegiate, Saskatoon.

He entered the University of Saskatchewan and graduated in 1940 with high honors in history and economics (BA). In 1941, he completed his MA thesis, “Constitutional Development of the North-West Territories, 1870-1888”. In 1946, he married Margaret E. Telford, and they had two children, Jean and Robert.

Following a period of research employment in the Department of History, University of Saskatchewan, he was appointed in 1946 Assistant Provincial Archivist for the Province of Saskatchewan. During this time he also lectured in history at Regina College. In 1948, he was appointed Provincial Archivist of Saskatchewan, a position which he held until 1957. His work with the Saskatchewan Archives Board involved drafting the first archival legislation for the Province of Saskatchewan, and establishing the policies and procedures governing the two provincial archives offices in Regina and Saskatoon. It was in this period of time that Dr. Thomas completed his doctoral studies under Professor A.L. Burt at the University of Minnesota (1953). His thesis was later published as The Struggle for Responsible Government in the North-West Territories, 1870-97, and became a classic reference for this period of government development in Western Canada.

Between 1957 and 1964 Dr. Thomas served as Associate Professor of History at the Regina campus. His history, The University of Saskatchewan, 1909-1959, was complemented by a number of articles related to archival development in Canada; exploration; and Saskatchewan history.

In 1964, Dr. Thomas joined the Department of History at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. Recognized as Professor of History in 1965, he also became departmental chairman, 1965-1968. In 1975, his The Renaissance of Canadian History: A biography of A.L. Burt was published.

During his career, Dr. Thomas contributed six scholarly books, and numerous articles to the understanding of Canada’s past. As editor of Saskatchewan History, 1949-1957, he established an outstanding journal of regional history. In 1968 he was appointed to a three-year term as Alberta’s representative on the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. This appointment was renewed for five years in 1971. His leadership in the profession and in linking the world of scholarship to the Canadian public was recognized on many occasions.

In 1972, the University of Saskatchewan awarded Dr. Thomas an honorary doctorate of laws, which was followed by the American Association for State and Local History’s Award of Merit. In 1975, he received, “for outstanding contribution to Alberta history”, the award of the Historical Society of Alberta. During the Learned Societies Conference in Saskatoon, June 1979, the Saskatchewan Archives Board honored Dr. Thomas at a special dinner. Following the dinner, the Canadian Historical Association made him an honorary life member. In 1982, Dr. Thomas was also awarded honorary life membership in the Archives Society of Alberta, and in October of 1982, he received the Order of Canada.

Upon his retirement from the University of Alberta in 1982, Dr. Thomas donated his papers to the University’s archives. Post-retirement activity saw Dr. Thomas research and prepare for publication, studies on socialism in Western Canada. A book about William Aberhart and Social Credit in Alberta was published in 1977, and his last completed project was editing tape transcripts resulting in the publishing of: The Making of a Socialist, The Recollections of T.C. Douglas in 1982. Dr. and Mrs., Thomas retired to Regina, Saskatchewan, and Dr. Thomas died there on November 17, 1982.

(Much of this text was taken from a write-up about L. H Thomas prepared by the History Department at the University of Alberta).

Photograph and biography courtesy of the University of Alberta Archives.

Dr. L.H. Thomas

in memoriam

Sheilagh Jameson

Sheilagh Jameson was the daughter of early ranching pioneers in the Millarville area of Alberta. Her love of history was kindled by her family and their neighbours who often spoke of their pioneer experiences.

She joined the Glenbow Foundation in 1957 in order to spend more time recording the lives of Millarville pioneers. She became Chief Archivist in 1967, a position she held until her retirement in 1979. Many of Glenbow’s most significant acquisitions came as a result of her dedication and persistence, and her intense identification with the pioneers. Sheilagh was the author of Chautauqua in Canada, W.J. Oliver, Life through a Master’s Lens, and Ranches, Cowboys, and Characters.

She received many awards for her contributions to western history, including an Alberta Achievement Award in 1979, and the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation Award of Honour in 1989. On her retirement from Glenbow, she was made Chief Archivist Emerita. She died in 1997.

Sheilagh Jameson

in memoriam

Alan Ridge

Alan D. Ridge was born in Brighton, England in 1926 and graduated from the University of London in 1947, specializing in History and Archives Administration. His career as an archivist began with the London County Council Archives, followed by his appointment as Head of the Records and Registry Service of the National Coal Board.

Alan’s archival career in Canada began in 1962, when he moved to Montreal to establish the archival program at McGill University. In 1968 he became Provincial Archivist of Alberta, succeeding Hugh Taylor. He served as Provincial Archivist for 16 years, during which time he oversaw the development of the Archives into a major research institution, and effectively initiated the records management program in the provincial government. He retired as Provincial Archivist in 1984.

He was active in many professional associations, including the Association of Canadian Archivists, the Alberta Society of Archivists, and the Historical Society of Alberta. He also taught archives and records management courses at the University of Alberta. In 1985 he was invested in the Order of Canada. He died in 1997.

Alan Ridge

in memoriam

Helen LaRose

Helen LaRose was born and educated in Saskatchewan. She began her career in the cultural sector in 1966, when she was hired by the John Walter Museum in Edmonton. In 1968 she became the Historical Sites Custodian, during which time she undertook research for the construction of Fort Edmonton, catalogued the artifacts, and planned the first pioneer programs at the Museum.

In 1973 she was appointed Manager of the newly-established City of Edmonton Archives. The same year she completed the Archives Administration and Records Management course at the University of Alberta. Over the course of her archival career she was very active in many professional organizations, including the Historical Society of Alberta, the Archives Society of Alberta, and the Association of Records Managers and Administrators.

In recognition of her outstanding work, Helen has received many awards, including the Historical Society of Alberta’s award for Outstanding Contributions to Alberta History. She officially retired as the City Archivist in 1993, but maintained close ties with the institution she helped to create, as a regular volunteer.

Helen passed away in 2024.

Helen LaRose

in memoriam

Georgeen Barrass

Georgeen Barrass was born and educated in Scotland, and moved to Canada in 1953. She began her archival career in 1962, when she joined the Glenbow Archives as Secretary to Chief Archivist Hugh Dempsey. In 1968 she was promoted to Assistant Chief Archivist of the photographic section, after completing the Archives Administration Course at the Public Archives of Canada.

While at Glenbow she curated several photographic exhibitions, including ones which highlighted the photography of W.J. Oliver and Herbert Wendell Gleason. She also co-curated the extremely popular Great C.P.R. Exhibition. She was active in many professional organizations, and served as the Secretary of the Historical Society of Alberta from 1969 to 1986. In 1977 she received the Historical Society of Alberta’s award for Outstanding Contributions to Alberta History.

She retired from the Glenbow in January 1987, and became an ASA Honorary Life Member the same year. She moved to Vancouver Island in 1989. She died on December 5, 2022 at the age of 100.

Georgeen Barrass

in memoriam

Hugh Alexander Taylor

Hugh Alexander Taylor was born in England in 1920. He studied History at Oxford and took his Archives Diploma at the University of Liverpool. His early archival career in England included positions with the Leeds Public Libraries, Liverpool Public Libraries, the County of Northumberland, and the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

He emigrated to Canada with his wife and daughters in 1965, taking the position of founding Provincial Archivist of the Provincial Archives of Alberta. He left Alberta in 1968 to become Provincial Archivist of New Brunswick. He joined the Public Archives of Canada in 1971 as Director of the Historical Branch, which he renamed the Archives Branch shortly after his arrival.

During his career at the Public Archives of Canada, Taylor undertook numerous initiatives that shaped that institution as well as the archival profession. Within the PAC, he recreated its organizational structure to highlight the strength of its media-based total archives. He was also a strong supporter of the newly formed Association of Canadian Archivists as well as its new scholarly journal, Archivaria.

But it was Taylor’s essays and ideas exploring the nature of archives that were possibly the most influential aspect of his career. As Terry Cook noted in Archivaria 60, Taylor “was intent on constructing archives anew, imagining them as places where archivists connect their records with social issues, with new media and recording technologies, with the historical traditions of archives, with the earth’s ecological systems, and with the broader search for spiritual meaning.”

He left the Public Archives of Canada to become the Provincial Archivist of Nova Scotia, retiring in 1982 to Parksville, BC. He remained active in the archival community as a consultant and as a teacher at month-long Archives Course at the National Archives of Canada as well as the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at UBC. Among his numerous professional contributions, he was active in the Society of American Archivists as well as the Association of Canadian Archivists, receiving the Kaye Lamb Award for best writing in Archivaria as well as honourary membership in the ACA in 1990. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1990. In 1992, the Association of Canadian Archivists published The Archival Imagination: Essays in Honour of Hugh A. Taylor, a festschrift written by archivists whom he had inspired. A collection of his most influential essays, Imagining Archives: Essays and Reflections by Hugh A. Taylor, appeared in 2002.

He died in Victoria, BC in 2005.

Hugh Alexander Taylor

in memoriam

Hugh Dempsey

Born in Edgerton, Alberta, Hugh Aylmer Dempsey worked at the Edmonton Bulletin newspaper and as a publicity writer for the Alberta Government prior to joining the Glenbow-Alberta Institute in 1956 as that organization’s first archivist.

He was promoted to curator/director in 1967, a postion he held until his retirement in 1991. On his retirement he was made Chief Curator Emeritus. In addition to his continuing role as the founding editor of the Historical Society of Alberta’s journal Alberta History, he has published many books and articles about native peoples and Alberta history, and collected photos relating to southern Alberta reserves. He also taught native studies and Alberta history at the University of Calgary and was involved in studies of Fort Calgary and the Cochrane Ranche. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary. He died May 2022.

Hugh Dempsey

in memoriam

E.J. (Ted) Hart

Ted Hart graduated from the University of Alberta with a Master’s Degree in Western Canadian History in 1972. Recruited to work in the nascent archives at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, he learned the archival profession on the job under the direction of the late Maryalice Stewart and through the first of the archives summer school sessions taught by the late Jim Parker at the University of Alberta.

In 1976, Ted became Head Archivist and in 1979 the Executive Director of the Whyte Museum.

Ted attended the founding meeting of the Association of Canadian Archivists at the University of Alberta and, with a handful of other Alberta archivists, created the Archives Society of Alberta in 1981, serving as its founding president. Ted’s responsibilities as Executive Director at the Whyte Museum precluded direct involvement in its ongoing activities, but he has remained a keen user of archives from a research perspective, now having written a dozen books, mostly on the history of the Canadian Rockies.

He retired from the Whyte Museum in 2010, the same year in which he became a fellow of the Association of Canadian Archivists.

E.J. (Ted) Hart

Trudie McLaren

Born and schooled in the St Paul, Alberta district, Trudie McLaren received a BA in history, with distinction, from the University of Alberta and a Master of Librarianship from the University of Washington. In 1974 she joined Jim Parker’s team at the University of Alberta Archives as Assistant University Archivist, retiring in 1994. Throughout her career Trudie was, and still is, involved in several professional organizations.

She was one of the founding members of ASA and served in several of the Society’s Executive and committee positions. She was present at the birth of ACA in Edmonton, and was a reporting member of the Women’s Caucus for SAA.

When the Society’s first education program was developed, Trudie taught several workshops, including Conservation of Materials, Appraisal for Archival Values, and Arrangement and Description of Archives. She was awarded membership in the Academy of Certified Archivists (SAA) and currently holds emeritus status.

Trudie also served as a committee member or board member in associated organizations which include the Edmonton and District Historical Society (Service Award for research, planning and presentation of the annual tours); the Friends of the Geographical Names of Alberta Society (Recognition Award, 2003); the Documentary Heritage Society of Alberta (now Friends of the Provincial Archives), and the Alberta Women’s Archives Association. More recently, she has become a member of the Canadian Society for the Study of Names and the Rupert’s Land Studies Consortium.

Trudie credited her mentors, Dr. L.H. Thomas, Alan Ridge, and Jim Parker for helping develop her career path and fostering and encouraging her interest in archives and love of history.

Upon retirement, Trudie was an active in volunteer projects for the City of Edmonton Archives, the Provincial Archives of Alberta, the Canadian Federation of University Women (Edmonton Club), and the Edmonton Lifelong Learners Association – and maintained her interest in travel and history, especially for walking or study trips.

She passed away in 2018.

Trudie McLaren

Jean Tener

Jean Tener was born in London, lived there during the Blitz, and spent the rest of WW II evacuated in Somerset. In 1952, she came to Canada as an immigrant, intending to stay for only six months.

Her brother had trained in the Commonwealth Air Training Scheme and had returned to Canada after the war. Jean married Canadian Robert Tener in 1955. In 1962, Robert joined the English Department at the University in Calgary, and Jean recommenced her studies and graduated with a BA and an MA in history.

Jean joined the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections of the University of Calgary Library in 1973, where she quickly became involved with the growing archival collections, particularly the literary ones. Just as quickly, Jean became involved in the archival profession. She attended the Public Archives of Canada course held in conjunction with the University of Ottawa in the fall and spring of 1976-1977, followed by a certificate course in Advanced Archival Arrangement and Description from the University of Washington in 1979. In 1984, she was appointed University Archivist, a position she held until her retirement in 1991.

During her career, she served in various professional associations, including the Directors of Alberta’s Archives, the Alberta Archives Council (1988-1990), and at the executive level with the Alberta Society of Archivists (1986-1988), the Association of Canadian Archivists (1979-1981), and the Canadian Council of Archives. Jean passed away on May 5, 2016.

Jean Tener

in memoriam

Michael Dawe

A fifth generation Central Albertan, Michael Dawe received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Alberta in 1976. In 1979, he became the first full-time archivist with the Red Deer and District Archives and served as City Archivist until 2009.

Michael was one of the founding members of the Alberta Society of Archivists. He was elected to the Interim Executive in the position of Member-At-Large at the founding meeting in Edmonton on March 29, 1981, and continued to serve in this position on the first Formal Executive elected April 4, 1982.

Michael served on the executive as Member-At-Large from 1982-1984; then again from 1988-1992. In 1994 he became Vice President for one year. From 1996-1999, he was Chair of the Public Awareness and Advocacy committee.

Over the years, Michael served as a member on a number of ASA committees, including the AAC/ASA Amalgamation Committee, was an instructor for the ASA Education Program, consulted on various ASA strategic and education plans, and hosted and assisted in organizing several meetings, workshops, and conferences held in Red Deer. Michael’s involvement in and commitment to the Alberta archives community also extended to ASA’s sister organization, the Alberta Archives Council, during its lifetime. He became an ASA honourary member in 2006.

In terms of his community involvement in Red Deer, he was named native son for the Central Alberta Pioneers Association in 1986 and Alberta Citizen of the Year by the Council on School Administration of the Alberta Teachers’ Association for his historical work with local schools. He has written numerous articles for magazines, newspapers, and local history books over the past twenty years and is the author of Red Deer: An Illustrated History (1989 and 1996), Rock of Our Ages (1993) and co-author with Judith Hazlett of One Hundred Years of Progress (1991),

Michael’s dedication and commitment to Alberta’s archival community has been outstanding over the years.

Michael Dawe passed away in 2023.

Michael Dawe

in memoriam

Jo-Ann Munn Gafuik

Jo-Ann Munn Gafuik’s first experience with archives was working as an Archives Assistant at York University. Moving to Alberta, she received her B.A. (History) from the University of Alberta in 1981 and, in the process of doing contract work, joined the staff of the University of Calgary Archives as a contract archivist in 1987.

She was appointed Acting University Archivist in 1992 and served as the Manager of the University Archives from 1994 until her appointment as University Archivist in 1997. Shortly after her appointment as University Archivist, she began to become involved with professional associations within the archival community, serving as the secretary-treasurer of the Association of Canadian Archivists from 1998-2000.

In Alberta, she served as the president of the Archives Society of Alberta from 2000-2004, a critical time in the evolution of the Society. She played a key leadership role in obtaining and managing the $1,225,000 grant from the Government of Alberta’s Centennial Legacies Program that allowed the ASA and its institutional members to greatly expand their online presence. The existing Archives Network of Alberta (ANA) database was expanded to include additional descriptions, and new databases, Alberta InSight and Alberta InWord, were developed to include digitized photographs and documents. An online archives tutorial was designed to introduce new users to the world of archives.

Leveraging the provincial funding, Jo-Ann wrote applications totaling almost $1,000,000 for additional online projects that took the form of online learning objects that brought archival records to the classroom. Ultimately, three projects (Archives in the Classroom: Letters from the Trunk; The Prairie Populist Project; and Seeing With New Eyes: A Journey through Blackfoot Knowledge) resulted from these initiatives, bringing archival records and theory to new audiences. Although her term as ASA president ended in 2004, she remained on as chair of the Special Projects Committee to see the online projects through to completion.

Jo-Ann’s vision, commitment to archives in Alberta, and willingness to spend untold hours writing grant applications and guiding projects through from conception to completion is the primary reason why the ASA has the hugely successful online databases, tutorial and learning objects that we can boast about today. The archives community as a whole in Alberta has benefited from her work — the ANA grants and the digitization funds that have been available through our three special projects have given each and every one of ASA’s institutional members the opportunity to obtain funding to make records in their holdings available online. The impact that Jo-Ann has had on our community will shape the direction that the ASA will take over the next 25 years.

Jo-Ann Munn Gafuik

Don Bourdon

Don Bourdon was a founding member of the Alberta Society of Archivists, serving as Interim Secretary and first elected President. He came to Alberta in 1979 as a participant in the University of Alberta’s Archives Summer Institute and joined the Glenbow Archives in 1980. Don served the ASA in various capacities including Grants Committee member and ASA Newsletter Editor. He participated in numerous ASA education programs, especially the ASA Archives Institute.

According to Michael Dawe: “Don was a terrific president, accomplishing a great deal with very limited resources and he was lots of fun. Don wrote the famous “Bourdon Report” in December 1992, which provided an excellent analysis of what the Alberta Society of Archivists and Alberta Archives Council had been doing and laid out a number of recommendations for future initiatives and programs. It was largely due to this report that the old A.S.A. amalgamated with the A.A.C. to form the new Archives Society of Alberta.”

Don served as Head Archivist of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies from 1983 to 2007, when he left to take a position with the British Columbia Archives in Victoria.

Don Bourdon

Apollonia Steele

Born in Austria, Apollonia Steele attended the University of Windsor and the University of Toronto’s Library School. She was a member of the cataloguing department at the University of Western Ontario library before accepting a position with the University of Calgary in 1972.

After several years working with rare books, she became the head of Special Collections in 1979. Over the next thirty years, she developed Special Collections into a literary archives powerhouse, which includes among its holdings the records of Mordecai Richler, Hugh MacLennan, Rudy Wiebe, Robert Kroetsch, Alice Munro, and many other authors of regional and national renown.

She has shared her knowledge of the holdings and of archival practice through numerous publications and presentations to conferences, university classes, and the archival community.

She was also the recipient of the Order of the University of Calgary in 2003 and became a Fellow of the Association of Canadian Archivists in 2010. She retired from the University of Calgary in 2009.

Apollonia Steele

Marlena Wyman

Born in Alberta, Marlena Wyman graduated from the University of Alberta and joined the Provincial Archives of Alberta (PAA) in 1984 as its audio-visual archivist.

During her career, she has spearheaded the preservation of fragile video formats and acquired significant holdings including the Viewegar autochromes and the Nicholas de Grandmaison fonds, and has built a significant collection of home movies at the PAA. She has shared her expertise through conference presentations, the PAA’s annual film night, and workshops for the archival community, including the popular “Conquering Fear of Film” offered through the ASA and the ACA.

For her accomplishments in preserving film in Alberta, she received the Dan and Kathy Leab Award from the Association of Moving Image Archivists in 2003 and an Award of Recognition from the Edmonton Historical Board in 2011.

Marlena retired from the PAA in March 2011 to pursue her work as a visual artist.

Marlena Wyman

Irene Jendzjowsky

Irene Jendzjowsky, holds a Master of Arts in Ukrainian and a Master of Library and Information Studies degrees from the University of Alberta. She has worked in the heritage field for over 28 years, 13 of those were with the Provincial Archives of Alberta (PAA).

Irene joined the PAA Team in 1994 and that same year she became a member of the Archives Society of Alberta. At the Provincial Archives of Alberta, as the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Coordinator, she was involved in establishing the FOIP program for the PAA, developing policies and procedures and getting the PAA ready for the new legislation that was being introduced in Alberta in 1995. She also established and led the Second Languages component of the Private Records program at the PAA, meeting with community leaders and organizations and encouraging them to consider preserving their records in an archives.

Irene also participated in the Education Committee with the ASA for several years, believing that education programs and awareness building strategies would provide a better understanding and support of the role of archives in communities and within government.

Irene retired from the Provincial Archives of Alberta, where, as the Director of Access and Preservation Services she was responsible for preservation services, outreach and exhibit programs, as well as the reference and client services which included the FOIP program. Irene was and remains a strong advocate for archives. She continues to volunteer her time in the heritage field and to advocate for the preservation of archival records.

Irene Jendzjowsky

Doug Cass

Susan Kooyman

Leslie Latta

Download Honourary Member Form PDF

The deadline for honourary membership applications is April 30, 2025. The honour will be announced at our AGM.

honourary membership

ASA’s Honourary membership is awarded to those who are distinguished for their archives work..

Honourary Membership

ASA’s Honourary membership is awarded to those who are distinguished for their archives work. Anyone may nominate someone to become an honourary member.

Archives Society of Alberta would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Alberta that provides annual funding to the ASA.

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