File consists of photographs from a celebration in North Vancouver in 1956.

Fonds consists of records relating to the numerous culture and language projects that Powell and Jensen worked on since 1976. The communities with which they worked include:
• The Quileute of La Push
• The Kwakwaka’wakw of Alert Bay
• The Gitxsan of Kispiox, Gitanyow, and surrounding villages
• The Nuu-chah-nulth of Vancouver Island
• The Musqueam of Vancouver
• The Seton Lake St'at'imc (Lillooet) of Shalalth
• The Shuswap of Alkali Lake, Soda Creek, Dog Creek, Canim Lake, and Sugar Cane
• The Haisla of Kitamaat
• The Nisga’a of Gingolx (Kincolith) and New Aiyansh

Most of the projects had an end goal to produce a book, language education materials, or teacher training materials. Often the education materials incorporated cultural lessons throughout. The records created in the production of the books are varied and reflect the intrinsic connection between language, culture, and daily activities in the communities. Powell and Jensen were co-editors for nearly all of the language books and materials produced. Although some of the projects reflected in the records were done primarily by Powell or primarily by Jensen, the vast majority of the work involves collaboration between the two in some aspect. As Jensen and Powell immersed themselves in the communities they worked for, often their personal photographs and records are interspersed with those relating to their work. This community involvement enhanced their relationships with the people with whom they were working and allowed them to experience and participate in cultural activities as part of those communities. This close relationship is reflected in and is integral to their work. Jensen and Powell have two sons: Nels, born in 1978, and Luke, born in 1981. Their sons travelled with them to the communities in which they worked and lived, and on their work trips and sabbaticals. Nels and Luke are also present in many of the photographic records.

The records contain a mixture of research, field notes, administrative records, and publications at various stages, in addition to audio and visual records. Field notes, for the most part handwritten, and archival research into language and culture groups was undertaken by Powell, whilst the majority of the photography, found in a variety of formats, was done by Jensen. Manuscripts and final publications were a combined effort and are included at various stages. Administrative records, including grant proposals, are found throughout.

Fonds consists of 13 series of records. Series are arranged according to community and/or project, and include:

1. Quileute
2. Chinook Jargon
3. Kwak’wala (U’Mista)
4. Gitxsan
5. Nuu-chah-nulth
6. Salishan
7. Shuswap
8. Haisla
9. Tait
10. Northwest Coast artists
11. Northwest Coast groups
12. UBC totems/events
13. Publications

Series contains records relating to Jensen and Powell’s work with the Salishan language groups in Musqueam and Shalalth territories, and events related to those communities. Although the records were created in a number of villages at different periods of time, Jensen and Powell arranged them together due to the linguistic connection they share.

In 1975 Powell received an Urgent Ethnology grant from the National Museum of Man (Now the Canadian Museum of Civilization) to do linguistic work in Kitamaat. However, this work fell through, and Powell contacted Arnold Guerin of the Musqueam band to discuss using the grant to prepare materials for Guerin’s Hunqum’i’num classes. Together they planned to produce three books: one of phonetics, one on grammar, and one on maths, with Jensen’s assistance in the layout and photography. From reel-to-reel recordings Powell and Paul Thiele of the UBC Library for the Blind produced cassettes to accompany the books. Only the first book was completed as planned, but Powell adapted the notes they had already taken to create two books for younger children. All of this resulted in Musqueam Language: Book 1 and Hunq’um’i’num for Kids: Books 1 & 2. Three years later in 1978 Leona Sparrow hired Jensen on grant money to teach a black and white photography course.

In 1989 the principal of the Shalalth School asked Powell to work with the band on language books. With Harold Oldman and Bev Frank he compiled materials for two books, which were not published. He also completed an alphabet sheet for the community to use.

Series also includes photographs taken by Jensen in 2003 of a ceremony returning city land to the Musequeam near Vanier Park.

Series comprises four sub-series:
A. Field notes and research
B. Publications
C. Musqueam photographs
D. Salishan audio recordings
E. Squamish photographs

File contains a combination of historical photographs depicting village life of the Coast Salish people, and modern day photographs of Salish artifacts housed in various museums around the world. The historical photographs contain images of Coast Salish peoples, totem poles, house posts, canoes, and petroglyphs. The modern day photographs contain images of Coast Salish artifacts such as blankets, spindle whorls, masks, carvings, house posts and totem poles, and household items such as combs and bowls. The textual records contained in this file are photocopies of images of Coast Salish artifacts housed in various museums around the world.

Series consists of photographs documenting events in various communities throughout British Columbia and Washington State. These include community photographs in Mt. Currie; the Salish Linguistic Conference in Oman, Washington State; a Robert Davidson Pole Raising; coverage of NWC artifacts at the National Museum of Copenhagen in Denmark; coverage of 1992 Nuxalk Potlatch at Bella Coola for Canadian Museum of Civilization; and photographs of a Haida bentwood box.

Between working on language and education projects, Jensen was often hired by communities to document important events, such as pole-raisings, conferences and potlatches. This series consists of the photographs taken at those events.

This file contains images of Coast Salish and Kwakwaka'wakw artifacts. Many of the photos are official photographs taken by various museums in Canada and the United States, but others are historical photos. These artifacts include masks, rattles, carvings, fishing equipment and fish processing, canoes, and North Coast architecture, such as long houses and house posts.

File consists of images of Squamish Chief Dominic Charlie (Tsee-Qawl-tuhn).