Fonds 44 - Edward F. Meade fonds

Edward Meade was born in Winnipeg and moved in 1930 to Vancouver Island, where he began studying the First Nations of the Pacific Coast. After serving overseas as a platoon commander during the Second World War, Meade returned to British Columbia to settle in Campbell River. There he founded the Campbell River Historical Museum in 1949, and volunteered as the Museum’s Curator for many years. Also while living in Campbell River, Meade became a reporter for the Comox District Free Press.

Although Meade was not a professional anthropologist, he did spend a significant amount of time traveling up and down the Pacific coast studying the history of various First Nations and collecting artifacts, and was considered something of an expert in the field. The UBC Museum of Anthropology purchased several artifact collections from him. He developed a particular interest in petroglyphs, and spent approximately ten years accumulating as much information as he could about petroglyph sites from Puget Sound to the Alaskan coast. This study resulted in his book Indian Rock Carving of the Pacific Northwest, published in [ca. 1971]. In addition to this book, Meade also published numerous articles on Pacific Northwest First Nations, and a war novel entitled Remember Me. In 1965, Remember Me was published as a paperback for the New Canadian Library series by McClelland & Stewart. In 1980, Meade self-published a biography entitled Biography of Dr. Samuel Campbell, R.N., Surgeon and Surveyer: Including the Naming and Early History of the Campbell River.