Edgar Wickberg, Professor Emeritus of the History Department at UBC, was a renowned scholar on China and Southeast Asia. He was also very much part of the history of the Asian Library, serving as a member of Asian Library’s Advisory Committee for 10 years from 1970 and offered valuable advice and guidance on collection development and services, especially on Chinese-Canadian studies even in his post-retirement years. We continued to receive his recommendations on books and journals last summer although his energy was already very much compromised by his failing health then.

Being extremely generous of his time and resources, he was very committed to assisting the library to fill the gaps in the collection by donating materials he collected at conferences and research trips. Although his key interests were Chinese Overseas in Southeast Asia and Canada, he amassed sizable bodies of valuable Chinese materials on the early Republican years and Chinese history in general.

In 2008, he made more donations to the library, which were combined with his earlier gifts to become a special legacy from this endearing scholar and teacher.

A display of his donations is set up on the upper floor of Asian Library from January 2009. To complement his materials, a few titles, relevant to the broad theme of Chinese-Canadians are also added to the display.

Related link: Edgar Wickberg memorial page