Robin Fisher Wins 2022 Lieutenant-Governor’s Award from the British Columbia Historical Federation
Harbour Publishing would like to congratulate Robin Fisher on winning the 40th annual Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing. On Saturday, former Lieutenant Governor Judith Guichon presented the award to Robin Fisher for Wilson Duff: Coming Back, A Life (Harbour Publishing, 2022). The award offers a medal as well as the largest prize for historical writing in BC.
Wilson Duff: Coming Back, A Life tells the fascinating origin story of Wilson Duff (1925–1976), the pioneering BC anthropologist and museologist remembered for his contributions to research on Indigenous cultures of the Northwest Coast. As provincial anthropologist at the BC Provincial Museum from 1950 to 1965 and then at the University of British Columbia, he helped to shape Canadian and British Columbian understanding of Indigenous cultures through his teaching and writing, a subject of continued relevance today.
Robin Fisher is a Canadian historian, academic and founding dean of UNBC. He met Wilson Duff while completing his doctorate at UBC, which he had recently moved from New Zealand to do. His book Contact and Conflict (UBC Press, 1992) traces Indigenous and settler relationships and is widely referenced in Canadian universities. Fisher is a scholar studying the history of BC—in particular, Indigenous-European relations. He lives in Nanaimo, BC.
The Lieutenant Governor’s Award offers the largest monetary award for historical writing in BC and has its recipients chosen by a panel of three judges. This year, its presentations were hosted by the Princeton Museum & Archives. Through its awards, the British Columbia Historical Federation encourages interest in the local history of BC. Established in 1922, the Federation currently provides a collective voice for over 100 member societies and 24,000 individuals in the provincial not-for-profit historical sector.