Rebecca Campbell

The British Columbia Historical Federation is pleased to announce the winners of its 2022-23 W. Kaye Lamb Award for Best Student Works.

First prize in the third- and fourth-year category was awarded to Rebecca Campbell for her submission “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in old things”: Women’s ‘Amateur’ History-Making in British Columbia, 1950-1979. Rebecca graduated from the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George in April 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts in History.

Born and raised in Prince George, Rebecca has focused on British Columbian history throughout her four years of study, including environmental history, energy history, and social history. Her specific interest in the work of amateur women historians in British Columbia stems from her experience working at northern BC memory institutions, the Central BC Railway and Forestry Museum, and the Northern BC Archives.

Rebecca plans to expand her research in this area through oral history and archival research while pursuing a Master’s Degree in History. Rebecca is currently working with the Huble Homestead / Giscome Portage Heritage Society at the Huble Homestead Historic Site.

For the 2022-23 year, a runner-up prize for the third- and fourth-year category was awarded to Carlanna Thompson. Carlanna graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Honours History from the University of the Fraser Valley. She plans to pursue a Master’s Degree in History with a focus on the history of Indigenous peoples in British Columbia. Her life-long love of the sport of lacrosse and her interest in settler-Indigenous relations provided the inspiration for her virtual exhibit project (Re)Indigenizing the Creator’s Game: Settler Colonialism and Lacrosse’s Journey from Eastern Lands to Stó꞉lō Hands.

The W. Kaye Lamb Award is presented annually to outstanding post-secondary student essays and projects relating to the history of British Columbia. The award has been presented since 1988, initially known as the BCHF Scholarship. It was renamed the W. Kaye Lamb Award in 2001. In 2004, the BCHF introduced two award categories: one for students in their first or second year of study, the other for students in their third or fourth year of study.

The awards were presented at the Federation’s annual conference awards gala on July 22 in Princeton on the traditional and unceded territory of the Upper Similkameen people.

Carlanna Thompson