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Spotlight
Gen Z at University

Most of today's university undergraduates were born in the 2000s. Like every generation before them, their formative years are being influenced by a distinct set of social conditions, significant events, opportunities, and challenges. What's it like to be a student today? What do Gen Z want from university? And how are universities helping them prepare for their (and our) futures?

AMS president Esmé Decker (front, centre) and other students in the students building, affectionately known as the Nest.
The Gen Z effect
Today's students are leaving their mark on campus.
Spotlight Archive
Arts
Picture of a UBC Opera Production
Opera on the brain
How does operatic training affect memory, cognitive functioning, and learning?
Athletics
Scott Ramsay, with arms folded standing in front of windows
UBC grad channels NHL dreams into research on youth concussion care
This former professional athlete has faced a battle with post-concussion syndrome.
Business
Three UBC students standing and smiling
Young entrepreneurs
Raised in the digital age, independently minded, and faced with an uncertain financial future, many Gen Zers aspire to...
Campus
AMS president Esmé Decker (front, centre) and other students in the students building, affectionately known as the Nest.
The Gen Z effect
Today's students are leaving their mark on campus.
Careers
Laura Dowling, BA’09, MSc, ECPC, PCC (she/hers) — Principal Consultant and Leadership Coach, LD Performance Consulting  Nikola Girke, BHK’99, PCC, CEC, OLY (she/her/hers) — Professional Performance and Executive Coach, Own Your Podium
Empower your career with Emotional Intelligence
Learn how developing EQ can increase your potential and success in work and life.
Community
Graphic illustration depicting a person speaking at a lectern
Democratizing the lectern
Today’s students are active participants in their own education.
Environment
Words written on two hands held in the air at protest
How language can lower the temperature of heated climate change discourse
One underappreciated impact of global heating is its influence on language itself.
Give UBC
Shot of Cody and two other individuals at Agora cafe
How UBC student Cody Rector is tackling food insecurity
Once food insecure himself, Cody is modelling solutions at a UBC café thanks to donors.
Health
Bird's eye view of people walking up stairwell
Step up physical activity with “exercise snacks” at work
Stairclimbing between meetings can help improve physical health.
Humanities
AI image of woman wearing VR goggles with images swirling around head
People dislike AI art because it threatens their humanity: UBC study
A first-of-its-kind study that links aversion to AI art with speciesism and anthropocentrism.
Life
A man in a field
Championing climate-resilient BC winemaking
Learn how innovation and research can ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for BC wine.
Science
Diver underwater
Unlocking the secrets of survival at the edge of environmental extremes
Dr. Phil Ainslie and his team dive into research related to human performance and survival.
Technology
A colourful graphic illustration representing a learning renaissance in modern education
A learning renaissance
Potent new technologies are redefining education.
afterwords

alumni UBC’s afterwords is a digital conversation series that shares the stories of some of UBC Okanagan’s extraordinary alumni.

Headshot of Cole Mash smiling
Cole Mash
Learning to say no, setting boundaries, and other career and life advice from a UBCO alum.
Changemakers

UBC grads defining the future

Téa Braun
From Victorian to victorious
Téa Braun is fighting antiquated colonial laws that perpetuate the abuse of human rights.
Class Acts

News from your old classmates

Collective Wisdom

One pressing question. Multiple expert perspectives.

UBC professors
Should we be excited or worried about the rise of AI?
One pressing question, multiple expert perspectives.
In Memoriam

Lives and legacies

My Town

Insider travel tips from alumni in the know

Dave standing in front of street art that says on one side: "This has brought out the best in us." And on the other: "This has brought out the worst in us."
Melbourne, Australia
Get to know this hip city down under with UBC alum Dave Lim (BA'92).
Opinion
Silhouette of a mother and child on a beach at sunset
This year, let’s get up close and personal with nature

We need more contact with the natural world if we really hope to preserve it.

Quiz

A non-credit test of your UBC smarts

Fall on Vancouver campus
Quaffles, quacks, and quirks
1. Which student club was popular in the 1940’s? a. Stamp Collectors Club b. Scrabble Club c...
Rewind

A glance into UBC’s past

The Empire Pool in its early years
The Empire Pool: A lengthy reign
For much of its 60 years, this beloved campus landmark dominated recreational life at UBC.
The Big Picture

More show, less tell

Photo of Robby the robot.
Robby the robot
The newest member of UBC’s Athletics & Recreation team is a line-painting robot.
The Last Word

Q&As featuring well-known individuals with a UBC connection

Andini
Andini
Inventive mind, romantically inclined.
Tales of an Unsung Sourdough

Exploring the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection.

Captions by Philip B. Lind (BA'66, LLD'02) with Robert Brehl

See Photo Essay
Image
Black and white photo of John Grieve Lind in a rustic setting

A family connection to the Klondike

John Grieve Lind — my grandfather — a railroader-turned-prospector from London, Ontario, was already up north looking for gold when the big strike occurred in August 1896.

UBC Library, The Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection, RBSC-ARC-1820-PH-1250

Image
Chilkoot Pass summit

The stampede north

When news of the gold rush broke, first in San Francisco and Seattle in 1897, thousands rushed to the North in search of fortune and adventure. On arrival, they faced arduous winter conditions.

This is the famous Chilkoot Pass summit in 1898.

UBC Library, The Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection, RBSC-ARC-1820-PH-0801

Image
Two miners standing side by side

Becoming a “Sourdough”

The miners’ nickname “Sourdough” dates back to 1849 California because sourdough was the main bread eaten during that gold rush. Later, in Alaska and Yukon, a miner became known as a Sourdough only after spending at least one full year in the North and surviving the winter.

Photo credit: UBC Library, The Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection, RBSC-ARC-1820-PH-0237

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prospectors are packing over the Chilkoot summit route, 1897.

The impact of the gold rush on Indigenous peoples

From time immemorial, Indigenous peoples had been living in the Klondike and surrounding areas. The gold rush affected many Indigenous communities, encompassing over twenty language groups, along the Yukon River and its vast drainage basin. Only over time is the wider world coming to understand the impact of the gold rush on the lives, land, and culture of the Indigenous peoples in this part of Alaska and the Yukon, as well as recognizing the significant roles they played.

Here, prospectors are packing over the Chilkoot summit route, 1897. Miners relied heavily on Tlingit and Tagish packers to carry their provisions over the rugged Coast Mountains.

UBC Library, The Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection, RBSC-ARC-1820-PH-1255

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Two miners in a canoe.

The aftermath of the gold rush

Three men on canoes, 1897.

For millennia, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in have lived along the middle Yukon River. When stampeders arrived, they anglicized the name of the Tr’ondëk River as “Klondike” and occupied Tr’ochëk, a fishing camp, to build Dawson City.

The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in people survived the onslaught of the gold rush and the sudden, severe colonial experience it created, and they now work to educate settlers about how to properly live on this land today. 

UBC Library, The Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection, RBSC-ARC-1820-PH-0764

Image
Men gathered in a bar.

Fortunes made and lost

Thousands flocked to the Klondike with dreams of wealth. A few hundred struck it rich, but many squandered their earnings in saloons and gambling halls.

This detail of a postcard is from Dawson City in 1898.

UBC Library, The Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection, RBSC-ARC-1820-11-43-08

Image
A laundress looks out from the doorway of her tent

The extraordinary women of the Klondike

A laundress looks out from the doorway of her tent where miners and others could have their shirts laundered and their futures foretold.

The Klondike of the 1890s was a male-dominated world, with an estimated 5% of the population of stampeders being women. 

UBC Library, The Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection, RBSC-ARC-21-10-PAGE-79

Image
Front Street in Dawson City

The rise and fall of Dawson City

In a matter of a few short years, between 1896 and 1899, Dawson City’s population exploded to around 17,000 — and shrunk to about 8,000 after the rush ended.

This is Front Street in July of 1899.

UBC Library, The Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection, RBSC-ARC-21-10-PAGE-71

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A fireman.

Life in Dawson City

Fire was the greatest threat to Dawson City. The city was made of wood and canvas and was built in a hurry. Its buildings, cabins, and tents were heated with primitive wood stoves, and they were lit by candles and coal oil lamps. Together, these were a recipe for disaster, and fires regularly broke out.

This photograph is of a fireman after the huge Dawson City fire of April 26, 1899, when temperatures dropped to -45C.

UBC Library, The Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection, RBSC-ARC-1820-PH-1655 

Image
Detail of a photograph depicting Miles Canyon in Douglas, Alaska, between 1900 and 1920.

Building a collection over 50 years

Inspired and coaxed by my father, Jed, my grandfather’s second son, about 50 years ago I began collecting anything involving the Klondike era. My collection grew into thousands of pieces and has been designated “a cultural property of outstanding significance” by the federal government’s Department of Canadian Heritage. It is my pleasure to donate the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection to my alma mater, the University of British Columbia, to share with researchers and the public at large.

Detail of a photograph depicting Miles Canyon in Douglas, Alaska, between 1900 and 1920. 

UBC Library, The Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection, RBSC-ARC-1820-PH-1789

 

Image
Tales of an unsung sourdough book cover

Learn more

Tales of an Unsung Sourdough is available anywhere books are sold. In collaboration with my co-author Robert Brehl, I share my grandfather Johnny Lind's fascinating story, the history of the gold rush, the colourful players in that famed period, and the peoples and land affected by the legendary stampede for wealth.

Learn more about the book.

Learn more about the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection.
 

Editor’s note: Philip B. Lind passed away on August 20, 2023. Read this tribute to Lind by UBC Interim President and Vice-Chancellor Deborah Buszard.

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