After 64 years, alum returns book to UBC Library

When UBC University Librarian Susan Parker opened a package from Canada Post in January, she wasn’t expecting to find a book that had been checked out before the Beatles became famous.

“Most people return overdue books surreptitiously or anonymously,” Parker says. “I’ve never received one this long overdue.”

Typically, when people meet Parker for the first time, they start with an apology.

“They always say, ‘It’s nice to meet you, and I’m sorry,’ ” she said with a laugh. “They’ll admit to having a book that’s a few days or weeks late but 64 years is a new record.”

This package came from UBC alum Robert Murray (BASc'63), who borrowed the book from the library over six decades ago. Now 83, living in the BC Interior, Murray decided to finally return the book along with a letter of explanation for his tardiness and a $100 cheque.

The book was a 1931 edition of Camping and Woodcraft: A Handbook for Vacation Campers and for Travelers in the Wilderness, originally written in 1906 by Horace Kephart. Murray borrowed the book as a second-year electrical engineering student at UBC.

In Murray’s letter, he explained why he’d kept this book for as long as he did even after he graduated in 1963.

“I determined that this book was a treasure — a light year ahead of anything published on the subject at the time I borrowed it, and it has remained so over anything I’ve seen published since,” he wrote.

Murray's package to the library also included a newspaper clipping from the July 17, 2014, edition of The Province. In an unusual coincidence, the clipping told a similar story. Someone returned the 1965 edition of the same book to the Prince George Public Library after 30 years.

Sixty-four years of adventures

For more than six decades, Murray re-read the book multiple times. He even credits it with potentially saving his and his son’s lives.

“While in my 50s, my younger son and I got lost once hiking up to Mount Young,” Murray said.

Murray had explored the area on horseback as a youth and wanted to return on foot. It was late June and the weather was warm. But as they made their way through the mountains, an intense and long-lasting downpour hit worse than anything Murray had experienced.

“We got utterly soaked, especially my son,” he said.

To add to their woes, they were misled by a compass that malfunctioned due to what they later learned was a magnetic anomaly. As a result, they did not find the trail they were searching for. By mid-afternoon, they had reached Burrell Creek, and Murray knew they had gone too far and decided to set up camp.

“My son wanted to put up our tent, and I said, ‘No, a tent’s no good in the rain,' ” Murray said.

The book had been clear: In conditions like these, a lean-to shelter was the way to go especially since they had a tarp for the roof along with a fire. The shelter would reflect the heat from the fire, drying out the ground, and keeping them warm.

Once the fire got going and the lean-to was built, Murray noticed his son was shivering badly.

“I wasn’t too badly off because I was wearing a poncho over everything with wool pants,” Murray says. “But my son, he was wearing jeans.”

Murray recalled from the book that wool is one of the few materials that keeps you warm even when it’s wet.

“I finally said, ‘Take off your clothes,’ and he just looked at me aghast,” Murray says. “You’re standing by the fire and the water in your clothes is evaporating and taking heat from your body as well. You’ll warm up better if you take off your clothes and hang them on the ridgepole to dry, and let the fire warm your body directly.”

An hour later, his son was dry and cozy, reading a book, and eating stew that had been prepared from scratch and cooked over the fire.

The next morning, they abandoned their original plan to find the trail to Mount Young and decided to head home instead. 

Murray and his son returned the following year and found the trail. Together, they reflected on the lessons learned.

“A few years later, my son then mentioned that small tents were no good in the rain, and I asked, ‘Who taught you that?’ He said, ‘You did!’ ”

"Ideal library book caretaker"

Despite the book’s many adventures, it was returned in good condition and will soon be going back into the library’s circulation.

Parker said she was impressed and wrote back to Murray thanking him for returning the book after all this time.

“He could have just mailed the book back without saying anything, but the fact that he shared his story was really special,” she says. “I loved knowing that he had a really great practical use for it and the book was really important to him.”

As for Murray, he’s glad the book is back in the library.

“It’s been many years since I read that book, but I wouldn’t mind actually reading it again,” he said. “To whoever picks up the book next, I hope they value it.”

As for Murray’s overdue fees, there are none. In 2020, UBC Library eliminated most overdue fines. Murray’s $100 cheque will be put toward other backlogged fees.

If you have an overdue book or a few, Parker encourages folks to contact the library.

“At the end of the day, we just want the books back,” Parker says. “We don’t want to punish people or feel that they cannot use the library because they have an overdue book.”