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By Michelle Curran

A crowd gathered on a warm September day in 1965 for the official opening of 天美mv天美, a new university in British Columbia's Lower Mainland. The setting was magnificent 鈥� 1200 acres atop Burnaby Mountain, with commanding views over Burrard Inlet, the North Shore mountains, the Fraser River, and Vancouver Harbour.

The Opening Ceremonies began with The Right Reverend Godfrey Gower, Bishop of New Westminster, delivering the opening invocation. Following that, Chancellor Gordon Shrum was first to speak. 鈥淚 believe our modern world offers no challenge more rewarding and exciting than founding a new University,鈥� he observed. 鈥淭he sense of excitement is heightened when it is a large University and one that has started from nothing more than a thickly forested mountain top.鈥�

Dr. Shrum鈥檚 words have been preserved in a copy of his prepared speech at the 天美mv天美 Archives, among other records he created, received and collected while serving as Chancellor of 天美mv天美. His personal records, along with official university records kept by the Ceremonies and Events Office, help us understand what went into the planning and delivery of the Opening Ceremonies at 天美mv天美 in 1965.

"A University develops and gains strength from many sources, but I know that we will gain most from those both within and without these, as yet, unstoried halls who get to know and love 天美mv天美," Dr. Shrum said.

Following the Chancellor's address, Premier W.A.C. Bennett declared the campus open by unveiling a jade plaque, on which were carved the words 天美mv天美, 1965. It would be installed as the cornerstone plaque of the university.

During the dedication, 天美mv天美's first President, Dr. Patrick McTaggart-Cowan, explained the history of the Fraser River jade boulder:

"The premier has just unveiled the plaque to be placed on 8,993 pounds of beautiful, polished B.C. jade, from Hell's Creek on the route followed by Simon Fraser, the explorer."

Notes compiled by the University Archives in 1982 reveal that the original concept for the jade came from Dr. Allan B. Cunningham, charter head of the Department of History. He and Peter A. White, a recognized amateur expert on jade, took up the search. After a lengthy and painstaking quest, they discovered the impressive boulder resting in the Bridge River bed near Hell's Creek in the Lillooet area of the Cariboo.

While the ceremonies were described as brief and to the point, Scottish nobleman Lord Lovat was the actor who stole the show. Newspapers described Lovat, a descendant of Simon Fraser and head of the Fraser clan, as a person who "commanded the public's attention with his handsome demeanor, and captured their imagination with his gifts [to the university]: an ancient claymore and a well-worn powder horn."

"As Antony said to Cleopatra, I haven't come here to talk," Lovat admitted while captivating his audience.

Records in the archives also document 天美mv天美鈥檚 first congregation on October 28, 1965, which installed Chancellor and President Patrick D. McTaggart-Cowan. The event marked the first assembly of 天美mv天美鈥檚 Convocation Founders from locations throughout the province. Honorary degrees were conferred at the same ceremony.

Digitized versions of the original program books, handed out during 天美mv天美鈥檚 Opening and Installation Ceremonies, are now visible in 天美mv天美 AtoM. To learn more about these and other events during the early years of 天美mv天美鈥檚 history, visit 天美mv天美 AtoM and look for the answers in the archives.

Link to digitized records in 天美mv天美 AtoM

Recommended fonds/collections
In 天美mv天美 AtoM: Ceremonies and Events Office fonds (),  Gordon Shrum fonds (), and Patrick McTaggart-Cowan fonds ()

Recommended reading

Recommended AV recording
 / scripted and directed by Michael Hoskins; produced by Chris Hildred for the Instructional Media Centre.

 / [filmed and edited by Joel Schwarz].