Charles E. Borden, the grandfather of British Columbia archaeology, was born in New York City on May 15, 1905. Shortly thereafter he accompanied his widowed mother to her family home in Germany, where he was raised. At the age of 22, having accidentally discovered that he was an American citizen, Borden returned to the United States. He enrolled at the University of California at Los Angeles from which he received his A.B. for German Literature in 1932. He continued his German studies at the Berkeley campus of the University of California from which he secured an M.A. in 1933 and a Ph.D. in 1937. After a brief teaching assignment at Reed College, Portland, Oregon, Borden joined the faculty of the German Department at the University of British Columbia in 1939 and remained a member until his retirement. As a result of a variety of circumstances including the difficulty of securing research materials from Germany during World War II and the post war period, Borden became increasingly more interested in a subject closer to home, the archaeology of British Columbia. Beginning with a small privately funded archaeological dig in the Point Grey area in 1945, Borden gradually expanded the scope of his archaeological research to include major surveys throughout the province, salvage archaeology and in-depth studies in the Fraser Canyon and Delta areas. In 1949 he was appointed Lecturer in Archaeology in the Department of Sociology and Archaeology at the University of British Columbia, while retaining his responsibilities in the German Department. Throughout the balance of his career, from 1949 to 1978, Borden established a highly respected and internationally visible presence in archaeology as an instructor, an author, an editor, a researcher and a spokesman for his chosen discipline. His publications reflect his principal interest in archaeology, cultural-historical synthesis. He developed the Uniform Site Designation Scheme which has been adopted in most of Canada. In addition to his academic contributions to archaeology, Borden also devoted considerable energy to securing provincial legislation to protect archaeological sites. He was responsible, in conjunction with Wilson Duff, for the passage in British Columbia of the 1960 Archaeological and Historical Sites Protection Act and the creation of the Archaeological sites Advisory Board. Borden married Alice Victoria Witkin in 1931. They had two sons, John Harvey and Richard Keith. Alice Borden pioneered in the development of numerous new techniques in the field of pre-school education throughout the 1950's and 1960's. Her papers are available in the University of British Columbia Archives. Alice Borden predeceased her husband in 1971. In 1976 Borden married his second wife, Hala. Charles E. Borden died Christmas afternoon 1978, having that morning completed editing a chapter in a book on the prehistory of Northwest Coast art.
From the description of Charles E. Borden fonds. 1905-1978. (University of British Columbia Library). WorldCat record id: 606455209
