Rolf Knight Explained

Rolf Knight (1936–2019) was a Canadian historian, author of working class and regional history of British Columbia.

Knight received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of British Columbia, and gained his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1968. He taught at Simon Fraser University and the University of Toronto. In 1977, he left Simon Fraser University, though continued to research and write about working class history while working as a taxi driver in Vancouver.

Knight received multiple awards for his work regarding the regional history and working class history of British Columbia, including the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for BC Literature.^[1]

Early life and education

Knight was born March 4, 1936, in a logging camp in British Columbia. His mother, Phyllis, was born in Germany, and his father was a cook in the camp.

Knight attended the University of British Columbia, where he received a Bachelor of Arts (1959) and Master of Arts (1962) in anthropology. He received his Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University in 1968.

Career

Knight taught at the University of Toronto and Simon Fraser University. While teaching, he worked with his mother to write her biography, A Very Ordinary Life, which in part, discussed her work as a gold panner in Germany. The book was published in 1974, and his mother died later the same year. In 1977, Knight left the university to drive a taxi in Vancouver. The following year, he published Indians at Work.^{[2] [3] [4]} He published several other books over the next few decades, including a co-written biography of Homer Stevens, Homer Stevens: A Life in Fishing, which was published in 1992.^{[5] [6]} The book received an award from the British Columbia Historical Federation. The same year, the Canadian Historical Association honored Knight with a Certificate of Merit for his work focusing on the history of British Columbia.^[7]

Personal life

Knight died June 22, 2019.

Publications

• Book: Knight, Rolf . Sugar Plantations and Labor Patterns in the Cauca Valley, Colombia/Rolf Knight . 1972 . University of Toronto, Department of Anthropology . en. ^[8]
• Book: Knight . Phyllis . A Very Ordinary Life . Knight . Rolf . 1974 . . 978-0-919888-01-2 . Vancouver, BC . en.
• Book: Knight, Rolf . Work Camps and Company Towns in Canada and the U.S.: An Annotated Bibliography . 1975 . . 978-0-919888-60-9 . Vancouver, BC.
• Book: Knight . Rolf . A Man of Our Times: The Life-history of a Japanese-Canadian Fisherman . Koizumi . Maya . 1976 . . 978-0-919888-64-7 . Vancouver, BC . en. ^[9]
• Book: Knight . Rolf . Stump Ranch Chronicles and Other Narratives . Arntzen . Arnt . Koeppen . Ebe . 1977 . . 978-0-919888-74-6 . Vancouver, BC . en.
• Book: Knight, Rolf . Indians at Work: An Informal History of Native Indian Labour in British Columbia, 1858-1930 . 1978 . . 978-0-919888-78-4 . Vancouver, BC . en.
• Book: Knight, Rolf . Along the No. 20 Line: Reminiscences of the Vancouver Waterfront . 2011 . . 978-1-55420-061-0 . Vancouver, BC . en. ^{[10] [11]}
• Book: Knight, Rolf . Traces of Magma: An Annotated Bibliography of Left Literature . 1983 . Draegerman . 978-0-86491-034-9 . Vancouver, BC.
• Book: Knight, Rolf . Voyage Through the Past Century . 2013-05-09 . . 978-1-55420-068-9 . Vancouver, BC . en.
• Book: Stevens . Homer . Homer Stevens: A Life in Fishing . Knight . Rolf . 1992 . . 9781550170702 . Madeira Park, BC.

See also

• United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union
• History of the Coast Salish peoples
• Indigenous peoples of North America

Notes and References

1. Web site: Twigg . Alan . 2019-07-01 . #570 Rolf Knight (1936–2019) . 2023-11-13 . The British Columbia Review . en-CA.
2. Lutz . John . 1998 . Indians at Work: An Informal History of Native Labour in British Columbia, 1858–1930 by Rolf Knight (review) . The Canadian Historical Review . 79 . 2 . 346–347 . 1710-1093 . Project MUSE.
3. Spradley . James P. . August 1980 . Indians at Work: An Informal History of Native Indian Labour In British Columbia 1858–1930. ROLF KNIGHT. . American Ethnologist . en . 7 . 3 . 594 . 10.1525/ae.1980.7.3.02a00310 . 0094-0496.
4. Ware . Reuben . 1980 . Indians at Work: An Informal History of Native Indian Labour in British Columbia by Rolf Knight . BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly . en . 46 . 10.14288/bcs.v0i46.185540 . 0005-2949.
5. Sager . Eric W. . 1993 . Review of Homer Stevens: A Life in Fishing . Labour / Le Travail . 32 . 305–306 . 10.2307/25143743 . 25143743 . 0700-3862 . JSTOR.
6. Leier . Mark . 1994 . Homer Stevens: A Life in Fishing by Homer Stevens and Rolf Knight . BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly . No 102: Politics and Government . en . 102 . 10.14288/bcs.v0i102.185772 . 0005-2949.
7. Book: Knight, Rolf . Rolf Knight fonds . 1961 . University of British Columbia.
8. Whitten . Norman E. . September 1976 . Book Reviews . American Anthropologist . en . 78 . 3 . 675–676 . 10.1525/aa.1976.78.3.02a00520 . 0002-7294.
9. Sunahara . M. Ann . 1978 . A Man of Our Times: The Life History of a Japanese-Canadian Fisherman by Rolf Knight, and Maya Koizumi (review) . The Canadian Historical Review . 59 . 3 . 386–387 . 1710-1093 . Project MUSE.
10. Martin . Eryk . Summer 2012 . Knight, Rolf. Along the No. 20 Line: Reminiscences of the Vancouver Waterfront . Canadian Journal of Urban Research . Institute of Urban Studies . 21 . 1.
11. MacDonald . Norbert . 1981 . Along the No. 20 Line: Reminiscences of the Vancouver Waterfront by Rolf Knight . BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly . en . 50 . 10.14288/bcs.v0i50.185551 . 0005-2949.