The Valedictory Committee of students graduating from the University of British Columbia in 1931 decided to assemble a collection of source material concerning the history of British Columbia to stimulate the interest of future students and to assist them by providing adequate resources to support such research. The Valedictory Gift Committee coordinated the collection of books, documents and artifacts. In light of concerns expressed by the Provincial Government which felt that the collection of archival material by the University interfered with the mandate of the Archives Department, the students restricted their efforts primarily to collecting published books and newspapers.