Kaare Martin Gunvaldsen was born on July 17, 1908 in Koparvik, Norway. After arriving in Canada in 1928, he attended the University of Saskatchewan (B.A. Honours, 1935). He went on to earn a M.A. (1938) and a PhD. (1948) from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Gunvaldsen joined the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan in 1947, serving the institution for over forty years as Professor, Head of the Department of Germanic Languages and finally as Professor Emeritus. In addition to his teaching, he spent much of that time researching and writing about the Czech born German language writer of visionary fiction, Franz Kafka. Gunvaldsen died in 1986 with his Kafka manuscript unfinished and unpublished. He had been convinced that he had made a breakthrough in Kafka interpretation based on his research at Oxford's Bodleian Library.

Helen Emmeline Shirriff was born 10 January 1898 in Brandon, Manitoba. She married Robert Alexander in 1919; together they farmed at Portreeve, Saskatchewan, until Robert's death in 1955. Helen remained actively involved in the management of the farm until her death. In addition, Helen was a schoolteacher. Her long career in education began in 1916, and took her to various locations throughout the north and west, including Athabaska Landing (1918), Whitehorse (1956), and the Glidden Hutterite Colony (1967). She died in Saskatoon on 6 April 1992.

Robert Mervyn (Gusty) Ferguson was born on the 15 June 1898 in Derrygonelly, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Educated at Trinity College Dublin, he was awarded gold medals in Greek, Latin, Roman History and Classics, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in 1921. The following year he joined the U of S faculty, department of classics, as an associate professor. Progressing through the ranks he became professor in 1948 and was department head from 1965 to 1967. Upon his retirement in 1967 he was named professor emeritus. Professor Ferguson was involved in a number of campus and community activities and associations. He joined the COTC in 1927, becoming chief instructor on a full-time basis in 1940. Later that year he enlisted in the Canadian Army and served until 1945. He was chairman of the Saskatoon Library Board, president of the Boy Scouts Organization of Saskatchewan and a member of the Saskatoon Club and the Saskatoon Golf and Country Club. Professor Ferguson died in Saskatoon on 6 August 1992.

John Ramsey McGregor ("Mac") Hone was born in 1920 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He was a participant in the early Emma Lake Art Schools, and studied with Gus Kenderdine, Ernest Lindner, Jack Shadboldt, and Will Barnet. He received a BA (1941) from the University of Saskatchewan, and from 1958-1959 studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, England. He taught school in Saskatchewan and British Columbia from 1947-1979; during the 1950s he also taught art class in Moose Jaw for the University of Saskatchewan (Regina Campus). From 1976-1981 he served on the Minister's Committee on the Fine Arts in Education. His artworks included serigraph, woodcut, wood engraving, watercolour, oil, acrylic, photography, and sculpture. Mac died in 2007. Both Mac and Beth Hone have had their work shown extensively in solo and group exhibitions.

Susan Alison Gingell was born at Shalford, England on 3 April 1951. A feminist and cross-cultural teacher, editor and critic, Gingell graduated from York University in 1971 (B.A.), Queen's University in 1974 (M.A.) and the University of Toronto in 1977 (Ph.D.). She joined the University of Saskatchewan in 1977 and having progressed through the ranks is a professor of English and of Women's and Gender Studies. Gingell is a member and executive member of several Canadian academic and professional organizations, the author of several articles, chapters in books, monographs and children's poems as well as the editor of a volume on E.J. Pratt.

John V. Hicks was born in London, England in 1907. His family emigrated to Canada and after brief stops in McAdam Junction, New Brunswick and Montreal lived in Wainwright and Edmonton before settling in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in 1918. Hicks was educated at Prince Albert Collegiate Institute, where he lived and worked as a civil servant prior to a 1972 retirement devoted to music and writing. In addition to serving as organist and choirmaster at St. Alban's Cathedral for a number of years, Hicks has published more than a dozen books as well as prose and poetry in the best literary publications throughout North America. Hicks was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Literature by the University of Saskatchewan in 1987 and a Lifetime Award for Excellence in the Arts by the Saskatchewan Arts Board in 1990. He also holds an honorary fellowship from Emmanuel College, Saskatoon. He died in Prince Albert on 16 June 1999.

Ivo Nikolai Lambi was born 14 July 1931, in Tallinn, Estonia. As a teenager during the Second World War, he lived in Estonia and Germany, completing high school at the Estonian Secondary School at Gottingen and at Lingen (Germany) in 1947. He came to Canada with his family at age 17. He completed a B.A. (University of Toronto, 1952), M.A. (University of Toronto, 1955) and Ph.D. (University of Minnesota, 1958). He was a lecturer at the University of Toronto,1958-1960, and instructor at the University of Omaha, 1960-1961, before being appointed to the faculty of the Department of History at the University of Saskatchewan in 1961. He was promoted to full professor in 1967 and was the department head, 1969-1974. He specialized in 19th century German history. Among other publications, he published two books: Free Trade and Protection in Germany, 1868-1879 (1963); and The Navy and German Power Politics (1984). Shortly before he died, he had also completed major study of Otto von Bismarck. He was the founding editor of the Canadian Journal of History, 1965, and served as President of the Canadian Historical Association in 1971. He was twice was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Senior Fellowship, and also sat on the Strategic Studies and Military History Selection Committee, Department of National Defense, 1989-1994. He retired in 1996, and died on 2 January 2000 in Saskatoon.

Emmie Ducie was born in 1916 in the Coates district near Dundurn, Saskatchewan. Her elementary schooling was taken in a one-room school at Coates; she was awarded the Governor-General's Medal in Grade 8. Her high school was largely by correspondence, via Nutana Collegiate, Saskatoon. She earned a BSc in Home Economics from the University of Saskatchewan in 1941, and her MSc from Washington State in 1943. She worked, variously, at the Extension Division of the University of Saskatchewan (1940-1942); as Home Economist for the Department of Agriculture (1943); as Nutritionist for the Toronto branch of the Red Cross (1943-1945); as Supervisor of Girls' Work, Extension Division, University of Saskatchewan (1945-1946); as Special Lecturer, in a joint appointment with Extension and the College of Home Economics (1969-1973); part-time at the Regina Campus/University of Regina (1973-1975); and perhaps was best known for her regular column in The Western Producer, for 50 years, beginning in 1949. She was president of the Saskatchewan Home Economics Association and the Canadian Home Economics Association; served as president of the Saskatchewan Women's Institute and Federated Women's Institutes of Canada; was a member of the Saskatchewan Arts Board for 10 years and of the Saskatchewan Milk Control Board for 16 years. She married Langford Oddie in 1946. Emmie Oddie died on July 6, 2013.

Emma Roberts Ducie was born in England in 1883 and emigrated to Canada with her family in 1907. She married Harry Ducie, a farmer and school trustee, in 1909; they had three children, Harold, Rose, and Emmie. Emma Ducie organized the Coates Homemakers' Club and continued to be an active member of the Clubs and Women's Institutes at the local, provincial, and national level. She also served with the Saskatoon Council of Women, the Saskatoon Friendship Club and the Canadian Institute of International Affairs. She was also a long-serving member of the advisory council for the College of Agriculture at the University of Saskatchewan. She died in 1990.

Robert Martin Bone's first degree was a BA (1955) in Geography from the University of British Columbia. He earned an MA from the University of Washington (1957), and a PhD from the University of Nebraska (1962). Employed as Geographer with the Geographical Branch of the Government of Canada from 1957 to 1963, Dr. Bone joined the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan's Department of Geography in 1963. He remained in the Department of Geography until 1970 when he became Professor and Director of the Institute of Northern Studies (INS). With the closure of the INS in 1982, Dr. Bone returned to the Department of Geography. In 2000, he became the Acting Head of the Department of Native Studies. Among Dr. Bone's areas of expertise are the Canadian sub-arctic and arctic and the Soviet Union. Dr. Bone was named Professor Emeritus.

C. Ralph Scharf was Regional Superintendent of Vocational Region, Saskatchewan Region, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development when the Education-Manpower Surveys were produced.

Steven Ross Smith (also published as Steven Smith) was born and educated in Toronto, receiving a Diploma (degree equivalent) in 1968 in Radio and Television Arts from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University). First published in 1972, he is a writer of innovative fiction and poetry, a sound poet and performance artist, an editor and media writer. In addition to his literary works published in books, anthologies and periodicals, Smith has several improvisatory sound music ensemble recordings to his credit. He has been published and given performances and readings in England, Holland, the United States, and Canada. Smith was a founding member of the sound/performance ensembles "Owen Sound" and "DUCT". In 1987-1988, he was Writer-In-Residence in Weyburn, Saskatchewan and, in 1996-1997, he was Writer-In-Residence with the Saskatoon Public Library. Smith was also the founding editor of Underwhich Editions and has been the Executive Director of the Sage Hill Writing Experience from 1990 to 2008. His book "fluttertongue 3: disarray" won the 2005 Book of the Year award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards. He was Director of Literary Arts at The Banff Centre from 2008 to 2014.

A native of Saskatoon, Ruth Wynne Wright Millar earned a BA from the University of Saskatchewan in 1963 and an MLS from the University of Western Ontario in 1982. A journalist and historian who worked for many years as the head of the local history room at the Saskatoon Public Library, Millar is well known for her short stories, articles and books about Saskatoon and Saskatchewan history. Two of her major publications are Saskatchewan Heroes and Rogues and Saskatoon: A History In Photographs.