William Lancelot Holland | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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William Lancelot Holland

William Lancelot Holland, Asian studies scholar (born 26 December 1907 in New Zealand; died 8 May 2008 in Amherst, Massachusetts).

Holland was a leader in development of the international Institute of Pacific Relations, serving in New York as research director 1933-44 and then, after wartime service with the US Office of War Information in China, as secretary-general of the IPR 1948-60. When the IPR fell foul of the McCarthyites in the 1950s, Holland accepted an invitation from the University of British Columbia to become head of its department of Asian studies and bring with him the IPR's journal, Pacific Affairs, which he edited from Vancouver until 1978. In 1972 he became emeritus professor of Asian studies, and in 1989 he received an honorary LLD from UBC.