The journal Harbour & Shipping began in 1918 with William Norman Code, one of the original partners and Murray McLellan's grandfather. Norman, as he was known, married Mary Alma Burrows in 1914. Together they had a daughter Wilma Janet Code.

The other original partner of Harbour & Shipping magazine was James H. (Jimmy) Hamilton who was also on the 1921 organizing committee of the original Vancouver Merchant's Exchange. He was also the first manager of the Exchange, the predecessor of the current Chamber of Shipping of British Columbia.

Hamilton retired in 1945 and Code continued on as publisher until 1958 when he sold the business to his son-in-law, Norman (Mac) McLellan. Norman McLellan married Wilma Code in 1940. McLellan had been editor since returning from WWII in 1946 where he had been a Canadian naval officer with the British Navy.

In 1963 Norman's son Murray McLellan left UBC and began working for his father selling advertising for the magazine. He also began taking pictures and quickly became one of the top professional marine photographers in Vancouver.

Norman McLellan died in 1972 and Murray took control of the magazine. His daughter, Kristin Hodge, joined him as editor and later assistant to the publisher. She was in charge of marketing, public relations and assisted the editor Allison Smith with special projects.

Harbour & Shipping ceased publishing in 2010. Murray McLellan passed away in 2016.

The collection consists largely of Murray McLellan's photographs published in Harbour & Shipping. The collection also includes early black and white photographs from the magazine and images taken by other photographers that were also published in the magazine. One camera is also included in the collection. It is believed to have belonged to the original publishers and may have taken some of the black and white photographs included in the collection.

With the exception of items already in the Public Domain, please note that images in this collection have not been digitized due to the Copyright remaining with the McLellan family. Permission in writing for reproductions must be acquired from the Copyright holder. Please contact the Archivist with all reproduction requests.

Photographs were generally arranged alphabetically by donor. This arrangement was kept and any un-filed photographs were filed according to donor's system.