John Heath (1923 - 2003) believed that modern recreational kayakers could learn a great deal from the inventors of the kayak. His fascination with history and design led him to museums throughout Europe, Greenland, and North America, where he conducted research on all aspects of kayak structure and technique. Mr. Heath published countless articles in American White Water and Sea Kayaker and worked throughout his life to preserve knowledge of the traditional designs and techniques used by arctic kayakers.

E. Arima is a Canadian ethnologist working in the Arctic and the Northwest Coast of North America. During the 1960s he was associated with the National Museum of Canada Human History Branch (now the Canadian Museum of Civilization). Since 1975, he has been an ethnohistorian with Parks Canada. In addition to his studies of watercraft, he has worked on Inuit oral traditions of East and West Hudson Bay, Kwakiutl mask carving, and Blackfoot history.