Charles Edward Borden was born May 15, 1905 in New York City, raised in Germany. Returned to the United States and graduated from Berkeley with in M.A. in 1933 and then a Ph.D. in 1937 in German literature. After the war Borden began to become interested in Archaeology in British Columbia. He quickly progressed from amateur to professional and in 1949 was appointed Lecturer in Archaeology in the Departement of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in addition to keeping his position in the German department.

In 1945 Borden began to organize and conduct salvage archaeology projects in the face of development and the destruction of archaeological sites. After many years of lecturing, and serving on committees and boards, Borden played a major role in the passage by the British Columbia Legislature of the Archaeological Sites Protection Act in 1960.