Downes, Prentice G., 1909-1978 80-004 TITLE Prentice G
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Selected Trent University Archives Resources Related to Northern Studies Which are Linked to Publications in the Special Collections Downes, Prentice G., 1909-1978 80-004 TITLE Prentice G. Downes fonds. -- 1930-1954. -- 3 items. -- 1 photograph. BIOGRAPHY / HISTORY Prentice Gilbert Downes, born in 1909, was a school teacher from Concord, Massachusetts. He often travelled to the north during the summer and one such visit is chronicled in his book "Sleeping Island: the Story of One Man's Travels in the Great Barren Lands of the Canandian North" (1943). He died in approximately 1978. CUSTODIAL HISTORY The fonds was created by P.G. Downes, and remained in the custody of his wife E.G. Downes. She donated it to the Trent University Archives. SCOPE AND CONTENT This fonds consists of three notebooks of typewritten notes entitled "Reference Notes on the Cree", and one photograph of P.G. Downes with Richard Finnie. The notebooks contain bibliographic sources, alphabetically arranged, their contents briefly analyzed and evaluated in terms of their usefulness to the study of various facets of Cree society. The notebooks also contain a number of Prentice G. Downes' writings. Related book: Downes, P.G. Sleeping island: the story of one man’s travels in the great Barren Lands of the Canadian North. New York: Coward- McCann, Inc., c1943. F 5905 .D745 SpC • Prentice G. Downes was an American school teacher with a love of the north and the Arctic who made a numerous trips to these areas – in 1936, 1937, 1939, 1947 and 1951. This book related to his 1939 canoe trip was north of Reindeer Lake up to Nueltin Lake – the Lake of the Sleeping Island - in the Barren lands off the coast of Hudson’s Bay. • Downes, who knew George Douglas, kept meticulous notes on the places he went and people he met and created maps of the hitherto unmapped areas. United States. Armed Forces. Northwest Service Command 77-037 TITLE United States. Armed Forces. Northwest Service Command: Records of the Canol Project and Alaskan Highway. -- Microfilmed 1974. -- 17 microfilm reels. BIOGRAPHY / HISTORY The early 1940's saw the rapid development of Canadian-American relations brought about by the pressures of World War II. These new relations included military co-operation and economic co-operation exemplified by the Ogdensburg Declaration of August 1940 and the Hyde Park Declaration of April 1941. An area of concern for both Canada and the United States was the region known as the Canadian northwest (north of 60th parallel, west of the 110th meridian). After the Japanese attack on the military base of Pearl Harbour, December 7, 1941, the United States military became increasingly concerned over the safety of Alaska. American military leaders decided that the Canadian northwest was the ideal region on which to build secondary lines of communication to Alaska. This led to the development of the Alaska Highway and the Canol pipeline project to provide transportation into and out of Alaska and petroleum products for the military bases which were quickly cropping up in the area. Both of these projects were under the supervison of the Northwest Service Command of the United States Military and lasted from 1942 to 1945. CUSTODIAL HISTORY The microfilms were purchased by the Trent University Archives from the United States' National Archives in Washington, D.C. SCOPE AND CONTENT The microfilms are of records of the United States army, Northwest Service Command and 6th Service Command dealing with the Canol Project and the Alaska Highway Project, including reports, general orders, histories, maps and charts, minutes of meetings and conferences, and demobilization plans. These records also contain international agreements between Canada and the United States. The records on the microfilm date from 1940 to 1946. Related books: 1. Schwatka, Frederick. Report of a military reconnaissance in Alaska made in 1883. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1885. F 908 .S44 SE • Schwatka was a 1st lieutenant in the 3rd regiment of the Cavalry in the U.S. Army. Schwatka and 6 others left Portland Oregon on May 22, 1883 and sailed north to Alaska. He and those in his party undertook reconnaissance from Chilkoot Inlet, Alaska, to Fort Selkirk, on the Yukon River. His orders were clear: “In view of the frequent reports of the disturbance of the peace between the whites and Indians in Alaska, and the indications that the present condition of affairs must lead to serious hostilities between the two elements in the near future, you are hereby directed to proceed to that Territory for the purpose of gathering all information that can be obtained that would be valuable and important, especially to the military branch of the Government.” (p.119) He rafted the full length of the Yukon River. Includes much information on the tribes and villages this group visited as well as 20 maps. Schwatka made this reconnaissance trip before the official border between Alaska and Canada clearly was established. • See also a popular version of this government report published 9 years later: Schwatka, Frederick. A summer in Alaska: a popular account of the travels of an Alaska Exploring Expedition along the great Yukon River, from its source to its mouth, in the British North-West Territory, and in the Territory of Alaska. St. Louis, Mo.: J.W. Henry, 1894. 2. Edelstein, Julius C. Alaska comes of age. New York: American Council Institute of Pacific Relations, 1942. F 909 .E3 1942 SpC • A reminder of Alaska’s strategic importance. “But today Alaska’s value to the United States is no longer counted in terms of the fish, nuggets and furs that add to the national wealth and income. Alaska’s current worth is the concern of strategists rather than of economists; upon the correct use of Alaska in our war plans may depend the fate of our times.” (p. 4) • Supplying Alaska in wartime was of great concern and reported are the moves made to build an international highway (The Alaska-Canadian or Alcan Highway) from Ft. St. John British Columbia to Fairbanks, Alaska. In this pre-Cold War time with Russia as a wartime ally, a road all the way through Alaska into Siberia is contemplated. 3. Driscoll, Joseph. War Discovers Alaska. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1943. F 909 .D75 1943 SpC • In the Second World War, the push eastward of Japan and especially the Japanese attack at Dutch Harbor, Alaska re- awakened American interest in Alaska. The author says ”Alaska, heretofore a land without people is bound to develop rapidly from here in, and those who are there now can grow up with the country and get in on the ground floor.” (p. 172) • The author see opportunity: “With a view to ultimate colonization of the great open spaces of Alaska, the Department of the Interior has listed southeastern Alaska, the Kenai Peninsula and the Matanuska and Susitna Valleys as regions for large-scale industrial and agricultural exploitation.” (p. [352]) • The book describes people, places and events in Alaska in order to awaken interested in that territory. Gage, S. R. (Sandy) 08-018 TITLE S. R. (Sandy) Gage fonds. -- 1988-1990. -- 20 cm of textual records. - - 90 slides. -- 55 photographs. BIOGRAPHY / HISTORY S. R. Gage was educated at McGill University and the University of Glasgow. He is the author of several books including "A Few Rustic Huts" which provides a history of ranger's cabins in Algonquin Park. His interest in the Canol project undertaken in the W.W. II era grew out of a canoe trip on the Natla and Keele rivers in 1981. SCOPE AND CONTENT Fonds consists of research notes, maps, photographs, slides, trip diaries and a draft manuscript relating to the 1990 publication "A Walk on the Canol Road: Exploring the First Major Northern Pipeline" by S.R. (Sandy) Gage. A copy of this book is included in the fonds. Related book: Edelstein, Julius C. Alaska comes of age. New York: American Council Institute of Pacific Relations, 1942. F 909 .E3 1942 SpC • A reminder of Alaska’s strategic importance. “But today Alaska’s value to the United States is no longer counted in terms of the fish, nuggets and furs that add to the national wealth and income. Alaska’s current worth is the concern of strategists rather than of economists; upon the correct use of Alaska in our war plans may depend the fate of our times.” (p. 4) • Supplying Alaska in wartime was of great concern and reported are the moves made to build an international highway (The Alaska-Canadian or Alcan Highway) from Ft. St. John British Columbia to Fairbanks, Alaska. In this pre-Cold War time with Russia as a wartime ally, a road all the way through Alaska into Siberia is contemplated. Lloyd, Trevor, 1906-1995 87-014 TITLE Trevor Lloyd fonds. -- 1818-1985. -- 3 m of textual records. -- ca. 25 photographs. BIOGRAPHY / HISTORY Henry Trevor Lloyd was born in 1906 in London, England and grew up in Wales. He received a B.Sc. from Bristol University in 1929. In 1930 he visited Canada with the debating team of the British National Union of Students. In the same year he emigrated to Canada to teach at Ravenscourt School in Winnipeg. He wrote his Ph.D. at Clarke University in 1940. He was assistant Professor of Geography at Carleton College in Minnisota until 1942 when he joined the faculty at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Lloyd was in New Hampshire from 1944 to 1952. During the summer of 1942 he filmed the early activities of the Canal Project on the Mackenzie River for the National Film Board. During the late War and post-war years he was seconded from Carleton College to the Canadian Government.