TRENT UNIVERSITY

ARCHIVES NEWS

Number 60, January 2017

The ENDURING INTRIGUE In this issue: of ’S NORTH his issue of Archives News features ur holdings include a wide array of materials pertaining to Canada’s north: hand-coloured T some of the many holdings in the maps created in the 16th century; worn leather-bound books written by explorers in the Archives and Special Collections which 19thO century; and hundreds of photographs and slides taken by photographers in the 20th pertain to Canada’s North. Thanks to the century. This array represents a vast transition in perspectives and technologies and demon- tremendous support of donors, we contin- strates the centuries-old quest for knowledge about the world’s northernmost regions. ue to build a significant Northern collec- tion of unique archival holdings and rare publications. The early maps in our holdings are part of a larger historical collection received in 1986 from avid collector Robert Lloyd Hunter (1914-1986). Of the 70 or so maps in the collection, most depict North America and Canada; some, such as Arctic Regions (shown below), relate specifically to the polar region. Other rare Canadiana also com- prise the Hunter collection: books dating to the 1600s, and archival materials consist- ing of petitions, proclamations, printed acts, and correspondence relating to the Red River settlement, the Hudson’s Bay Company, and the governance of British North America by the British crown. Arctic Regions. 1680? De Wit, Frederick Poli Arctici et circumiacentium terrarum descriptio novissima per Fredericum de Wit Amstelodami. [Amsterdam, 1680?] Coloured. "Gedruckt i Amsteldam by Frederick de Wit in de Valverstract aen den Dam in de Wit pa- James Armstrong fonds seaert." A highly decorative piece consisting of a circu- he Trent Treasures column focuses on lar map 17 in. in diameter of T written in the 19th the Arctic set within a rec- century after Confederation and makes spe- tangle 19 x 17 in. with its cial reference to the 1897 book of poems by remaining portions filled Frederick George Scott, The Unnamed with remarkable coloured Lake and Other Poems, located in Special vignettes of whaling scenes in the northern regions. The Collections. Scott’s poems differ from those Arctic is shown in its stand- written by the “official” . ard form for this period ... with Northwest America Notice: If you wish to be removed absent due to lack of availa- from the Archives News mailing list, ble knowledge. please send an email message with

“Unsubscribe Newsletter” in the subject (Digital reproduction (left) re- line to [email protected]. ceived via Janice Millard).

: http://www.trentu.ca/library/archives. Check our Facebook page regularly for news and updates. ARCHIVES NEWS p.2 Northern holdings

nformation about the various Northern archival holdings located at Trent

University Archives is available on the Archives Web site (https:// Details about the various archival holdings I referred to in this issue of Archives News are www.trentu.ca/library/archives/northern_studies). A recent acquisition in- available on the Archives Web site: cludes 4200 slides pertaining to the Canadian and Greenland Arctic; the images were taken by physicist and photographer Roger Buxton over a 25- Robert Lloyd Hunter fonds year period beginning in the 1970s and were received in the Archives fully http://www.trentu.ca/library/archives/87-001 http://www.trentu.ca/library/archives/99-004 identified and dated. Another recent acquisition pertains specifically to

Ellesmere Island; comprised of 1433 slides and 14 audio files, this collec- George Mellis Douglas fonds tion was donated by a member of the RCMP, James Armstrong, who was https://www.trentu.ca/library/archives/79-002 stationed at Alexander Fjord from 1958 to 1961. https://www.trentu.ca/library/archives/90-008

Note: Robert Buxton photographic slide collection Some reproduction restrictions apply to the above mentioned recent acquisitions. http://www.trentu.ca/library/archives/15-010

James Armstrong fonds Isolated Manuscript Collection: #105

rent’s Special Collections is strong in books about the North and Northern exploration. Many of the publications, especially those locatedT in the Robert Lloyd Hunter Canadiana Collection and the Floyd S. Chalmers Collection of Canadian Explorations, are rare and some may be unique. These volumes are searchable through Trent’s Library catalogue: see: https://www.trentu.ca/library/

The journeys of explorers Sir John Franklin, Sir William Parry and Captain George Back are among those documented in many fine antiquarian publications located in Special Collections. ARCHIVES NEWS p.3

George Mellis Douglas “...No doubt or difference of opinion has ever been Arctic Explorer, Engineer, expressed as to Sir John Franklin’s fine character, but many since Simpson have criticized his quali- Photographer and Autho r ties and experience as leader of an exploration eorge Mellis Douglas was born in Halifax in 1875 and moved expedition, whether by sea or land. Richardson G with his family to Northcote Farm on the shore of Lake Katche- was far more competent…” wanooka near Lakefield, Ontario in 1883. An engineer by training, George Douglas to Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Douglas organized a metallurgical exploratory expedition to the Cop- June 6th, 1954 permine River in 1911. Over the 30 years that followed, he led cop- George Mellis Douglas fonds) per explorations along the shores of the Arctic Sea and Great Bear and Great Slave Lakes. Douglas was one of the first Barren Land explorers to extensively photograph the Northwest Territories and A copy of George Douglas’s Lands Forlorn (New York & London, G.P. the Inuit who lived in the region. Included in the Douglas papers is Putnam’s Sons, 1914) is located in Special Collections. It includes 180 correspondence with Vilhjalmur Stefansson, Clifford Wilson and oth- photographs by the author. ers involved in Arctic exploration. The fonds also includes photo- graphs taken by Douglas while canoeing on local waterways. Doug- las died in Lakefield in 1963. George Douglas, from the painting by E. Wyly Grier, R.C.A. (Lands Forlorn).

Artifacts acquired by Douglas on his trip to the Coppermine River in 1911-1912 were presented to Trent University in The Douglas material includes a collection of books on Arctic ex- 1980. These items, received from Mrs. Frances Douglas, ploration; an inscription in one, Greenland, points to a friendship complement the archival holdings. Note Douglas’s initials between Douglas and its author, Vilhjalmur Stefansson: inscribed on his canvas sack.

For George M. Douglas, a book the whole of which (and not one or another section) is a background for renewal of the Maldonado discussion with his friend - Vilhjalmur Stefansson - March 6 1944.

Stefansson may have been referring here to Captain Lorenzo Ferrer Maldonado whose 16th-century manuscript describes a successful navigation through the Northwest Passage in the year 1588. Another of the books, Unflinching, the published diary of the ill-fated explorer Edgar Christian, includes handwritten annota- tions in the margins by Douglas; Christian’s journey, along with the explorations of Sir John Franklin and others, is discussed in letters dated 1928 through 1954 located in the archival holdings. ARCHIVES NEWS p.4

The Unnamed Lake and Other Poems /

Frederick George Scott (Toronto: W. Briggs, 1897)

ne hundred and fifty years ago, in the period immediately Trent‘s Special Collections has a very nice autographed copy of O following Canadian confederation, poetry reflected the opti- Frederick Scott's The Unnamed Lake and Other Poems (Toronto: mism and nationalist fervour of the age. The "official" Confedera- W. Briggs, 1897) which includes a poem dedicated to his wife tion Poets: , , Charles G.D. Rob- Amy, and reads, in part: erts and characteristically wrote paeans to LOVE'S ETERNITY the wonders of the Canadian North, Canadian flora, fauna, weath- er, and scenery, and, Canadian Anglo traditions. They exhorted Dear heart, whose life is woven into mine, the admirably sturdy, down-to-earth citizens to recognize the po- tential of the new Dominion. Paradoxically, the poetry of this era Who art the light and music of my days, seems also to have been somewhat ambivalent. It did express national pride and independence, but also declared allegiance to We move towards death, yet let us have no fear; the idea of the British Empire, strong ties to the "mother country," and the desire to exist as loyal members of a commonwealth. The If nothing dies, not even light’s faintest rays, ideals expressed in their poetry, if nationalistic, show them as ear- nest and generous celebrants of Canada — particularly when con- Sure that vast love which links my soul with thine trasted with the contemporary and notorious "Canada First" politi- cal movement with its religious prejudice and overt xenophobia. Marks for eternity our union here.

Frederick George Scott (1861-1944), poet, Anglican priest and W.W. 1 Chaplain, is often dismissed as a minor "versifier" and listed as an also-ran to the official "Confederation Poets". Scott's poet- ry was, though, in many ways more diverse and more personal, perhaps due in part to his military experi- ence. Scott joined the armed forces when he was fifty-four years old. He was dedicated to the First Canadian Division and moved up the line along with the ground forces. His son Henry was killed at the Somme and in Scott's published memoirs of the war, he tells of going back to the battlefield after the fighting had qui- etened to find his son's body. An- other son, Frank Scott, became a lawyer and a much better known poet, political activist, and literary critic.

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