Research Catalog

Title

The reindeer botanist : Alf Erling Porsild, 1901-1977 / Wendy Dathan.

Author

Dathan, Patricia Wendy, 1934-

Publication

Calgary : University of Calgary Press, c2012.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

Arctic Institute of North America

Description

xxii, 726 p. : ill., maps, ports.; 23 cm.

Summary

"One of Canada's most remarkable botanists, Alf Erling Porsild (1901-1977) grew up on the Arctic Station in West Greenland, where he later served as Vice/Acting Canadian Consul (1940-43). For nearly twenty years, he studied reindeer activities in Alaska and the Northwest Territories as part of a Canadian project designed to encourage grazing animal husbandry among aboriginal peoples. As Curator of Botany at the National Museum of Canada, he collected thousands of specimens, greatly enlarging the National Herbarium and making it a superb research centre. Porsild's meticulous work and observations have particular relevance today with the growing concern over global warming in the Arctic. This long-awaited biography traces the challenging and adventurous career of an unusual, little-known scientist who battled rivalry, bureaucracy, personal disappointment, and private tragedy. In the end, he earned universal respect for his prodigious publications and intimate knowledge of the people, plants, and land around Canada's Arctic Circle. His story gives the first full account of the Canadian Reindeer Project and Canada's Consulate in wartime Greenland and describes the exploration and mapping of the Canadian flora and growth of the National Herbarium from about 1920 to Porsild's retirement in 1967."--

Series Statement

• Northern lights, 1701-0004 ; no. 14
• Northern lights, 1701-0004 ; 14

Uniform Title

Northern lights series (Calgary, Alta.) ; no. 14.

Alternative Title

Alf Erling Porsild, 1901-1977

Subject

• Porsild, A. E. 1901-1977
• Canadian Reindeer Project > History
• National Herbarium of Canada > History
• Botanists > Canada > Biography
• Scientists > Canada > Biography
• Botany > Canada, Northern
• Reindeer farming > Canada, Northern

Genre/Form

Biographies.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 695-703) and index.

Additional Formats (note)

• Issued also in electronic formats.

Issued By (note)

• Co-published by: Arctic Institute of North America.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Foreword / Irwin M. Brodo -- Preface -- Introduction -- Reindeer survey/exploration, 1901-1928 -- Canada's reindeer herd, 1929-1935 -- The national herbarium in peace and war, 1936-1977 -- Epilogue : closing the circle -- Notes -- Sources and acknowledgements -- Selected references -- Index.

ISBN

• 9781552385869 (pbk.)
• 1552385868 (pbk.)
• 9781552385883 (ebook)

LCCN

^^2012538068

OCLC

777654657

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library