Research Catalog

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

Title
The reindeer botanist : Alf Erling Porsild, 1901-1977 / Wendy Dathan.
Author
Dathan, Patricia Wendy, 1934-
Publication
Calgary : University of Calgary Press, c2012.

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TextRequest in advance QK31.P67 D38 2012Off-site

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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