Index to the Arctic Blue Books: British Parliamentary Papers on
Exploration in the Canadian North 1818-1878
http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/bluebooks/index.html
by Andrew Taylor OC.,C.E.,B.Sc.,M.A.,Ph.D.,D.Sc (hon)
with Editing and Annotations by:
The Arctic/Subarctic Research Project
134 University College
University of Manitoba
copyright 1998
arcticbb [at] cc.umanitoba.ca
Ruth May, M.L.S.
Deborah Woodman, M.A.
Harpa Isfeld, M.A.
William O. Pruitt, Jr., Ph.D.
Michael Angel, Ph.D.
William Koolage, Ph.D. (comp.)
The Arctic Blue Books (more comprehensively described as the British
Parliamentary Papers on Exploration in the Canadian North) have long
been the basic source of officially recorded information concerning 19th
century exploration of the Canadian Arctic. Scattered through the 50,000
reports in parliamentary proceedings, these 47 papers (from 2-956 pages
each) have never been fully utilized by students and scholars even
though these papers are available in microprint and microfiche in
university and public libraries throughout Canada and in world centers.
Lacking tables of contents in most cases, and unindexed, the wealth of
information they contain is extremely difficult to search with
thoroughness. They have remained in the same hopelessly disarranged
condition in which they were bequeathed to us a century ago. Based on
the scientific reports of explorations during the "Age of Darwin", The
Arctic Blue Books are of great importance to our baseline knowledge of
the Canadian North.
The Blue Books cover subjects from anthropology to zoology - the social,
natural, and medical sciences of the 19th century - which are still very
important to us today as baseline data in everything from Canadian
Arctic/Subarctic Ecology, Geography, History, Native Peoples, etc. Dr.
Andrew Taylor has provided us with the key to this valuable resource. He
produced a very comprehensive and only index to the Blue Books.
The Index is unique and is contained on approximately 44,000
hand-written file cards (3x5) with 250,000 references. It is organized
by subject, name, and geographical location, etc. The Index was edited,
annotated, copyrighted, and digitized by October 1998.
After two and a half years, the University of Manitoba Libraries'
administration has finally acknowledged the intellectual property rights
of the Arctic/Subarctic Research Project.