Fonds consists of personal papers; Canadian Council on Rural Development; Canadian Eskimo Arts Council; co-operatives; subject files; Memorial University Extension Service; Office of Economic Opportunity; Canadian International Development Agency; Royal Commission on Labrador; National Film Board.
Fonds also contains maps, 1968-1976, of Kyoja, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Alaska.
Snowden, Donald, 1928-1984 : Donald Snowden, educator, video artist, born in 1928 at Winnipeg, Man., received his education from University of Manitoba and Carleton University, Bachelor of Journalism 1949. He worked with the Winnipeg Free Press and the Saskatchewan Dept. of Tourism for several years after graduation.
He served with the Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources from 1954 to 1964 during which time he organized the Industrial Division which helped to found co-operatives across the Arctic for the sale and production of Inuit crafts, the processing of seafoods and sale of consumer goods. In 1964, he left the Department and joined the Memorial University Extension Service as a special adviser. He was named Chairman of the Royal Commission on Labrador in 1972 to investigate the aid to Labrador Inuit and Indians as well as areas such as transportation, fisheries and education. He served on the executive boards of numerous organizations including C.I.D.A., the Canadian Council for Rural Development and the National Film Board.
He was especially known for his knowledge of Northern problems, Inuit handicrafts, fisheries and co-operatives. He was a pioneer in the use of video-tape to allow dialogue between two non-communicative groups. He first demonstrated this technique in Fogo Island, Newfoundland where by interviewing fishermen in their homes was able to show government officials that it did not make sense to move the community to the mainland. He utilized this technique for the Office of Economic Opportunity in the U.S. in the U.S. South, studying aid to rural poor, after the race riots in Hartford, Connecticut and among the Alaskan Inuit.
See also: Canadian Who's Who, 1984.
