Fonds consists of typed transcripts of tape recordings which Farley Mowat made during his trip across the Canadian North in 1966. He interviewed Inuit, Indians, fur traders and government workers in Ungava Bay, around Hudson Bay, Baffin Island and most other communities along the coast west to the Mackenzie Delta. Several interviews cover the Mackenzie river valley and the Yukon on his trip south. The only major area of Inuit settlement not covered in the interviews is the Labrador coast. The interviews discuss education, the future of the North and the Inuit, Inuit handicrafts, health care, mining, hunting and trapping and archeology such as the Norse ruins in the Payne river region.
Mowat, Farley, 1921-2014 : Farley McGill Mowat, author, born in 1921 at Belleville, Ont., the son of Angus Mowat Writer, moved with his family to Saskatoon at age twelve. His service in World War II was recounted in his books And No Birds Sang, 1979, and The Regiment, 1955. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto in 1949. His book, Never Cry Wolf, 1963, reflects his employment with the Dominion Wildlife Service as a biologist. The book was made into a film by the National Film Board in 1981.
His themes concern the North, native peoples, survival in hostile environments and animals. He had published 25 books which include books for adults and children and some 123 articles and short stories by 1980. His books have been translated into 23 languages and have been published in over 40 countries. Some of his titles include, People of the Deer, 1952, Lost in the Barrens, 1956, The Dog Who Wouldn't be, 1957, The Serpents Coil, 1961, Westviking, 1965, Canada North, 1967, The Siberians, 1970, A Whale for the Killing, 1972 and The Snow Walker, 1975. The book The World of Farley Mowat, 1980, contains excerpts from his works and biographical information on his life.
See also: The Canadian Encyclopedia, 1985, and The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, 1983.
