Fonds consists of numerous photographs pertaining to journeys by George Mellis Douglas to the Northwest Territories. A number were taken by Douglas on various trips to the north, and include views of places and areas in Alberta and the Northwest Territories; various aircraft of the Canadian Airways and of Vickers Viking aircraft; views of Indians receiving treaty payments at Fort McMurray in 1911; an album relating to a trip by Douglas from Edmonton to Slave Lake, taken in 1938, including views of human activities and artifacts; positives pasted onto loose-leaf paper, depicting the topographical and geological character of the Coppermine River and tributaries area in 1911; and a copy negative of a photographic portrait, n.d., of George Mellis Douglas.
The fonds also contains Douglas Family papers including correspondence, memoranda, clippings, articles and photocopies concerning his father, Campbell Mellis Douglas, V.C., his grandfather George Mellis Douglas, M.D., Rev. James Douglas and James Douglas M.D. and John Saxton Campbell, a partner in the building of the Royal William in Quebec in 1833, originals and photocopies. The fonds also includes correspondence and memoranda, original; Northern expeditions including diaries, diary excerpts, memoirs, supply lists, manuscripts of articles on his expeditions, pamphlets and reprints concerning the expeditions, original.
Also included in the fonds are 9 maps, 1904-1936, primarily of the Great Slave Lake, Great Bear Lake and Peace and Athabaska Rivers area.
Douglas, George M. (George Mellis), 1875-1963 : George M. Douglas, engineer, explorere, born in Halifax, was educated at the University of Toronto and Rutherford College, Newcastle-on-Type, and served an apprenticeship. From 1897 to 1900 he worked as a marine engineer. He began his career as a mining engineer in Arizona and Mexico. In 1911-1912 he went on his first expedition to the Canadian North to examine the copper deposits on the Coppermine River. This expedition, sponsored by Dr. James Douglas of Douglas, Arizona, is described in G.M. Douglas' book, Lands Forlorn, 1914. Douglas made a total of six exploratory expeditions (1911-12, 1928, 1932, 1935, 1938) to the area between Lake Athabasca and the Arctic coast, five by boat and one by air. He retired in 1940 to his home in Lakefield, Ont.
See also: Finnie, Richard S., "Arctic profile" in Arctic, March 1985.
See also Mallory, Enid. Coppermine: the far north of George M. Douglas. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 1989.
Photographer.
