The Environmental Movement
Bruce Peel Special Collections offers numerous resources of potential interest to environmental researchers, including materials in the Dr Bruce P. Dancik Collection of Angling Books, the Dr Ronald B. Madge Entomology Collection, the Martin S. Garretson Bison Archive, and the Gregory Javitch Collection of books about Indigenous peoples. In addition to the several named collections, the library has other books of importance to the environmental movement, including first editions of the best-selling sea trilogy—Under the Sea Wind (1941), The Sea Around Us (1951), and The Edge of the Sea (1955)—by Rachel Carson (1907–1964), the pioneering marine biologist whose writings helped to inspire an international environmental movement in the latter half of the twentieth century.
Getting started: Most student researchers will want to employ a series of keyword searches in the University of Alberta Library catalogue in order to find relevant print and digital materials in all U of A library locations and collections, including the Peel library. For more information about research in the Peel library, see Finding and Requesting Peel Library Materials.
Further resources: Several of the Peel library’s past exhibitions and published books/catalogues explore related topics, including A Contemplative Angler (2018-2019) and Recalling the Buffalo (2012).
Collection Formats: 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, 21st Century, Artists Books, Books, Ephemera, Fine Press Books, Limited Edition Books -- click to see other collections with this format
From the papers of an early conservationist, in the Martin S. Garretson Bison Archive.
After immigrating from Great Britain, Archie Belaney adopted a false Indigenous identity. As Grey Owl, Belaney became a pioneering conservationist, working on behalf of the North American beaver, then on the edge of extinction. Pilgrims of the Wild (PS 8513 R45 Z6 1934).
From the Dancik Collection: The Salmon: Canada’s Plea for a Threatened Species, produced by David Denbeigh, designed by Robert R. Reid, and edited by L.H. Legault for Fisheries and Marine Service, Environment Canada (SH 346 C212 1974 folio).
Rachel Carson's The Sea Around Us, 1951 (GC 21 C32), and Under the Sea-Wind: A Naturalist's Picture of Ocean Life, 1941 (QH 92 C32 1941b).
M.B. Williams's Guardians of the Wild (SB 484 C2 W72 1936).
Alternatives: Perspectives on Society and Environment (S 900 A46), and the first issues of the Sierra Club Bulletin (S 900 S5 v.1).