Description

Landscapes, rivers, resources, geology, indigenous peoples...all these subjects were of interest to geologist-explorer George M. Dawson LL.D. CMG FRS FRSC (1849-1901) as he travelled the prairies, Rockies, Yukon, British Columbia and beyond. Sketches have been selected from his personal notebooks at the McGill University Archives, as well as from his field notebooks at the National Library and Archives of Canada in relation to his work for the Geological Survey of Canada of which he was Assistant Director (1883-) and Director (1895-1901). Raised in upper-class Victorian Montreal (his father Sir William was principal of McGill University) he was well educated and, beyond his career as a scientist, excelled at drawing, painting and photography.