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Research Associate at Arctic institute of North America, University of Calgary

William (Bill) Barr holds degrees in Geography from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland and McGill University, Québec. From 1968 until 1999 he was a member of the faculty of the Department of Geography, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, and from 1985 until 1997 was head of that department. In 1999 he moved to Calgary, where he is one of the Research Fellows in residence at the Arctic Institute of North America. From 1971 until 1978 he was editor of The Musk-Ox, the journal of the Institute for Northern Studies, University of Saskatchewan, and from 1977 until 1993, Associate Editor, then Editor of Polar Geography and Geology. Since 2001 he has been Series Editor of the Northern Lights Series, co-published by the Arctic Institute of North America and the University of Calgary Press. A glacial geomorphologist by training, since 1972 his major research focus has been the history of exploration of the Arctic, and to a lesser degree, the Antarctic.

Experience

  • 1999–present
    Professor emeritus, Department of Geography, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon
  • 1999–present
    Research associate, Arctic institute of North America, University of Calgary

Publications

  • 2009
    The use of dog sledges during the British search for the missing Franklin Expedition in the North American Arctic Islands, 1848-59,
  • 2008
    The expeditions of the First International Polar Year, 1882-83,
  • 2007
    Arctic hell-ship : the voyage of HMS Enterprise, 1850-1855,
  • 2005
    Pioneer whalers in the Ross Sea, 1923-33 ,

Honours

Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Historical Association