Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962). General Editor.
Part of the Stefansson Collection on Polar Exploration.

Rauner Special Collections, Dartmouth College Library

Access the Encyclopedia online (page images only -- see Table of Contents below).

Biographical Sketch

Vilhjalmur Stefansson (1879-1962), a Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist, who was also Director of Polar Studies at Dartmouth College, was the general editor.

About the Work

The Encyclopedia Arctica is the typecript of a proposed 20-volume reference work on the northern arctic and subarctic regions. The project was begun in 1947 under the sponsorship of the Office of Naval Research, Department of the Navy and drew on the expertise of governments (especially Canada), learned societies, and scholars from all over the world. In 1951 the Navy withdrew its support after 3 or 4 million words had been written (15 volumes).

Subjects covered include archaeology, anthropology, botany, engineering, geography, geology, history, law (including international relations); language, medicine, meteorology, oceanography, religion, zoology, biographies, and special topics such as the image of the arctic in Shakespeare.

Four sets of the manuscript were in existence in 1954; three under the care of the Navy and one in the Stefansson Collection. In 1970, a microfilm was produced and is available for consultation; in 2008 this color digital facsimile was produced from the original typescript, which is navigated by means of a Table of Contents (see below).

Table of Contents

Volume 1: Geology and Allied Subjects

• Introduction
• Snow, Ice, and Permafrost Glossary: Introductory Note
• Glossary of Snow, Ice, and Permafrost Terms
• Outline of the Economic Geology of Alaska
• Physiography of Alaska
• Stratigraphy and Geologic History of Alaska
• Explorations in Alaska by the United States Geological Survey
• Volcanoes of Alaska
• Earthquakes in the Arctic Area
• Meteorological Factors Affecting Variation of Glaciers Along the Alaskan Coast
• Geology of Arctic Canada
• Geology of Greenland
• Geology of Svalbard
• Geology of Siberia
• Geology of the European North, U.S.S.R.
• Geology of Novaya Zemlya
• Hydrology
  • Arctic and Subarctic Hydrology
• Glaciology
  • Former Glaciation of the Arctic Region
  • Glaciers in the Arctic
• Geophysics
  • Geophysics
  • Arctic Aspects of Geomagnetism
  • The Search for the North Magnetic Pole
  • The Aurora Borealis

Volume 2-A: Permafrost-Engineering

• Introduction
• Permafrost as a Natural Phenomenon
• Engineering Problems and Construction in Permafrost Regions
• Physics of Ground Frost
• Soil Mechanics in Permafrost Regions
• Natural Cold Storage
• Civil Engineering
  • Cold Weather Operations
  • Work Feasibility
  • Arctic Surveying
  • Highways, Bridges and Protection from Ice Damage
  • Drainage, Flood Control and Beach Erosion in Alaska
  • Strength and Uses of Fresh and Salt Water Ice
  • Construction and Maintenance of Airfields in the Far North Regions
  • Excavations and Foundations
  • Emergency, Temporary, and Semi-permanent Housing for Polar Areas
  • Industrial Structures in Alaska
  • Arctic Construction Methods
  • Transportation Over Land and Ice

Volume 2-B: Electrical and Mechanical Engineering

• Cautionary Remarks
• Effect of Extreme Arctic Cold on Materials
• Petroleum Products for Arctic Winter Use in Automotive Equipment
• Tractor-Type Transportation Units for Arctic Operation
• Sled-Type Transportation Equipment for Arctic Operations
• Analysis of Design Factors for Power, Heating, Ventilating, and Refrigeration Systems
• Power Plant Development and Electrical Transmission and Distribution Systems
• Mining Engineering
  • Mining in Northern Climates
  • Prospecting and Exploration of Minerals in the Arctic and Subarctic Alaska
  • Gold Dredging in Subarctic and Arctic America
  • Construction for Placer-Mining Operations
  • Design of Dredges for the Far North Placers
  • Coal Mining in Spitsbergen
  • Blasting in Surface and Drift Operations in the Far North
  • Safety in Mining in Alaska
• Petroleum Engineering
  • Petroleum in the Arctic
  • Petroleum Exploration in Arctic Alaska
  • Arctic Alaska Petroleum Exploration and Drilling Operation
  • Geological and Geophysical Operations
  • Seismograph and Gravity Meter Operations
  • Deep Well Logging Methods in Arctic Alaska
  • Development of Oil Fields in Canada's North
  • Geology of the Athabaska Bituminous Sands
  • Development of Bituminous Sands of Northern Alberta
• Sanitary Engineering
  • Arctic Sanitary Engineering
  • Arctic Insect Pests and Their Control

Volume 3: Zoology (Excluding Birds)

• Introduction
• Part 1: Terrestrial Zoology
  • Vertebrates
  • Invertebrates
• Part II: Marine and Freshwater Zoology
  • Marine
  • Freshwater

Volume 4: Zoology (Birds)

• Introduction
• Economic Use of Birds in Alaska
• Economic Use of Birds in Greenland
• Migration of Northern Birds
• Bird Write-ups
  • Classification of Arctic Birds
  • Gaviiformes (Loons)
  • Colymbiformes (Grebes)
  • Procellariiformes (Albatrosses, Fulmars, Shearwaters, Petrels)
  • Pelecaniformes (Gannets, Cormorants)
  • Ciconiiformes (Herons)
  • Anseriformes (Swans, Geese, Ducks)
  • Falconiformes (Eagles, Hawks, Ospreys, Falcons)
  • Galliformes (Ptarmigans, Grouse, Partridges, Quails)
  • Gruiformes (Cranes, Rails)
  • Charadriiformes (Oystercatchers, Plovers, Sandpipers, Phalaropes, Gulls, Terns, Auks)
  • Cuculiformes (Cuckoos)
  • Strigiformes (Owls)
  • Apodiformes (Swifts)
  • Coraciiformes (Kingfishers)
  • Piciformes (Woodpeckers)
  • Passeriformes (Perching Birds)

Volume 5: Plant Sciences (General)

• Introduction
• Bacteria
• Algae
• Algae: Planktonic Groups
• Fungi
• Lichens
• Bryophytes
• Vascular plants
• Ecology and Physiology
• Paleobotany
• Various Topics

Volume 6: Plant Sciences (Regional)

• Introduction
• Canadian Eastern Arctic
• Flora and Vegetation between 55 and 60 N. in Quebec and Labrador
• Flora and Vegetation of Greenland
• Flora and Vegetation of Iceland
• Flora and Vegetation of Svalbard and Jan Mayen
• Phytogeography and Vegetation of the Soviet Arctic Region
• Phytogeography and Vegetation of the Bering Sea District
• Flora and Vegetation of Arctic Alaska, Yukon, and Northwestern Canada
• Vegetation of the Central and Southern Mackenzie River Basin
• Soils
• Economic Botany
• Agriculture and Horticulture

Volume 7: Meteorology and Oceanography

• Introduction
• The Meteorology of the Arctic Region
• Canadian Meteorology
• The Climate of the American Northlands
• United States Weather Bureau
• First International Polar Year (1882-83)
• Second International Polar Year (1932-33)
• Oceanography of the Arctic
• Arctic Sea Ice
• Submarines in the Polar Sea
• Arctic Tides
• The Uses of Ice
• Greenland Inland Ice Weather Stations
• The Ice of the Seas in the North American Arctic
• Daylight and Darkness in High Latitudes

Volume 8: Anthropology and Archeology

• Introduction
• The Pacific Eskimo
• Bering Sea and Arctic Coast Eskimos of Alaska
• The Copper Eskimos
• The Hudson Bay Eskimos
• Ethnology of the Greenland Eskimos
• The Aleuts
• The Indians
  • Regional Description
  • Peoples of Northern Eurasia
  • Acculturation
  • Archaeology
  • Regional Description of Prehistoric Eskimo Cultures
  • Regional Description of Prehistoric Cultures in North Eurasia

Volume 9: Transportation and Communications

• Introduction
• Arctic Skin Boats
• Arctic Pioneer Craft
• Early Vessels in Arctic Exploration and Voyaging
• Design and Development of Arctic Trading Vessels
• The Development and Design of Arctic Whaling and Sealing Vessels
• Past and Present Coast Guard Vessels for the Arctic
• Water Transportation in the Canadian Shield
• Land and Ice
  • The Alaska Highway
  • The Canol Project
  • Tractor Tram Transportation
  • Greenland: Over-Ice Transportation
  • Canadian Yukon Railway
  • The Hudson Bay Railway
  • National Transcontinental Railway
  • Ontario Northland Railway
  • White Pass and Yukon Railway
  • Yukon Telegraph Service
  • Alaska Highway Telephone System
• Air
  • The Expansion of Aviation into Arctic and Sub-Arctic Canada
  • Canadian Pacific Air Lines
  • Northern Canadian “Bush" Flying
  • Canada's Northern Airports and Flying Routes

Volume 10: Soviet North, Geography and General

• Introduction
• Outline
• Lower Amur Oblast
• Arkhangelsk
• Kamchatka Territory
• Kandalaksha
• Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelia)
• Khabarovsk Territory
• Khibiny Mining and Industrial Combine
• Kirovsk
• Apatite, calcium fluophosphate (Kola Peninsula)
• Nepheline (Kola Peninsula)
• Sphene
• Koriak National Okrug
• Krasnoyarsk Krai
• Monchegorsk
• Nenets National Okrug
• Niva River
• Northern Dvina River
• Yakutia Territory
• Yamalo-Nenets National Okrug
• Khanty-Mansi (Ostyako-Vogul) National Region
• Evenki National Region
• Russian Hydrographical Expedition

Volume 11: Territorial Sovereignty and History

• Introduction
• Territorial Sovereignty in the Arctic
• Airspace Rights Over the Arctic
• History
  • Early Mediterranean Views on the Northlands
  • Arctic Cartography. Part I. From Earliest Times to 1900
  • Arctic Cartography. Part II. The Period From About 1900 to 1949
  • Mapping of the Arctic: A selected bibliography
  • Arab Geography
  • Skridfinns (Lapps)
  • Falconry
  • Island of Mayda
  • Islands of Demons
  • The Medieval Church in New World
  • Shakespeare and the Arctic
  • Voyages of William Barents (Paper copy has "Shakespeare and the Arctic voyages of William Barents"
  • The Hanseatic League
  • Muscovy or Russia Company
  • The Zeno Voyages
  • The Cortereal Voyages
  • Brazil Island
  • Busse Island
  • Polar Entrances to Hollow Earth (Symmes Theory)
  • Search for the Northwest Passage
  • The Dixon-Meares Controversy of 1790-1791
  • The Dixon-Meares Controversy of 1790-1792
  • The Dixon-Meares Controversy of 1790-1793
  • The Franklin Search
  • History of Arctic Exploration Since the Introduction of Flying, with Selected Bibliography

Volume 12: Alaska, Geography and General

• Introduction
• Northern Alaska Geographical Items in alphabetical order
• St. Lawrence Island
• Nunivak Island
• The Aleutian Islands
• Mount McKinley
• Additional Alaska Geographical Items in alphabetical order
• General
  • Promyshlenniki
  • The Russian American Company
  • History of the Fur Seal
  • The Alaska Commercial Company (1868-1940)
  • H. Liebes Company
  • The Alaska Boundary
  • The University of Alaska

Volume 13: Canada, Geography and General

• Introduction
• Various Geographical Items *note, multiple articles
• Bylot Island
• General
  • Administration of the Canadian North
  • Health Services in Northern Saskatchewan
  • The Department of National Health and Welfare
  • Canada: Indian and Eskimo Health Surveys
  • Medicine in the Canadian Arctic
  • Family Allowances in Northern Canada
  • Wildlife Preserves and Sanctuaries in Arctic and Sub arctic Canada
  • Aerial Photography in Northern Canada
  • Northern Photography
  • Religious Missions in Northern Canada
  • Mineral Possibilities of Yukon Territory, Canada
  • Baird-Bray Expedition, 1938-39
  • Baird-Bray Expedition, 1938-40
  • Baird-Bray Expedition, 1938-41
  • Exercise Lemming
  • Exercise Musk-Ox

Volume 14: Greenland, Svalbard, Ect." Geography and General

• Introduction
• Climate of Greenland
• The Voyage of Powell Knutson
• Whaling: Greenland and Davis Strait Fishery
• Greenland During and Since the Second World War
• Greenland Ovibos in Captivity and Under Domestication
• Ovibos in Northeast Greenland
• Svalbard: Geography
• Jan Mayen: Geography
• Geographical Items on East Greenland (in alphabetical order) *
• Geographical Items on West Greenland (in alphabetical order) *
• Geographical Items on North Greenland (in alphabetical order) *

Volume 15: biographies

• Introduction
• Luigi Amedeo Abruzzi
• Roald Amundsen
• William Baffin
• Aleksandri Andrevich Baranov
• Frederick William Beechey
• (Adm.) Sir Edward Belcher
• Silas Bent
• Emil Bessels
• Stephen Borough
• Louis Arner Boyd
• Alfred H. Brooks
• William Spiers Bruce
• Richard Chancellor
• Aleksei Ilich Chirikov
• Henry B. Collins, Jr.
• Augustine Courtauld
• John Davis
• Peter Warren Dease
• Max Demarest
• Semen Dezhnev
• George Dixon
• Due d'Orleans
• George Mellis Douglas
• Carl Ben Eielson
• Otto Febricius
• Jane Franklin
• Sir John Franklin
• W. A. Graah
• A(dolphus) W(ashington) Greely
• Charles Wesley Hawkesworth
• Samuel Hearne
• William Herbert Hobbs
• Gustav Frederick Holm
• William Lauriston Howard
• Henry W. Howgate
• George Kennan
• Richard King
• Frane Reinhold Kjellman
• Lauge Koch
• J.F.G. Laperouse
• Martin Lindsay
• George Francis Lyon
• Sir Alexander Mackenzie
• John Meares
• Walter Curran Mendenhell
• Gerhard Friedrich Mueller
• Alexander F. Middendorf
• Jens Munk
• Sir George Strong Nares
• Sir William Edward Parry
• Josephine Diebitsch Peary
• Robert E(dwin) Peary
• Emile Fortune Stanislas Joseph Petitot
• Pytheas
• Alfred de Quervain
• Nikolai Petrovich Rezanov
• Sir John Richardson
• Henrik Johannes Rink
• John Rodgers
• William Scoresby, Junior
• Charles Sheldon
• Grigor Ivanich Shelekhov
• Sir George Simpson
• Tomas Simpson
• Georg Wilhelm Steller
• G. M. Stoney
• Harald U. Sverdrup
• John Cleves Symmes
• James Williams Tyrrell
• Joseph Burr Tyrrell
• George Vancouver
• Baron Eduard Vasilievich von Toll
• Gino Watkins
• Sir Hubert Wilkins
• John Wilkins
• Sir Hugh Willoughy
• James M. Wordie

Other books by Stefansson are available from the Dartmouth Library catalog and in their via Google Books, including:

• The Northward Course of Empire. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922. 274 pages.
• My Life with the Eskimo. New York: Macmillan, 1922. 538 pages.
• Hunters of the Great North. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922. 301 pages.
• The Friendly Arctic: The Story of Five Years in Polar Regions. New York: Macmillan, 1921. 784 pages.
• With Clark Wissler. The Stefansson-Anderson Arctic Expedition of the American Museum. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1919. 395 pages.