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DAWSON, GEORGE MERCER, 1849-1901
The geologist and explorer George Mercer Dawson was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, and moved
to Montréal in 1855 when his father, John William Dawson, became Principal of McGill. At the
age of eleven, he contracted an illness which resulted in permanent spinal deformity and the
stunting of his growth, but he vigorously resisted the role of invalid and completed his education
under private tuition.
After a year as a partial student at McGill, he enrolled in the Royal School of
Mines, London, whence he graduated in 1872 with highest honours and the title of Associate. After
a brief period surveying mines in Nova Scotia and teaching chemistry at Morrin College, Québec,
he was appointed geologist and botanist to the British North American Boundary Commission, and
made his first surveying trip to the Canadian West.
His travels were even more extensive after
1875, when he became geologist with the Geological Survey of Canada; they resulted in numerous
published reports and articles, primarily on the mineral resources of the Prairies, northern British
Columbia and the Yukon, but also on the botany, geography, and ethnography of this region.
In
1883, he became assistant-director and, in 1895, Director of the Geological Survey of Canada,
which he headed until his death in 1901. He assisted in negotiating treaties affecting natural
resources, notably as Commissioner in the Bering Sea seal inquiry of 1891-92, for which work he
was awarded the C.M.G. A member of numerous scientific associations, Dawson was President of
the Royal Society of Canada in 1893.
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
Originals, Photocopies, Photographs, Printed Materials, ca 1860-1901, 75 cm (M.G. 1022)
These George Mercer Dawson papers comprise professional, scientific and family
correspondence, some scientific manuscripts, drawings and photographs of Western exploration,
juvenalia, student materials, and poetry.
His scientific correspondence (c.55-c.56) commences in 1872, but drops off sharply after the early
1880's. The letters, and his occasional draft replies, document the political and administrative
fortunes of the Geological Survey, the North American Boundary Commission, and various learned
societies. As well, they report on field research, particularly on mineral deposits, arrangements for
equipment and assistants for expeditions, and the exchange of specimens. The correspondents
include other members of the Survey, government officials, and business concerns, especially
railways and mines.
Dawson's scientific manuscripts fall into two groups: notes and reports on Western exploration,
geology, mining, and Indians, 1870-1875, and 5 cm of general lectures on physical geography
delivered to the Montreal Ladies' Educational Association, 1880. Closely allied to his scientific
and exploratory work are an album of photographs taken in western Canada in 1894-95 (c.70), and
about 10 cm of pencil sketches, sepias and water colours of landscapes, many produced during
exploratory trips in 1873-1874, and 1881 (c.59).
Materials of a more personal nature include juvenalia (short essays, drawings, and two diaries
from 1861 and 1865) and 16 lecture and laboratory notebooks from his student years at the Royal
School of Mines, 1869-1872, together with pocket diaries, memorandum books, and notes of
geological field trips during the same period (c.57-c.59). Dawson also wrote poetry, of which 10
cm of manuscript is extant (c.56), mostly reflections on states of mind, the Canadian landscape and
seasons, and the vanity of human society, endeavour and love. There is also a small notebook of
poems and reflections during an European trip in 1882 (c.58).
Family correspondence includes 22 letters from his grandfather James Dawson, 1856-1857; 5 cm
of letters from J.W. Dawson, 1856-1899; 15 cm from Margaret Mercer Dawson, 1865-1901; 3 cm
from Anna Dawson Harrington, 1869-1901; 3 cm from William Bell Dawson, 1865-1899; 2 cm
from Rankine Dawson, 1870-1900; and a handful of items from other members of the family.
UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES
Originals, 1873-1899, 80 cm (Large MSS)
These papers primarily concern Dawson's geological interests, and
consist of a diaries and general notebooks, 1873-1899; miscellaneous articles on geological
subjects, 1887-1894; papers connected with explorations in the Yukon and with the Boundary
Question between Alaska and British Territory and with sealing regulations in the Bering Sea,
1887-1897; correspondence, 1883-1898; and poems.
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