About this collection

Background and acknowledgements

The following history was compiled by Andrew Taylor, in Winnipeg, on August 1, 1991:

Arctic Blue Books and UM Libraries

  • Two photocopy sets of the entire Arctic Blue Books were obtained through the help of an archivist, Donald Curtin. Donald tracked down the dusty original British Parliamentary Papers from 1818-1878 held in storage in Hull, Quebec and they were photocopied for Dr. William (Skip) Koolage and his group, who were annotating and checking Taylor's Index throughout the early 1990s.
  • Phillip Cronenwett, Director of Archives at Dartmouth College, kindly provided photocopies of two Blue Books missing from the Parliamentary Library in Ottawa.
  • Koolage and his group made copies of the 6000 plus pages of the Arctic Blue Books and donated those to the University of Manitoba Libraries.
  • In 1998, the Index went online on the University of Manitoba's Libraries’ homepage.

Index numbering system

This index will follow the original index numbering system of Andrew Taylor which is based upon the original publication dates of the British Parliamentary Papers.

Marie Tremaine, editor of the The Arctic Bibliography assigned number 45212-45257 to Taylor's descriptions of these papers. We have chosen Taylor's publication date-specific entries because they allow the reader to place the source materials in their historical context. However, we have kept the Tremaine numbers in a sub-file for those who wish to have them for reference.

Below are listed the Taylor index numbers which appear in this Index (and are noted in A Preliminary Guide) and the corresponding Tremaine numbers which the reader will find in Section 3: Arctic Blue Books.

The reader should note that Taylor's 1833 and 1877c have been dropped by Tremaine. These are very short papers of two pages each. One paper included by Tremaine (45237) was a later inclusion in the Arctic Bibliography and was not reviewed by Taylor.

Taylor-Tremaine Numbering System

Taylor Tremaine Printed Date: Great Britain, Parliament, House of Commons
1818 45212 March 9, 1818. 9 p. Sessional Papers, Bills Public 1818, v.1, no. 99
1833 (omitted)  
1834a 45213 April 28, 1834. 40 p., fold. col. map. Sessional papers, Reports from committees, 1834, v.18, no. 250, Previously listed as no. 6107 of Arctic Bibliography
1834b 45214 July 18, 1834. 2p. also pub. as: Sessional papers, Estimates and accounts 1834, v. 42, no. 493
1846 45215 February 13, 1846. Sessional Papers, Accounts and papers 2, Estimates 1846, v. 26, no.51
1848a 45216 April 13, 1848. 84 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1847-48, v.41 no. 264
1848b 45217 June 7, 1848. 4 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1847-48 v. 41, no. 386
1849a 45218 March 23, 1849. 2 p. Sessional Papers, Accounts and papers, 1849, v. 31, no. 152
1849b 45219 March 30, 1849. 28 p. Sessional Papers, Accounts and papers, 1849, v. 32, no. 188
1849c 45220 April 20, 1849. 12 p. Sessional Papers, Accounts and papers, 1849, v. 32, no. 188-II
1849d 45221 June 13, 1849. 4 p. Sessional Papers, Accounts and papers, 1849, v. 32, no. 387
1849e 45222 July 12, 1849. 4 p. Sessional Papers, Accounts and papers, 1849, v. 32, no. 497
1850a 45223 March 5, 1850. vi, 157 p. illus., 2 fold. maps. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers 1850, v.34, no. 107
1850b 45224 May 23, 1850. 2 p. Sessional Papers, Accounts and papers, 1850, v. 35, no. 368
1850c 45225 may 31, 1850. 6 p. Sessional Papers, Reports and papers, 1850, v. 35, no. 397
1851a 45226 March 7, 1851. iv, 106 p. 2 fold. maps. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1851, v. 33, no. 97
1852a 45227 1852. Eyre and Spottiswoode, lix, 199 p. 2 illus., 2 fold. maps. Sessional Papers, Accounts and papers, 1852, v. 50, no. 1435
1852b 45228 1852. Eyre and Spottiswoode, iii, 368 p. 66 illus., 28 maps incl. 6 fold. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852, v. 50
1852c 45229 1852. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 216 p. 9 illus., 4 maps incl 1 fold. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852, v. 50, no. 1449
1852d 45230 February 3, 1852. 6 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852. v. 30, no. 1
1852e 45231 February 13, 1852. 6 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852, v. 30, no. 59 also pub. as House of Lords, Accounts and papers, 1852, v. 17, no. 29
1852f 45232 February 27, 1852. 18 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852, v. 50, no. 115
1852g 45233 April 6, 1852. 12 p. fold. map. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852, v. 50, no. 248
1852h 45234 May 7, 1852. 4 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852, v. 50, no. 317 see also: no. 45238
1852j 45235 May 21, 1852. 12 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852, v. 50, no. 390
1852k 45236 June 22, 1852. 40 p. illus plate, fold. map. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852, v. 50, no. 501
not cited 45327 August 3, 1855. 12 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1854-5, v. 44, no. 489 see also: 45238
1852m 45238 December 20, 1852. iv, 88 p., 3 fold. maps. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852-52, v. 60, no. 82
1853a 45239 May 4, 1853. 4 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852-53, v. 60, no. 444 also pub. in: no. 45241 (infra), p. 147-49
1853b 45240 August 20, 1853. 4 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852-52, v. 60, no. 1013 also pub in : no. 45241 (infra), p. 1-2
1854a 45241 1854. 225 p. 26 illus., 5 fold. maps. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1852, v. 42, no. 1725
1854b 45242 March 24, 1854. 14 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1854, v. 42, no. 129
1854c 45243 April 7, 1854. 4 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1854, v. 42, no. 171
1854d 45244 April 28, 1854. 4 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1854, v. 42, no. 200
1855a 45245 January 1855. Eyre and Spottiswoode iv, 958 p., 74 illus., 37 maps incl. fold. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1854-55, v. 35, no. 1898
1855b 45246 March 27, 1855. 46 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1854-55, v. 31, no. 140, section VII
1855c 45247 April 18, 1855. 2 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1854-55, v.44, no. 181
1855d 45248 July 20, 1855. xx, 38 p. fold. map. Sessional papers, Reports from committees, 1854-55, v. 7, no.409
1856 45249 1856. Harrison and Sons, vi, 95 p. 2 maps, 1 fold. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1856, v. 41, no. 2124
1858 45250 May 21, 1858. ii, 40 p. map. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1857-58, v. 60, no. 2416
1875a 45251 1875. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 40 p. fold. col. map. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1875, v. 45, no. C-1153
1875b 45252 1875. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 2 p. col. fold. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1875, v. 45, no. C-11153-I
1875c 45253 February 15, 1875. 4 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1875, v. 45, no. 44
1876 45254 1876. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 25 p. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1876, v. 45, no. C-1560
1877a 45255 1877. Harrison and Sons, vii, 484 p. illus., plates incl. fold. maps. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1877, v. 56, no. C-1636
1877b 45256 1877. Harrison and Sons, lv, 505 p. diagrs., fold. plate. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1877, v. 56, no. C-172 see also: no. 246
1877c (omitted)  
1878 45257 1878. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 156 p. 8 col. plates., 7 graphs. Sessional papers, Accounts and papers, 1878. v. 52, no. C-2176

Who is Andrew Taylor?

To learn more about one of Canada’s foremost polar explorers, Andrew Taylor, check out his collection held at the archives or view digitized content from his collection.

Where are the physical Arctic Blue Books?

Copies of the Blue Books are available

Other collections with complete sets of the Blue Books

 

Related source materials

  • Arctic Blue Books Abstract 1852a i1
    Photo by Arctic Blue Books Abstract 1852a i1
    Arctic Blue Books Abstract 1852a i1
  • A photograph negative of two men posing with a surveying instrument while eating lunch. The man standing is Andrew Taylor, 1930. Andrew Taylor fonds, A1993-089, Box 1, File 7, Item 2
    Photo by Andrew Taylor fonds, A1993-089, Box 1, File 7, Item 2
    Photo by Andrew Taylor fonds, A1993-089, Box 1, File 7, Item 2

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