Smithsonian Institution Arctic archaeologist William Fitzhugh and Maine-based photographer Wilfred Richard will give an illustrated talk about their new book, “Maine to Greenland: Exploring the Maritime Far Northeast,” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25 at the Kresge Auditorium on the Bowdoin College campus in Brunswick.
Using a combination of personal stories and their own photographs, Fitzhugh and Richard will introduce the audience to people and places from throughout the northern North Atlantic, and they will explain both the importance and allure of the region.
Richard, a Georgetown resident, is a geographer, photographer, registered Maine Guide and research fellow at the Ummannaq Polar Institute in Greenland. He has traveled extensively throughout New England and both the Arctic and subarctic regions on several continents, photographing landscapes, seascapes, terrestrial and marine flora and fauna, and the daily activities of local residents and visiting scientists. He has exhibited his photographs widely.
Fitzhugh has spent over three decades studying cultures of northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia, Mongolia and Scandinavia. His work as an archaeologist and anthropologist has focused on the cultural and environmental history of Labrador and southern Quebec, the evolution of maritime cultures, contact between native populations and Europeans, and the origins of reindeer herding. He is the head of the Arctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian Institution.
Their appearance is sponsored by the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center, located in Hubbard Hall at Bowdoin College, normally open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday.
A book signing of “Maine to Greenland,” which is published by the Smithsonian Institution Press, will be offered at the museum immediately after the lecture. Present exhibitions at the museum include displays about ivory and bone carvings from Greenland, Inuit art from Canada and Alaska, and an exploration of the family, friends and crew members that were in Adm. Robert E. Peary’s life.
