Honorary Degree Books 2023
Bert Crowfoot
A Siksika/Saulteaux photographer, award-winning coach, the founder and CEO of the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society (AMMSA) and the general manager of Windspeaker Media, Bert Crowfoot is the great-great-grandson of Chief Crowfoot, who signed Treaty 7. He is a renowned powwow photographer, preserving the spiritual practices of different nations in a way that is highly respectful and honours the protocols, sanctity and supernatural forces that are present in Indigenous spiritual rituals, nature and life. As Windspeaker Media’s general manager, he oversees four radio stations offering Indigenous content in five Indigenous languages: Blackfoot, Cree, Stoney Nakoda, three Dene dialects and Metchif. As a step towards reconciliation, the programming is also presented in English. He was awarded Alberta’s Lifetime Achievement award, inducted into the Aboriginal Walk of Honour in Edmonton in 2006, and recognized in Venture Magazine’s “Top 100 Albertans who built the province (1905-2005)” and by CBC for his work. In 2023, he received the Alberta Magazine Achievement in Publishing Award.
Nancy Desjarlais. Dancing on Top of the World. Mixed media on canvas, 50.8 x 50.8 cm.
Dancing on Top of the World
Of Cree and Métis ancestry, Nancy Desjarlais spent her early years on the Fort McMurray First Nation Reserve. After being separated from her family and her community as a child, her artwork today reflects a return to her roots. Natural and meditative symbols come together in her artwork, and her images of the sky and stars reveal a cosmic-earth connection rich in spiritual energy. Desjarlais explains, “I want to go beyond separateness. We are part of the earth and the universe. There is so much more than can be revealed through our senses. This is what compels and intrigues me.” In Dancing on Top of the World, the artist has expressed her own hopeful vision of life: “finding peace with my past, practicing daily gratitude, loving the earth, communicating a personal vision and travelling with a light heart.” [ND 249 D472 A628 2020z folio]
Scott Graham
Scott Graham is a community convener who sees the power of collective philanthropy as a force for positive change. Maintaining his family’s legacy of community service, he has mentored emerging leaders in volunteer and fund-development communities and supported diverse community development organizations. His previous philanthropic work includes serving as the director of community grants at the Edmonton Community Foundation and as the founding executive director of The Stollery Charitable Foundation. He has also supported initiatives and organizations that promote diversity and multiculturalism, such as the Edmonton Human Rights City initiative, the Edmonton Region Immigrant Employment Council, and Vibrant Communities Edmonton. In 2023, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for enhancing the lives of Edmontonians. An advocate for human rights, he seeks to inspire others to contribute their time and talent to voluntary service.
Lynn Agnew et al. Mapping Joy. Seattle: Full Plate Press, 2009.
Mapping Joy
This beautiful collection of double-sided accordion books represents the artists’ definition of feeling joyful. An accompanying single-sided accordion book contains production notes about the artists’ collaborative process. In the introduction, they explain: “The concept of creating a book about joy came after we each put forth several ideas about possible themes, and realized that we were interested in doing a ‘happy book’ ... We did not want a saccharin sweet book, but something that spoke to the elevation of body, mind, and spirit. Joy and wonder became our target … We all came up with six words and images that we copied and shared … We also wrote and shared ‘joy journals’ for a month. These were journals focusing on things that brought us joy in our daily lives. Some of us also bounced ideas off of friends, asking for their definition of joy and/or wonder, and how it was expressed in their lives.” Mapping Joy is the third book created by Lynn Agnew, Robin Hruska, Susan Lange, and MJ Linford; it was printed on textured art paper and handcrafted with colourful collage elements in a limited edition of eight copies. [N 7433.4 A28 A6 M37 2011]
Dr Temple Grandin
Distinguished Professor in the Department of Animal Science at Colorado State University, Temple Grandin's achievements include implementing animal welfare auditing programs at corporations such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Costco and Whole Foods, and designing livestock handling facilities that are used globally. She has written several books on animal care, including Livestock Handling and Transport and The Slaughter of Farmed Animals: Practical Ways of Enhancing Animal Welfare. Grandin is autistic and an autism activist, and her writing credits include several books on autism. Her books, Animals in Translation and Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions were on the New York Times Bestseller list. Grandin has used money earned from books and speaking engagements to pay for scholarships for more than 20 graduate students in animal science. In 2017, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, and she was named a Colorado State University Distinguished Professor in 2022.
An Alphabet of Animals. London: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.; Leicester: Winks and Son, 1865.
An Alphabet of Animals
The anonymous author of this charming 30-page alphabet book is referred to as “A Lady” on the title page. Written for children to teach them the letters of the alphabet, the book contains eight-line poems about various animals, beginning with the letter “A” for “Ape” and ending with “Z” for “Zebra.” The letters are all beautifully illustrated with wood engravings of animals, excepting the letter “X” which instead has a longer poem about a “creature” that “the Greeks called a Xany.” On this topic, the author offers her readers some advice: “Now mind what you do– / Or they’ll call you a Xany / If you go to school, / And dont [sic] mind your lesson– / For Xany means fool!” (27). Measuring only 12 centimetres in height, this small book was published in stiff yellow wrappers with a decorative design on the front showing that it was sold for one penny. It is especially worth noting that the book is in fine condition because early children’s books were typically handled into oblivion. [PZ 8.3 L128 Al 1865]
The Honourable Sheila Greckol
As a lawyer, a judge and a citizen, the Honourable Sheila Greckol is a champion for social justice in Canada and around the world. A graduate of the U of A’s Faculty of Law and a leading labour and human rights lawyer in Alberta for 25 years, she became known nationally for defying the status quo in a quest for social change. As co-counsel for Delwin Vriend, a teacher fired from his job because he was gay, Greckol helped win a landmark 1998 ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that would prevent discrimination against people because of their sexual orientation. The decision has been the basis for human rights advances for 2SLGBTQ+ people worldwide. Her cases have also advanced gender, racial and reproductive rights, including a 1992 decision confirming that Alberta mothers are entitled to benefits while on maternity leave. Greckol was appointed to the Court of Queen’s Bench in 2001, and served as a justice of the Court of Appeal of Alberta from 2016 until her retirement in 2022. Her many accolades include the Distinguished Alumni Award and the Suzanne Mah Award from the Alberta Human Rights Commission for outstanding leadership in promoting human rights.
Eleanor Roosevelt. On my Own. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, [1958].
On my Own
This first edition copy of Eleanor Roosevelt’s (1884–1962) memoir covers her life after the death of her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), opening with a scene of the author riding down "in the old cagelike White House elevator that April morning of 1945 with a feeling of melancholy" (1) and concluding on the final page with some thoughts on leadership: "What the world wants today is leadership in the true sense, and we had better decide what we want to achieve and then go ahead and do it—do it as leaders and not as imitators" (234). Roosevelt wrote two memoirs that preceded this one, This Is My Story (1937) and This I Remember (1949), and in 1961 all three books were published together by Harper & Brothers in The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt. The author portrays her work as the first Chairperson of the United Nations' Human Rights Commission in chapter eight of On My Own, describing it as "my most important task" (71). This copy is warmly inscribed by Roosevelt in black ink on the half title page, below the printed title, to an earlier owner of the book. The dust jacket features a colour photograph of Roosevelt by master of portrait photography, Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002). [E 807.1 R78 1958]
Dr Michael Houghton
One of the world’s foremost virologists, Sir Michael Houghton is the director of the Li Ka Shing Applied Virology Institute at the U of A. He also serves as Li Ka Shing Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, a position he has held since coming to the U of A in 2010 as Canada Excellence Research Chair in Virology. His current research includes therapeutics for cytomegalovirus, Alzheimer’s disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, as well as vaccines against hepatitis C and Group A streptococcus. In 1989, Houghton, Qui-Lim Choo, George Kuo and Dan Bradley discovered the hepatitis C virus and created tests to prevent it from entering the global blood supply. His contributions toward this achievement were recognized in 2020 when he became a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II. He was also the first to characterize the hepatitis D viral genome, and he developed blood tests to diagnose affected patients. He remains deeply committed to researching diseases of global concern to improve health care.
William Saunders. A Treatise on the Structure, Economy, and Diseases of the Liver; Together with an Inquiry into the Properties and Component Parts of the Bile and Biliary Concretions. Boston: W. Pelham, 1797.
A Treatise on the Structure, Economy, and Diseases of the Liver; Together with an Inquiry into the Properties and Component Parts of the Bile and Biliary Concretions
William Saunders (1743–1817) completed his medical training in 1765 at the University of Edinburgh where he wrote his thesis on the medicinal application of antimony. He had a long and distinguished career as a physician at Guy’s Hospital in London, and in 1793 his achievements to advance medical knowledge were recognized when he became a Fellow of the College of Physicians. This first American edition copy of Saunders’ influential work on diseases of the liver is fully bound in calf leather. [RC 845 S25 1797]
Dr Joanne Liu
Joanne Liu is a Canadian practising pediatric emergency physician and professor at McGill University’s School of Population and Global Health. In 1996, she began her medical career with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders, where she joined more than 30 field assignments addressing humanitarian and health emergencies. From 2013-2019, as the organization’s international president, she was a leading voice drawing global attention to humanitarian crises including Ebola outbreaks in West Africa, attacks on hospitals and forced displacement. She has also introduced comprehensive care for survivors of sexual violence and developed a telemedicine platform to connect doctors in rural areas with specialists worldwide. In 2015, she was listed among Time’s 100 Most Influential People. She is the recipient of the 2021 PAHO Award for Health Services Management and Leadership, the Meritorious Service Cross of Canada and the Teasdale-Corti Humanitarian Award from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Elizabeth Blackwell. The Laws of Life, with Special Reference to the Physical Education of Girls. New York: George P. Putnam, 1852.
The Laws of Life, with Special Reference to the Physical Education of Girls
Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910) has the distinction of being the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States. On the dedication page—addressed “To American Women”—Blackwell explains that her collection of lectures are the “first fruits” of her medical studies and she offers them as “an earnest of future work.” Blackwell was a pioneer for her holistic approach to disease and care of the human body; she explains that the body “is a living wonderful being, full of our humanity, and capable of immense service, if we would reverence it as our friend and equal” (16). This copy is attractively bound in half morocco leather over buckram boards. The half title page has a contemporary inscription in ink, showing that the book was owned by “N.M. Terry” and signed on “Aug 9/52”. [RA 775 B63 1852]
Shirley McClellan
Shirley McClellan has an extensive history of civic involvement, support for adult education in Alberta and service through diverse board and advisory roles. In 1987, she was elected for the Chinook constituency and would be re-elected five times in the following years. She held roles in several ministerial portfolios including agriculture, health and community development, as well as deputy premier from 2001 to 2006. After retiring from the government, she accepted an appointment as a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the U of A and lectured for multiple faculties. She has received honorary degrees from Olds College and the University of Lethbridge, and was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. She currently serves on the board of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, and Catholic Health of Alberta.
C.M. Moseman. Moseman's Illustrated Guide for Purchasers of Horse Furnishing Goods, Novelties and Stable Appointments, Imported and Domestic. New York: Moseman, 1893.
Moseman's Illustrated Guide for Purchasers of Horse Furnishing Goods, Novelties and Stable Appointments, Imported and Domestic
An extremely rare early edition of Moseman's charming and profusely-illustrated trade catalogue with a full-colour chromolithographic title page, numerous full-page plates, some 3,000 wood engravings, and a few photographs. The Moseman shop, depicted on the first page following the title page, was located on Chambers Street between Church and West Broadway, in New York, and offered a full selection of harnesses, saddles, brushes, blankets, dressings, bridles, bits, gloves, and other horse-related accoutrements to buyers from around the world, claiming “we have spared neither expense, time nor trouble to produce a much needed, very useful and unique work–in which we show, by many expensive and truthful drawings, numerous articles used in conjunction with Horses to develop their speed, to dress for show or comfort, to harness for business or pleasure, or to decorate according to the tastes of their owners or drivers.” [GT 5888 C26 1893 folio]
Brian Paisley
A playwright, screenwriter and author, Brian Paisley has been instrumental in shaping Edmonton’s and Canada’s arts scene. His screen credits include Patrick, Pagans, and Party Animals: The Amazing Legacy of St. Patrick of Ireland, Trunk, and Wheeler’s Everest. He created and produced Edmonton’s first Fringe Theatre Festival in 1982, which inspired national and international Fringe events across North America. He also created and produced the 2006-2007 Victoria International Arts Symposium: Artists of Conscience. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Athabasca University in 1990, inducted into Edmonton’s Cultural Hall of Fame in 2001 and named a member of the Order of Canada in 2010 as “a cultural visionary who has left an indelible mark on Canadian theatre.”
William Shakespeare. The Play of Pericles Prince of Tyre. 2 vols. Mission, BC: Barbarian Press, 2010.
The Play of Pericles Prince of Tyre
This fine press edition of Pericles was edited by Crispin Elsted from the original text and printed by Jan Elsted on a Vandercook press. In the accompanying volume of essays and notes titled Reading Pericles, Elsted explains: “It might be argued that a play like Pericles, known since 1609 when it was first published, and since then considered without any serious question to be at least partly by Shakespeare, needs no introduction. After all, early editions stated clearly on their title pages that the play was by Shakespeare, had been played at the Globe, and was ‘much admired’. It was published in three quartos before Shakespeare’s death in 1616, twice in 1609 and once in 1611, and in 1608 a novel by one George Wilkins based on performances of the play preceded the first printing of the play by a year. A fourth quarto edition appeared in 1619, a fifth in 1630, and a sixth in 1635. Since its appearance in the expanded edition of the Third Folio in 1664, it has been accepted as a part of the canon” (17). This beautiful edition of Pericles won many awards and accolades, including: First Prize (Limited Editions) in the Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada competition in 2011, and a Judges’ Award from the Oxford Fine Press Book Fair in 2011. Elsted designed the book and the bindings, and he also set the type. The splendid wood engravings are by Simon Brett. This copy is number 14 of 100, and both volumes are enclosed in a linen chemise in a purple silk slipcase. [PR 2830 A2 E57 2010 folio v. 1-2]
Fred Penner
Fred Penner is an acclaimed performer whose voice, writing and music have resonated across media genres and among generations of Canadians for more than 40 years. Empowering philanthropy through his visibility, Penner has served as a spokesperson for World Vision, UNICEF, UNESCO, the Canadian Down Syndrome Society and countless other organizations working with children. He is a four-time Juno award recipient and starred in nearly 1,000 episodes of his hit CBC TV series, Fred Penner’s Place. In recognition of his achievements, he has been inducted into the Order of Manitoba, the Order of Canada and the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
Andrea Immel and Brian Alderson. Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song-Book: The First Collection of English Nursery Rhymes; A Facsimile Edition with a History and Annotations. Los Angeles: Cotsen Occasional Press, 2013.
Facsimile edition of Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song-Book
Winner of the Bibliographical Society of America’s 2016 Justin G. Schiller Prize for best bibliographical work on pre-twentieth century children’s books, this Cotsen Occasional Press publication includes a scholarly essay, “Nurse Lovechild’s Legacy,” and facsimile editions of three eighteenth-century miniature books: Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book [1744], The Pretty-Book, Being a New and Pleasant Method to Teach Children [1745], and Tommy Thumb’s Song Book (1788). Nurse Lovechild is identified in the March 10, 1744 issue of the Daily Gazetteer as the compiler of Tommy Thumb’s Song Book, which is advertised as: “For all Little Masters and Misses. To be Sung to them by their Nurses, till they can sing them, themselves.” This publication was printed in an edition of 500 copies. [PZ 8.3 I5 Tom 2013 folio]
Dr Stanley Read
Stanley Read is a pediatric infectious diseases specialist whose compassion and expertise have improved countless lives worldwide. Internationally recognized as an early leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS, he co-founded the first AIDS clinic and hospice in Toronto, along with comprehensive facilities and programs to care for adults and children affected by the disease. As an HIV/AIDS researcher, he established testing, treatment and prevention of maternal-infant transmission in Canada, Ukraine, Russia and the Bahamas, and served with other vital groups such as UNAIDS and the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research. Holder of a University of Alberta medical degree and a Distinguished Alumni Award, Read has produced extensive scholarship including 174 scientific articles, and worked with hundreds of HIV/AIDS experts worldwide. His years of mentorship of numerous health-care professionals has helped reduce the number of HIV/AIDS cases, achieve better treatment and improve the quality of life for patients.
Louis Fischer. Diseases of infancy and childhood : their dietetic, hygienic, and medical treatment : a text-book designed for practitioners and students in medicine. Philadelphia: F.A Davis Company, Publishers, 1907.
Diseases of Infancy and Childhood: Their Dietetic, Hygienic, and Medical Treatment
This is a first edition copy of an authoritative early work on medical care for children by American pediatrician Louis Fischer (1864–1944), one that was so extraordinarily popular that the title was reissued eleven times between 1907 and 1928. Dedicated to German pediatrician Adolph Baginsky (1843–1913), this weighty tome (of 979 pages) features more than 300 half-tone and full-colour illustrations, and is bound in the original maroon blind- and gilt-stamped cloth. Divided into twelve sections, the text explores a wide range of pediatric topics from newborns to nutrition and from respiratory disease to abnormal growth. Since early medical texts were actively used, sometimes by successive owners, they rarely survive in such good condition. This title will be an excellent addition to the growing collection of medical texts housed in Bruce Peel Special Collections. [RJ 45 F6 1907]
Stacy Schiff
The author of six critically acclaimed books, Stacy Schiff's first book, Saint-Exupery: A Life, was a 1995 Pulitzer Prize finalist. She received the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), as well as the George Washington Book Prize and the Ambassador Award in American Studies for A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America. Named one of The New York Times’ Top Ten Books of 2010, Schiff's Cleopatra: A Life was a #1 bestseller and has been translated into 35 languages. Her most recent book, The Revolutionary Samuel Adams, appeared on President Obama’s list of 10 Best Books of 2022. Among many other publications, Schiff has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times and The Washington Post. Her work has been honoured with fellowships from organizations including the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. In 2006, she received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Schiff was inducted into the academy in 2019.
![Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest by Agnes [and Elisabeth] Strickland](https://omeka.library.ualberta.ca/files/fullsize/f1ea0b3b102650c0015261a04a8e557c.jpg "Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest by Agnes [and Elisabeth] Strickland")
Agnes [and Elisabeth] Strickland. Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest; with Anecdotes of their Courts, Now First Published from Official Records and Other Authentic Documents, Private as well as Public. 12 vols. London: Henry Colburn, 1840-48.
Lives of the Queens of England from the Norman Conquest; with Anecdotes of their Courts, Now First Published from Official Records and Other Authentic Documents, Private as well as Public
A first edition of the Strickland sisters' best-known work, an important landmark in the development of the biographical genre. Their research was intensive and their approach was innovative, portraying British queens as historical agents in their own right and not merely as the tools of ambitious men: "They were undoubtedly key figures in the development of writing on women's history, playing a role in creating a tradition of female worthies which can be seen as the first step towards fuller scholarly investigation" (ODNB). The volumes in this set were beautifully re-bound in the twentieth century, and several of them bear the bookplate and ownership signature of Georgina Gertrude Foster, who lived in Strickland House in Southwold. [DA 28.2 S917 1840 v.1-12]
The Honourable Murray Sinclair
The Honourable Murray Sinclair is an Anishinaabe and a member of the Peguis First Nation. He is a Fourth Degree Chief of the Midewiwin Society, a traditional healing and spiritual society of the Anishinaabe Nation responsible for protecting the teachings, ceremonies, laws, and history of the Anishinaabe. He graduated from law school in 1979. He has been involved with the justice system in Manitoba for over 40 years, as a lawyer representing Indigenous clients, as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Robson Hall, as Associate Chief Judge of Manitoba’s Provincial Court and as a Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench. He was the first Indigenous Judge appointed in Manitoba and Canada’s second. He served as Co-Chair of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba and as Chief Commissioner of Canada’s Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He retired from the Bench and was appointed to the Senate in 2016. After retiring from the Senate in early 2021, he returned to the practice of law and mentoring young lawyers at Cochrane Saxberg LLP.
Simone McLeod. Healing Generations. Acrylic on canvas, 77.0 x 61.0 cm.
Healing Generations
Self-taught Cree and Ojibway artist Simone McLeod was born in Winnipeg in 1962. Reflecting on her artistic motivations, McLeod explains: “Painting was something that I often thought of when I was a small child, but I felt that it was not the right time. I really believed that I had to wait until I could find something that had a lot of meaning to me. Each painting contains a piece of my soul. I have a strong faith in humankind and my paintings are silent prayers of hope for the future ... My Indian name is Earth Blanket (all that covers the earth, such as grass, flowers and trees.) The sun, the blankets and flowers / rocks are all the same colours to show how all things are equal" (Bearclaw Gallery website). McLeod lives in Saskatoon and her work is highly prized among collectors. [ND 249 M422 H43 2022 folio]