Guide to the Spencer Apollonio Papers, 1952-1986

A native of Camden, Maine, Spencer Apollonio, Bowdoin Class of 1955, Yale M.S. 1960 (zoology), spent the early part of his career studying marine life in the Arctic Ocean. In 1960, he was appointed leader of a two-year Arctic Institute (joint American-Canadian-British) expedition to Devon Island in the Canadian Arctic where he established the Truelove Research Station to study geophysical, glacial, archeological, and biological characteristics of the area. Between 1952 and 1986, Apollonio made a dozen trips to the Arctic, including to Thule, Ice Island T-3, and Devon Island. His research on productivity in High Arctic waters was published widely at the time, including in the journal Science, and the data he gathered on those trips has continued to be relevant in the decades since. Apollonio also conducted marine research in Maine. In 1965 he was appointed project leader of a four year shrimp study by the Maine Department of Sea and Shore Fisheries; he was named Maine State Oceanographer in 1968 and Commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources in 1972. For the Bowdoin College 1976-1977 academic year, Apollonio was appointed visiting professor of Environmental Studies, supported by the Tallman Foundation.

The papers include administrative correspondence, fifteen field notebooks, preliminary and unpublished scientific reports, Kodachrome photographs (color slides) and photographic prints (black & white, documenting the origins, progress, and conclusions of 12 research (and other) trips to the high Arctic between 1952 and 1986 including to: Thule, Greenland (1952-1954); Resolute, Nunavut, Canada (1956); Ice Island (T3), Western Arctic Ocean (1957-1958); Alert, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada (1959); Devon Island, Nunavut, Canada, (1960-1963); Grise Fjord, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada (1969 and 1986); Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada (1971); Materials also include Apollonio's Arctic publications, scientific and otherwise, and correspondence relating to their publication.