100 Alumni of Influence

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Dr. George Wilfred Simpson, BA’19, LLD’59 (d. 1969)

A member of the Class of 1919, Dr. Simpson joined the University s History Department in 1922. During his tenure, he initiated Slavic Studies at this University and was the first Canadian historian to learn the Ukrainian language so that he might read the original sources of Ukrainian history. He would go on to edit the first English history of the Ukraine. His studies in this field were recognized by the Free Ukrainian University at Munich, which conferred the honorary doctorate upon him in 1947. Dr. Simpson ardently cultivated the historic sense in the people of Saskatchewan. He helped shape the policy of the Saskatchewan Archives Act and he served as Provincial Archivist.