Background
Ekblaw, Walter Elmer was born on March 10, 1882 in Rantoul, Illinois, United States. Son of Andrew and Ingrid (Johnson) Ekblaw.
Botanist editor geologist ornithologist professor
Ekblaw, Walter Elmer was born on March 10, 1882 in Rantoul, Illinois, United States. Son of Andrew and Ingrid (Johnson) Ekblaw.
Preparatory education, Austin Preparatory College, Effingham, Illinois, and Central Young Men's Christian Association Night School, Chicago. Bachelor of Arts, University of Illinois, 1910, Master of Arts, 1912. Honorary fellow Clark University, 1924-1926, Doctor of Philosophy, 1926.
Doctor of Science (honorary) Upsala College, 1947.
He was one of six children born to Andrew Ekblaw (1854-1923) and Ingrid (Johnson) Ekblaw (1860-1942) both of whom were Swedish immigrants. At the University, he was editor of the Daily Illini (1910). Together with fellow senior, Clarence Foss Williams (1886-1971), he also organized the first University of Illinois homecoming on October 15, 1910.
He taught at the University of Illinois from 1910 to 1913.
He subsequently became a research associate with the American Museum of Natural History. He died in 1949 and was buried at the Glen Cemetery in Ford County, Illinois.
From 1913 to 1917, he served as geologist and botanist of the together with Maurice Cole Tanquary of the University of Illinois who served as the zoologist. The, which explored northern Greenland, was organized by Arctic explorers Donald Baxter MacMillan.
The expedition was sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, the American Geographical Society, and the University of Illinois" Museum of Natural History.
On his return to the United States, Ekblaw wrote a number of papers including The importance of nivation as an erosive factor and of soil flow as a transporting agency in northern Greenland (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume(s) 4, 1918, p 288-93), and also one on The food birds of the Smith Sound Eskimos (Wilson Bulletin, Volume 31 (os), Volume 26 (ns), Number. 106, 1919, p. 1-5). Later publications dealt with The ecological relations of the polar Eskimo (Ecology, Volume(s) 2, 1921, p 132-44) and Eskimo dogs forgotten heroes (Natural History, Volume(s) 37,1936, p 173-84).
Hunt, Harrison J. and Ruth Hunt Thompson (1980) North to the Horizon: Searching for Peary"s Crocker Land (Down East Publishing) Horwood, Harold (2010) Bartlett: The Great Explorer (Doubleday Canada).
Member Association American Geographers, American Association of Professional Geographers (vice president), Massachusetts Archeological Society (president), American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Anthropological Society, Soils Science Society of America, American Ornithological Union, Swedish Colonial Society, Sigma Xi, Gamma Alpha, Theta Nu Epsilon, Acacia. Mason.; Clubs: Explorers (New York).
Married Augusta May Krieger. Married second, Ellen L. Lindblad, January 23, 1933. Children: Walter Elmer, Neil William, Elsa May.