No Ordinary Academics: Economics and Political Science at the University of Saskatchewan, 1910-1960

Alexander D. Gregor is director of the Centre for Higher Education
Research and Development at the University of Manitoba and co-editor of
Postsecondary Education in Canada: The Cultural Agenda.

This lucidly written and scrupulously researched study does more than
present a history of the science and economics department at the
University of Saskatchewan. Spafford also traces the evolution of the
university itself (starting with its founding), describes the
development of the city and province in which it was housed, and offers
profiles of scholars who played a significant role in establishing
economics and political science as valid fields of study in Canada. Her
study ends with the death of George Edwin Britnell, who, since 1945, had
led the department through its golden age.

Much is made of the special nature of the Saskatchewan setting and the
mandate given the university by its founding president, Walter
Murray—a mandate that emphasized service to the community,
particularly in the realm of agriculture. Attention is also focused on
the department’s continuing history of close ties with the University
of Toronto. Just as interesting as the history of the department through
the war and depression years are the personal histories of such figures
as Frank Underhill and Mabel Timlin, the latter of whom faced challenges
that confronted virtually every female academic.

This engaging addition to the historiography of Canadian higher
education will appeal to scholars and to general readers interested in
the intellectual development of this country.