The Globe and Mail has a very good obituary article on Selma Barkham. I was going to say "Selma Barkham, historian," and she's entitled to the descriptor, but really she was kind of sui generis -- as the article makes clear. A remarkable life.
I recall seeing her once at a conference in Ottawa, describing the very detailed information she had on a 1565 Basque shipwreck in Red Bay, Labrador, and asking if anyone in the room had the kind of marine archaeological expertise she needed. At the end of the session, I watched Robert Grenier, Parks Canada's head of marine archaeology, heading for the front of the room as if shot from a cannon. I presume that was the start of the excavation of the San Juan and its preservation at Red Bay, a historic site I am happy to have visited.
Photo credit: Michael Barkham, via G&M.
