Clinton R. Edwards was born on April 26, 1926 in Washington, D.C., and was raised in
California. Edwards joined the U.S. Navy in 1944 and served until 1947. He attended
the University of California, Berkeley, earning his bachelor's, master's, and
doctoral degrees in geography there. He taught at the University of Virginia for a
few years before moving to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1966. He
remained at UWM for 35 years, and retired in 2001. Edwards chaired the Geography
Department from 1972-1975, and was one of the voices that advocated bringing the
American Geographical Society Library to Milwaukee. Edwards died on November 24,
2009.
Edwards' research, squarely in the Carl Sauer academic tradition, focused upon
primitive watercraft and their relevance to cultural processes; early maritime
technology and its role in discovery; and eventually, the nature and process of
discovery itself. The regional emphasis was Latin America, especially the
Yucatán Peninsula. One of his focuses in particular was Christopher Columbus
and the discovery of the New World, and he also did extensive work with the Relaciones Geográficas. In these matters he was a
recognized authority, partly because his inquiry was deeply informed by his lifelong
experience as a master boat-builder and blue water sailor.
