Biographical Note
Herman Friis was born in 1905.
He was interested in the polar regions and studied geography at UCLA. He continued his studies at the University of California at Berkeley, where he also received a master's degree in geography. His earliest employment was teaching geography at the University of Wisconsin and at Southern Illinois University.
In 1938, he was hired by the National Archives to serve as Assisant Chief, Division of Maps.
When America entered World War II, he served in the Army Air Forces in the China-Burma-India theater and was awarded a Bronze Star.
After the war, Friis returned to the Archives. He served as Chief of the Cartographic Records Division and was promoted to Chief Archivist of the Technical Records Division. However, his specialty was Antarctic cartography, and he became the Director of the Center for Polar Archives in 1969. He served in that capacity until he retired in 1975.
Friis was the author of a number of papers that dealt mainly with historical geography and exploration, mapping, and surveying.
Friis died in 1989 and the age of 83.