William Kirwin is co-author of The Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland: An Ethno-linguistic Study (1968), with Seary and G.M. Story; and co-editor with Story and J.D.A. Widdowson of the Dictionary of Newfoundland English (1982; 1990). Since retirement in 1984, he has supervised a new edition of the popular Seary Family Names and turned his attention to place name studies.