Papers, ca. 1840-1865, ca. 3000 items, photographs.

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A pillar of Philadelphia society and the APS, Foulke’s papers are quite diverse and include Arctic material related to Kane and Hayes in particular.

Reminiscences of Adventure and Service. A Record of Sixty-Five Years.

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A sanitized, somewhat saccharine autobiography which delves shallowly into the IPY expedition of 1881-84 ( p. 120-51), and doesn’t even mention his one-time friend Henry W. Howgate, without whom the expedition never would have happened. Although descended from British settlers from 1623, Greely was a working-class boy, educated through high school (including Latin). He enlisted as a private in 1861, served in a number of battles (incl. Antietam) before being promoted to lieutenant at age 18 to command a black infantry regiment. For the Greely Arctic expedition he emphasizes the scientific purposes of the IPY over pole-seeking adventure. At Fort Conger (p. 122) “needful relief from scientific labors was had by the celebration of festive occasions, the issue of a newspaper, the training and coddling of our dogs, the devising of contests and games. So, work and play marked our lives in the comfortable home, where well-cooked meals, warm quarters and plentiful reading matter were duly enjoyed.” Such was not the case at Camp Clay at Cape Sabine at the end of their retreat. Greely does deal with the execution of Private Henry but not the cannibalism allegations, nor with his bad relations with officers and men.

Gold Hunting in Alaska as Told by Joseph Grinnell.

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A youthful tale, claimed to be true, edited and published by Grinnell’s mother, intended merely for “the folks at home.”

The Signal Corps and its Weather Service,

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p. 73, Hawes notes that when Hazen became Chief of the Signal Office in 1880 one of his projects was the “study room” which signaled an effort of the Office to do its own scientific research, independent of outside physicists. Apparently, this study room played a role in the bibliography of meteorology. See also Cleveland Abbe, “Meteorology and Allied Subjects” in Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution…for 1881 (Washington: GPO, 1883) p. 231-331, which cites Hazen’s hopes that the Signal Corps would “take its stand among the foremost in the scientific study and investigation of…theoretical meteorology” (p. 239). Also notes (p. 234) the intention of the International Polar Commission to publish summaries of the data collected by all the IPY stations. Says nothing of the “study room.”

The Seaman’s Library Manual.

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Introduction by Christopher Morley: I have seen the Green Box in use aboard American ships at sea, and I know what it means…to the reader off duty.

The Yankee Tar. An Authentic Narrative of the Voyages and Hardships of John Hoxse, and the cruises of the U.S. Frigate Constellation, …

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p. 7, introducing what must have been one of the first author publicity tours: Having got this work up in a handsome style, and at a great expense, I have concluded to make a tour through the principal towns in this and the adjoining states, and to call personally upon every individual who may wish to purchase one of the books, that all who do this, may rest assured there is no imposition; for it would be a hard task for aany person to counterfeit my

Among Our Sailors.

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Contains excerpts “from the laws and consular regulations governing the United States Merchant Service.”

Under Ice: Waldo Lyon and the Development of the Arctic Submarine.

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p. 149, on scattering of ashes of Hubert Wilkins at North Pole from the submarine Skate: While two men held red flares, Calvert [commander of Skate] read from the Book of Common Prayer, then paid a personal tribute to Wilkins….

Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer.

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Excellent account of the life of the most eccentric of Arctic explorers who essentially abandoned his family in Cincinnati to pursue his Arctic dreams. Uneducated and inexperienced in Arctic ways, he adopted to and adapted Eskimo ways of living and survival by living with them for long periods and learning from them their secrets of survival. Both his origins and demise are clouded in mystery.

Kah´Da: Life of a North Greenland Eskimo Boy.

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A juvenile about the Smith Sound Eskimos, with whom MacMillan had lived for a total of six years.

The Humorous Side of Arctic Exploration: Laughable Incidents that Break the Monotony of the Hard and Dangerous Work above the Arctic Circle, the Eskimos’ Sense of Humor, and Some Amusing Anecdotes of Northern Life.

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p. 1, on departures for the North Pole: Some one of the crew inadvertently mentioned the fact to one of these scribes (reporters) that we had no reading matter on board for the long Arctic nights…. In the next morning’s issue the fact was called to the attention of the kind people of New York. That afternoon a stream of books was flowing down East 23 Street to the Recreation Pier, carried by young, middle aged, and old, and even trucks. It was the most cosmopolitan library ever assembled, for there was everything, with one exception…and that exception a Bible—not a one. Peary wondered where they all came from & intended to throw them overboard when out to sea.