Congress and the North Pole; An Abstract of Arctic Legislation in the Congress of the United States.

Howgate, Henry W. Kansas City, Mo.: Kansas City Review of Science and Industry, 1879.
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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p. 22ff, discussion on April 16, 1856, by Congressmen of Kane’s Narrative, Mr Tyson recommending the purchase of “fifteen thousand copies for the use of Congress.”

The Eventful Voyage of H. M. Discovery Ship “Resolute” to the Arctic Regions in Search of Sir John Franklin.

McDougall, George F. (London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1857).
  • 1848-59 The Franklin Search.
  • Arctic Reading: Great Britain
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McDougall was master of the Resolute, under Captain Henry Kellett to whom the book is dedicated. Quite fascinating journal of the second Arctic voyage of Resolute which ended in abandonment, and rediscovery after its long float. Some of its timber eventually wound up in the President’s White House desk.

Master Mariner and Arctic Explorer: A Narrative of Sixty Years at Sea from the Logs and Yarns of Captain J. E. Bernier.

Bernier, J. E. Ottawa, Ont.: Le Droit, 1939.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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Autobiographical collage by the well-known Canadian mariner, with emphasis on his obsession with the North. Introduction by E.T. [?] is dedicated to Bernier’s wife and gives a succinct summary of Bernier’s life including his four Canadian government expeditions to the North. He was a dedicated Catholic, a lifelong teetotaler, and put his faith in divine Providence.

At Anchor: A Narrative of Experiences Afloat and Ashore during the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger from 1872 to 1876.

Wild, John James. London: Marcus Ward, 1878.
  • Maritime Reading
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This is a straightforward and rather innocuous account of the three and a half year voyage, emphasizing flora and fauna as well as buildings throughout their shore visits. Pleasant but anodyne. Wild was the official photographer of the expedition. Wikipedia states in the Wild entry: The ship was equipped with a dark room, enabling development of the photographs taken of the lands and peoples encountered. It is thought that this expedition was the first to include routine photography as well as an official artist .

Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic.

Niven, Jennifer. New York: Hyperion, 2003.
  • 1921-23 Canadian Wrangel Island Expedition (Organized by Vilhjalmur Stefansson).
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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A readable but tendentious biography of the lone survivor of four men and one woman on Stefansson’s Wrangel Island expedition of 1921-23. The author is anti-Stefansson to some extreme, and while she may have some good points it would be difficult to verify them given the inadequacy of the documentation provided. There is no index.

Peary: The Man Who Refused to Fail.

Green, Fitzhugh. New York: G.P. Putnam’s, 1926.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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A lightly disguised paeon to Peary and his endeavors, by a sometime participant in Peary’s expeditions

Greenland Journey: The Story of Wegener’s German Expedition to Greenland in 1930-31 as Told by Members of the Expedition and the Leader’s Diary.

Wegener, Alfred. Edited by Else Wegener, with the Assistance of Dr. Fritz Loewe. London: Blackie & son, 1939.
  • 1930-31 German Expedition to Greenland (Alfred Wegener).
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
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p. 140, Karl Weiken on the relief journey: During the excessive exertions and nerve-racking hustle of the summer we had often looked forward to the long restful winter night. First we would rest awhile and collect ourselves, and then we would be able to enjoy a good book again.

To the Ends of the Earth.

Pease, Francis K. London: Hurst & Blackett, 1935.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
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Begins with 1925 cruise to Antarctica aboard Discovery, Scott’s old ship, commanded by Stenhouse. First brought gifts to Tristan da Cunha, including many writing implements, essentially useless to that population, and “a large quantity of Bibles, in which, however, the Tristans displayed very little interest, for the reason…that during the course of the years so many Bibles had been sent to the island that there was now an average of seven copies per inhabitant” (p. 20).

Reflections on a Career of Northern Travelling, Teaching, Writing, and Reading,

Hodgins, Bruce. in Northern Visions, ed. by Kerry Abel and Ken Coates. (Orchard Park, NY: Broadview Press, 2001), p 177-86.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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p. 180, the great national conundrum according to W.H. Morton: “…the ultimate and comprehensive meaning of Canadian history is to be found where there has been no Canadian history, in the North.”

“Pechuck”: Lorne Knight’s Adventures in the Arctic.

Montgomery, Richard G. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, 1948.
  • 1921-23 Canadian Wrangel Island Expedition (Organized by Vilhjalmur Stefansson).
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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Knight was born in 1893, son of a Methodist minister from Oregon. He died on Wrangel Island in 1923 of scurvy, in company with Ada Blackjack.

Ancestral Voices.

Lees-Milne, James. London, New York, 1975.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
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p. 31-32 describes a visit to Lord & Lady Kennet's home in 1942: Lord Kennet was luckily in bed with bronchitis so we were alone. K as outgiving as ever. The first glimpse of her showed how she is ageing. Her figure is noticeably spread, and not mitigated by the shapeless, sacklike garments she always wears. She is the worst-dressed woman I know; and rejoices in a sort of aggressive no-taste in clothes and house.