p. 1 Abstract: "The Lord's Librarians" describes in new detail the activities of the American Seamen's Friend Society in distributing loan libraries to merchant and naval ships for over 130 years. Based on the archives of the Society in the G.W. Blunt White Library at the Mystic Seaport Museum, the study examines the history of the Society in its efforts towards moral improvement of seamen, fostering temperance, reducing licentiousness, encouraging Sabbath worship and observation, countering swearing, and promoting thrift and financial responsibility among sailors. It examines the largely evangelical collection development policies for these compact 40-45 volume library boxes, and attempts to locate the surviving boxes and surviving books from these libraries. It ends with some unanswered questions which deserve further study.
The Lord’s Librarians: The American Seamen’s Friend Society and their Loan Libraries 1837-1967
- Whalemen's Reading
Shackleton’s Argonauts: A Saga of the Antarctic Icepacks.
- 1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Endurance).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
p. 72-73: While on the subject of salvage [from the dying Endurance], I might add that I recovered the volumes of the encyclopaedia from the chief’s cabin and a large part of my own personal library, as well as several packs of cards. Many a day we had cause to bless the fact. What tedious hours were whiled away in reading; what wonderful and purely imaginary fortunes changed hands at poker patience.
Mawson: a Life.
- 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (Mawson).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
A balanced biography of Mawson, emphasizing his achievements but not ignoring his sometimes depressive personality and temper.
Still No Mawson: Frank Stillwell’s Antarctic Diaries 1911-1913.
- 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (Mawson).
- Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
Frank Stillwell was geologist on Douglas Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition of 1911-14. His diaries present him as a mild-mannered somewhat recessive personality, but they are candid enough to include several critical comments about the leader as moody, irascible, inconsistent, and arbitrary. Most of his comments on reading are confined to the period of the austral night of May to August 1912, and are mostly notes of what other people were reading, including Mawson reading aloud from Aurora Australis and South Polar Times (p. 49), Mawson reading his lectures on Polar exploration (p. 80), Mawson reading Robert Lewis Stevenson (p. 83-84), Madegan reading ‘Lady Betty across the water’ (p. 85), Mawson reading Kipling on the Flag (p. 86), and Mawson reading Robert Service’s The Trail of ‘98 over a few days (p. 89-92). These reading references generally cease with the gradual return of light in August/September.
General Greely: The Story of a Great American
- Maritime Reading
p. 76: Greely had brought along a very good library, which proved to a great source of interest and comfort during the dark months. Besides the scientific works, encyclopedias and books related to the Arctic, there were over one thousand novels and magazines. Private Schneider, a young German, played the violin, his favorite selection being “Over the Garden Wall.
Voyages on the Yukon and Its Tributaries: A Narrative of Summer Travel in the Interior of Alaska.
- 1913-18 US Private Journeys round the Coast and Interior of Alaska (Hudson Stuck, “Archbishop of the Yukon”).
- Arctic Reading: United States
Stuck’s second book on Alaska, this mainly on the interior of the state based on summer travels, on the Inside Passage, the Yukon, and its tributaries.
Libris Polaris.
- Arctic Reading: General
Collection of Bassett Jones at Columbia University Library. [MS CollLibris Polaris]. Bassett Jones was a collector and member of both Explorers and Grolier Clubs. He and Stefansson did a major exhibit of polar exploration literature in English at the Grolier Club in January 1932. In that year Jones was also Acting President of the Eplorers Club. He then lived at 1088 Park Avenue. Bartlett in the National Geographic says: “ We stopped for a couple of days at Nantucket, and there, through the generosity of Bassett Jones, electrical engineer in charge of the lighting at the New York World’s Fair, we acquired an otter trawl, which later enabled us to bring back a wealth of specimens from the floor of the ocean.”
The Charles W. Morgan Ship’s Books, 1841
- Maritime Reading
p. 6: The Morgan sailed on her first voyage September 6, 1841, under command of Captain Norton, with twenty-six-year-old James C. Osborn, also of Edgartown, as second mate and keeper of a journal of the voyage. Osborn must have been literarily inclined for he took a library of over seventy volumes with him, including books on history, travel and memoirs as well as twenty-two volumes of Marryatt’s works.
A Journal of Voyages & Travels in the Interior of North America, Between the 47th and 58th Degrees of Latitude…
- Hudson's Bay Company.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
A very long sojourn (1803-1818 or so), by a Christian fundamentalist troubled by sin but trusting in God. Had a common law native wife who is not discussed very much until he finally marries and in reference to children. Tells harrowing tales of native drinking and its consequences, despite the fact that he provided liquor to them. On the death of his son, see p. 238-39.
Bering’s Successors, 1745-1780. Contribution of Peter Simon Pellas to the History of Russian Exploration toward Alaska.
- Arctic Reading: Russia
The Canadian Journal of Lady Aberdeen, 1893-1898.
- Arctic Reading: Canada
Ishbel Marie Marjoribanks Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair, better known as Lady Aberdeen (1857-1939), was a British social reformer devoted to women’s rights, philanthropy, and other causes. “As Vice-Regal Consort to Governor General John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen, from 1893 until 1898, Lady Aberdeen organized the National Council of Women in Canada, became first sponsor of the Women’s Art Association of Canada and helped found the Victorian Order of Nurses” [Canadian Encyclopedia ].
The Ice-Bound Whalers: The Story of the Dee and the Grenville Bay, 1836-37
- Whalemen's Reading
1987.
Life on the Ocean, Or Twenty Years at Sea: Being the Personal Adventures of the Author.
- Maritime Reading
A Baltimore Captain in the Merchant Service who gives an autobiographical travel diary while intending to give a true picture of life at sea “blending with it those wholesome moral and religious truths, which should be inculcated upon the minds of seamen (p. 4).
An Account of a Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage by Hudson’s Streights, to the Western and Southern Ocean of America. Performed in the Year 1746 and 1747, in the Ship California, Capt. Francis Smith , Commander. By the Clerk of the California.
- Arctic Reading: General
The little found in these volumes concerning reading and writing has to do with the documents of the expedition itself, as well as the account of earlier voyages.
Philosophy for Polar Explorers: What They Don’t Teach You in School.
- Arctic Reading: General
Rather light stuff with message that nothing is impossible, as it might seem to someone who reached North Pole unsupported, walked to the South Pole, sailed the Atlantic solo, and climbed Everest.