A Woman’s Way through Unknown Labrador: An Account of the Exploration of the Nascaupee and George Rivers.

Hubbard, Mrs. Leonidas. New York: McClure Co., 1908.
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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Preface: This book is the result of a determination on my part to complete Mr. Hubbard's unfinished work, and having done this to set before the public a plain statement, not only of my own journey, but of his as well. For this reason I have included the greater part of Mr. Hubbard's diary, which he kept during the trip, and which it will be seen is published exactly as he wrote it, and also George Elson's account of the last few days together, and his own subsequent efforts.

. Arctic Manual

Stefansson, Vilhjalmur. Prepared under Direction of the Chief of the Air Corps, United States Army. (New York: Macmillan, 1944).
  • Arctic Reading: Canada
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p. xi: Describes use of Stefansson’s library of over 15,000 books, pamphlets, and manuscripts in preparing his report on living and operating conditions in the Arctic, and also the preparation of this Manual ( 1935-43).

The Voyages of Captain Scott….

Scott, Robert Falcon. Edited by Charles Turley, with an introduction by J. M. Barrie. London: Smith, Elder, 1914.
  • Antarctic Reading: General
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A completely adulatory semi-biography, much from Scott’s writings. Ex:

The Friendly Arctic: The Story of Five Years in Polar Regions.

Stefansson, Viljhamur. New York: Macmillan, 1921.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
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Stef’s most famous of many books, admired by many, reviled by some including Amundsen, who said it represented a danger in its claim that adoption of Inuit customs would assure safety in the north. The book is prefaced by testimonials from both Peary and Greely.

The Hedstroms and the Bethel Ship Saga: Methodist Influence on Swedish Religious Life.

Whyman, Henry C. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois Univ. Press, 1992.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

The Bethel ships were intended as floating chapels for seamen and also immigrants. They were evangelical, teetotal, sabbatarian, and predominantly Swedish Lutheran turned Methodists. The period was 1840s to 1860s at least, and followed a Swedish movement called theläsare, a reading fellowship of like-minded Christians. Both of the NY ships were named John Wesley, and the movement here was led by Olof Hedstrom. There is little here about the use of Bethel ships elsewhere, even at sea, but it is an interesting introduction to the phenomenon.

A Year in Space: A Lifetime of Discovery.

Kelly, Scott and Margaret Lazarus Dean. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2017. Review by Jaroslav Kalfar in New York Times Book Review(Dec. 10, 2017) p. 29.
  • Arctic Reading: General
 Preview 

After comparison to Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff as an influence on the author: Another noted inspiration is the book after which Kelly named his own, and which he carries with him on multiple voyages to the International Space Station: “Endurance,” by Alfred Lansing, about Ernest Shackleton’s historic expedition to the South Pole, during which his crew cheated death after their ship became trapped in a polar pack ice, overcoming 850 miles of heavy seas on small lifeboats [not true] … Lansing’s account is a stark reminder that along with the rock-star image of the explorer comes the omnipresent specter of death. …

Nansen

Hall, Anna Gertrude. Illustrated by Boris Artzybasheff. New York: Viking Press, 1940.
  • Arctic Reading: Europe including Scandinavia
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p. 67, on equipping the Fram for Nansen’s North Pole voyage: There were a library of a thousand books and a supply of games and musical instruments to help pass the time.

Obituary: Vilhjalmur Stefansson 1879-1962.

Sullivan, Walter. Geographical Review 53 2 April 1963, p. 291.
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

The polar collection that Stef assembled in his later years was initiated by a gift to him of three hundred books by the American Geographical Society. By now the collection, the property of Dartmouth College, numbers some twenty-five thousand bound volumes and forty-five thousand manuscripts, pamphlets, and the like. His widow, the former Evelyn Schwartz Baird, is still its able librarian, and until the end Stef could be seen quietly at work in a corner of the stacks that hold this vast assemblage of polar information.

Ross in the Antarctic: The Voyages of James Clark Ross in Her Majesty’s Ships Erebus and Terror, 1839-1843.

Ross, M. J. Whitby, Yorks., England: Caedmon of Whitby, 1982.
  • 1839-42 British Antarctic Expedition (James Clark Ross/Terror and Erebus).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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An entire volume devoted to the Ross expedition with substantial chapters on each of the three Antarctic summer voyages, as well as material on each of the antipodean winter sojourns in Hobart, Tasmania, Sydney and New Zealand, and the Falklands.

The Voyage of the Beagle

Darwin, Charles. Introduction by Catherine A. Henze. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2004.
  • Whalemen's Reading
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p. xv-xvi, Introduction: During this eventual circumnavigation of the globe, most of the time was spent first on the east, and secondarily on the west coasts of South America. With Darwin signed on as the captain’s companion, the vessel’s senior surgeon, Robert McCormick, was its naturalist. However, after only four months at sea, McCormick returned to England, because it was obvious that Darwin, nicked named “Philos,” short for “Ship’s Philosopher,” was FitzRoy’s preferred naturalist. Darwin brought with him the works of Shakespeare and Milton (taking Paradise Lost with him on his land excursions), and, more importantly, numerous scientific texts, including Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology. (As subsequent volumes were published, Darwin had them sent from England). The tiny cabin FitzRoy and Darwin shared contained a library of some 245 volumes. Even though Darwin missed England, he was not cut off from it; newspapers and journals arrived regularly, and as much as possible, letters from home.

The South Polar Trail.

Joyce, Ernest Edward Mills. London: Duckworth, 1929.
  • 1914-16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Shackleton on Endurance).
  • Antarctic Reading: Expeditions
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A participant’s account of Shackleton’s Ross Sea Party, the party assigned to place depots between the Beardmore Glacier and Cape Evans, for Shackleton’s proposed transit from the South Pole to the Ross Sea. The depots were placed successfully but the transit never happened. Three men died on this part of Shackleton’s expedition, thus placing an asterisk on the frequent claim that Shackleton never lost a man.

Diary, 1881 July 7—l883 Aug 2.

Rice, George W. Stefansson MSS. 186, Dartmouth College Library.
  • 1881-84 International Physical Year US Expedition to Lady Franklin Bay (led by Adolphus Greely).
  • Arctic Reading: United States
 Preview 

A record of Rice’s experiences as photographer on the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, 1881-1884. Unpaged but carefully dated throughout.