Peary: The Explorer and the Man. Based on His Personal Papers.

DCS notes elsewhere some common facets of explorers lives: depressives, loners, readers, and writers. Ambitious.

p. 9, Peary probably exposed to accounts of Dr. Kane thru Sunday School papers at age 6.

p. 1, has a diary entry from high school, re reading:

How to read: There are a few books it is necessary for every intelligent person to have read, i.e. the Bible, the history of his country, general facts of the history of England, most of Shakespeare’s plays. He should also possess a knowledge of geography or have an atlas.

Rules:
Do not try to read everything.
Do not read too much at a time.
Stop when you are tired.
In some way make a careful review of what he reads.

p. 37, describes Peary as an early depressive.

p. 38, cites a gloomy poem by Whittier.

p. 45-46, used LC and worked as draftsman of maps.

Other relevant notes appear on the following pages: p. 49, romance of exploration; p. 51, others “against me”; p. 65, mentions discovery of N. Pole in letter of 1883; p. 69, read Nordenskjöld re Greenland; also read Kane; p. 70, adopted native ways; p. 71, sees native women as necessary on N. pole venture to keep natives happy; p. 100, read Nansen; p. 101, depression; bought books on Arctic, and planned a Greenland trip; p. 105, unattributed quote: The more dramatic the expedition, the less efficient the leader; p. 149, cites Tennyson. Not much else in long book.

p. 213-4: In his spare time Dr [Louis J.] Wolf read the works of an earlier Arctic explorer, Isaac Hayes, and was impressed by the contrast of the two expeditions: the hardships Hayes described, and the smoothness of Peary’s expedition. By comparison, for instance, these meals were sumptuous…. [cites Wolf’s diary, Dec. 25, 1905, but doesn’t say where it is—Peary papers?]