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EX-COLLECTION ADMIRAL ROBERT EDWIN PEARY, WITH A SIGNED ENVELOPE
(ARCTIC) (peary, robert e.; henson, matthew)
Personal archive containing 31 photographs of Peary expeditions to Greenland and the Arctic, comprising the iconic image of the expedition team at the North Pole; Peary with a telescope; Eskimo portraits; polar bears; ice caps; and more. Printing-out paper prints, 3 3/4x3 to 6 1/2x4 3/4 inches (9.5x7.6 to 16.5x12.1 cm.) and the reverse, 26 with handwritten notations, in pencil and in ink, on mount recto, some with crop lines, in pencil, on recto; 22 with handwritten notations, in pencil and in ink, one with a hand stamp, and one with a typed label attached to verso. 1908-09
Personal archive containing 31 photographs of Peary expeditions to Greenland and the Arctic, comprising the iconic image of the expedition team at the North Pole; Peary with a telescope; Eskimo portraits; polar bears; ice caps; and more. Printing-out paper prints, 3 3/4x3 to 6 1/2x4 3/4 inches (9.5x7.6 to 16.5x12.1 cm.) and the reverse, 26 with handwritten notations, in pencil and in ink, on mount recto, some with crop lines, in pencil, on recto; 22 with handwritten notations, in pencil and in ink, one with a hand stamp, and one with a typed label attached to verso. 1908-09
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Notes: a scarce and remarkable collection of photographs vividly detailing peary's historic quest. Robert Peary (1856-1920) was one of the great Arctic travelers of the twentieth century. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1877 with a degree in civil engineering. Subsequently, Peary enlisted in the U. S. Navy where he became an engineer and achieved the rank of lieutenant. In 1887, Peary and his valet-cum-associate, Matthew Henson (1866-1955), went on an engineering mission to the Nicaragua Canal, the first of many expeditions the two would undertake over a 20-plus year period. In 1897, Peary was granted a leave of absence from the Navy and announced his daring expedition to the north pole.
Henson, an African American from Maryland, had left his family at the age of 12 to become a cabin boy. During his six years at sea he was taught vital navigational skills. It did not take long for Peary to realize how essential Henson was as an experienced navigator and Arctic expert.
Together the two embarked on several trips to Greenland, including one that lasted four years, each time getting closer to their ultimate goal, the North Pole. During the course of their travels, Peary and Henson began to immerse themselves in Eskimo culture in order to learn more about survival skills in the unforgiving frigid north, integrating their scientific knowledge with a native way of living. The Eskimos taught them how to skin and craft polar bear suits and gloves to keep warm. They built lighter sledges that were easier for the dogs to pull, and created alcohol stoves in order to cook tea and make hot food. Interestingly, Henson was the only team member who learned the Eskimo language. He was able to communicate with the local people, establishing intimate relations.
In February 1909 Peary set out from Cape Columbia with a crew of four Sherpas, Henson, and a group of young American men. At specially arranged points, the men would set up base camp. On April 6, 1909 Peary stood on top of the world along with Henson and their four Eskimo guides, Ootah, Egingwah, Seeglow and Ooqueah. As trained scientists and explorers, Peary and Henson understood the important role photography played in chronicling their work. On each of their journeys they brought photographic equipment to document their progress.; also chronicling the harsh landscape and determined people they lived with. It seems that Peary, Henson, and possibly others took turns manning the camera. Although it is not known who took all of the pictures in this lot, reproductions in Peary's published account of the successful journey, and those in other travel and ethnographic volumes credit him as the photographer.
Many of the photographs are reproduced in the north pole: its discovery in 1909 under the auspices of the peary arctic club (Greenwood Press: New York, 1968), ahdoolo! the biography of matthew a. henson (E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc: New York, 1963), and peary at the north pole: fact or fiction (Robert B. Luce Inc.: New York, 1973).
In 1911, the U. S. Congress officially recognized Peary's achievement and, in March of that year, he was granted the rank of rear admiral. Upon his death in 1920, Peary was given a hero's burial at Arlington National Cemetery. Henson, on the other hand, spent years in obscurity as a clerk in the U. S. Customs House in New York City. It wasn't until 1988--33 years after his death--that Henson was accorded credit for his role in the expedition and received a hero's burial at Arlington.
Accompanying the lot is a group of 3 additional photographs. Silver prints, 10x8 and slightly smaller (25.4x20.3 to 24.1x17.8 cm.), some with hand stamps and notations on recto and/or verso. and--A 5x7 inch negative (12.7x17.8 cm.), in the original paper sleeve, with Peary's signature and date, in ink, and notations, in pencil and ink. The negative is of a young Inuit girl posing on the rocks, who may have been Peary's young lover.
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February 17, 2004 12:00 AM EST
New York, NY, US
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