Robert E. Peary made several expeditions to the Arctic between 1891-1909. In 1891, he traveled over the northeast coast of Greenland. A small party accompanied him on this expedition, including his wife Josephine Diebitsch Peary and specialists in fields such as ethnology, botany, ornithology and mineralogy. Among these specialists was also Dr. Frederick Cook, who several years later went on his own expedition to the North Pole. Between 1893-1895, Peary returned to Greenland and explored south of Cape York. Here, he discovered three meteorites. Two subsequent trips were made in 1896 and 1897 to collect the meteorites and bring them back to the United States.
In 1898, Peary left for the Arctic on a campaign to reach the North Pole. Although he was successful in exploring the north coast of Greenland, he failed to reach the North Pole. The following expedition, between 1902-1906, brought Peary and his party as far north as the tip of Axel Heibury Island. It was not until his third attempt in 1908-09, that he achieved his goal of reaching the North Pole on April 6, 1909.
Robert E. Peary served as a lieutenant in the US Navy, Corps of Engineers, although none of his Arctic ventures were government sponsored. He first became involved in Arctic exploration in 1886 when, on a brief Naval leave, he and Christian Maigard explored the Greenland Ice Cap. In 1897, President McKinley granted Peary a five-year leave of absence from the Navy to continue his exploration of the Arctic. Financial support for his expeditions came from the Peary Arctic Club and private donors. Peary also raised some funds himself through his lectures and writing.
Peary seems to have been extremely active on the lecture circuit, as evidenced by his hiring of lecture agents. Lectures figured prominently in Peary's long-term involvement with such organizations and congresses as the American Geographical Society, Explorer's Club, International Polar Commission, International Geographical Congresses, and Aero Club, in addition, of course, to the Peary Arctic Club. The Peary lectures were often accompanied by lantern slide presentations.
A compilation of such glass slides, made from negatives selected by Peary out of the many images that he accumulated in the course of his 1891-1909 Arctic expeditions, is represented in this series. The majority of the slides not only duplicate the views originally shown in the negatives but bear an additional color dimension through hand tinting; a minority of the slides are simply black-and-white. No original captions appear on the slides or mounts; however, rough identifications for approximately 180 of the slides are provided in an accompanying handwritten list, evidently prepared nearly two decades ago by a National Archives textual projects staff member. (Precisely which Peary lecture notes - if any - this "caption" list is based upon is not known.) Because of the fragile nature of the lantern slides, a set of 35mm film copy slides, made by the National Archives, is used for reference purposes; and another set of National Archives-generated film copy slides is utilized for reproduction orders.
Among slide subjects are Eskimos, including numerous closeup portraits of the ethnological variety; expedition personnel, equipment, and operations; vessels, such as the "Roosevelt" and the "Windward," used for the Arctic journeys; landscapes and wildlife; hunting ventures; sledging activities; as well as maps of areas targeted for Peary's explorations. It is not known which of the several photographers involved in Peary's expeditions accounted for which of the slides in this series. Possible contributors include Peary himself, known to have taken ethnological photographs on the 1891-1892 expedition, as well as Samuel Entrikin (officially listed, on expedition rosters, as a "photographer" for the 1891-92 expedition), Frank W. Stokes (an "artist" for the 1891-92 and 1893-95 expeditions), Albert Operti (an "artist" with the 1891-92 and 1897 parties), Arthur M. Dodge ("photographer" for the 1896 expedition) and Fullerton Merrill (member of the 1899 party, and associated with the photos in subsequent expedition paperwork).
