Antarctica to Dunkirk
Antarctica
The South Pole : an account of the Norwegian Antarctic expedition in the Fram, 1910-1912, by Roald Amundsen. London: John Murray; New York: Lee Keedick, 1913
Roald Amundsen was a Norwegian explorer who led the first expedition to traverse the Northwest Passage by sea, from 1903 to 1906. This volume describes his expedition to the South Pole. On board the ship Fram, Amundsen departed Oslo on June 3, 1910 and arrived at the Bay of Wales on January 14, 1911, where he established his base camp, Framheim. On two different occasions, Amundsen and his team attempted to reach the South Pole. Extreme temperatures foiled their first attempt, but the second expedition was successful with the team arriving at the Pole on December 14, 1911.
Arctic
Arctic Orphans, verses by B. Parker; illustrated by N. Parker. London and Edinburgh: W.R. Chambers, Limited, 1924
This charming story, told in verse, describes what happens when polar bears John and Jenny Snow go off on a hunting trip leaving behind their three children. Alas, the iceberg upon which they live breaks off ... but these three plucky polar cubs figure out how to make do until they are reunited with their parents! We particularly enjoyed their Polar Party.
Caroline F. Schimmel Fiction Collection of Women in the American Wilderness, Schimmel 2017 (in process).
Baghdad, Iraq
Sketch of Baghdad, 1865
William B. Hadden served as a sergeant, probably in the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment, also known as the Black Watch, and was stationed at Dagshai in the Himalayas and Bengal, East India. From April 3 to July 31, 1865, Hadden traveled from India to England and recorded his experiences in this volume, entitled "Passage from India to England." In addition to observing sailing conditions, passing ships, amusements and distractions on board (including seeing flying fish, porpoises, and whales; games; and reading), Hadden sketched a few views, including this one of Baghdad.
Bemidji, Minnesota
Brochure from "Paul Bunyan's Headquarters" in Bemidji, undated
While selecting materials for this exhibit, we quickly learned two things: Everyone saves their photo albums. Almost no one saves kitschy flyers. However, thanks to Daniel Hoffman (born 1923), we have a few such treasures. Hoffman collected material (and wrote a book) on Paul Bunyan and, as a result, we have this wonderful travel brochure which advertises all kinds of oversized delights!
Daniel Hoffman collection on Paul Bunyan, 1914-1970, Ms. Coll. 489
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn Bridge etching, undated
Joseph Pennell (1857-1926), artist and author, was born in Philadelphia and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art. Although he spent much of his life in Europe, Pennell returned to the United States and settled in Brooklyn in 1921. On several occasions during his career, and certainly in the short time he lived in Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Bridge was his subject. This moody, dark version is one of our favorites.
Chicago, Illinois
World's Fair ephemera, 1933
The name of the 1933 World's Fair, held in Chicago, was "A Century of Progress." Over 39 million visitors traveled to the fair, bringing home keepsakes such as this delightful one celebrating advances in plumbing.
Michael Zinman World's Fair collection (in process)
Chichen Itza, Mexico
Film of Elizabeth T. Miller's trip to Mexico, Guatemala City, and Mexico City, 1940
Elizabeth T. Miller (1911-1985, later Elizabeth M. Peuleche) was a commercial artist and native of Baltimore, Maryland. In January of 1940, Miller undertook a trip to Guatemala, Honduras, and a number of ancient Mayan sites in Mexico. Included in the collection are films showing Miller and her companions (her cousin and a friend) scaling Chichen Itza, driving through the jungle, and visiting Mexico City. We hid our eyes during the bull fight!
Elizabeth T. Miller papers, 1928-1960, undated, Ms. Coll. 1265
Croatia
Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam, by Bernhard von Breydenbach. Speyer: Peter Drach, 29 July 1490.
Bernhard von Breydenbach (d. 1497), a canon of the cathedral chapter of Mainz, Germany, made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1483-1484, accompanied by the Utrecht-born artist Erhard Reuwich (fl. 1483-1486). Upon returning home they published an illustrated account of their journey—the first pictorial travel book printed in Europe. In addition to large folded views of seven cities along their route (among them “Parens,” now Poreč, Croatia), the book contains depictions of the peoples and animals Breydenbach and Reuwich observed on their journey and charts of several Near Eastern alphabets. Penn’s copy has been annotated by the German humanist Konrad Celtis (1459-1508), who added his own chart of the Glagolitic azbuki. The oldest known Slavic alphabet, it was developed by the Christian missionaries Cyril and Methodius in the ninth century and continued in liturgical use in Croatia well into the nineteenth.
Dakar, Senegal
Les territoires aurifères du Soudan français : de France au Déébèdougou, au Koukadougou et au Bouré, 1896-1897
This descriptive field journal by Léopold Vidal is an account of his travels within Senegal and French Sudan (now Mali). He describes and reports on mineral and gold deposits, providing detailed geological surveys, descriptive cultural notes, as well as practical tourist information about the region for travelers. The volume also includes over seventy photographs of the Malinke people, villages, and ports in French Sudan. The chart shown here records fares, travel times and distances on different maritime routes between France and Dakar.
Del Mar, California
Block Prints of the Southland, by Jean Goodwin, Eleanor Northcross, and Arthur Ames. Santa Ana, Ca.: Press of the Santa Ana Junior College, 1931
This volume, issued by the Department of Printing, Santa Ana Junior College, was designed to show off "the beauty of Southern California, the talent of [its] artists, the gift of [its] writers, and the effect upon students of printing and lovers of the beauty of Southern California" (foreword). This work is a collaboration between Jean Goodwin, who cut the linoleum blocks, Eleanor Hammack Northcross, who wrote the verse, and Arthur Ames, who printed the color blocks. We have selected this block print of the Torrey Pine in Del Mar, a sea coast town near San Diego, simply because we absolutely love it. However, all of the prints are so pretty that we had a very hard time picking just one.
Caroline F. Schimmel Fiction Collection of Women in the American Wilderness, Schimmel 2017 (in process)
Dunkirk, France
Watercolor, 1915
Our favorite history magpie, R. Norris Williams II, collected all sorts of amazing World War I material. This painting of Dunkirk is just one of hundreds of striking images that plunge the modern viewer into the chaos of the First World War. Painted by Louis Étienne Dauphin in November 1915, it documents the bombardment of Dunkirk by the Germans. The German gun in the foreground may be the “Lange Max,” then the largest gun in the world. One of the many reasons for the German bombardment was the transport of dockworkers from all over the world, but especially Egypt and China, by British forces.