Collection: Polar Museum

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The Scott Polar Research Institute was founded in 1920 as part of the University of Cambridge by Frank Debenham, as a memorial to Captain Scott and his four companions who perished during Captain Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition (1910-13). Frank Debenham himself had been a geologist on the expedition but did not take part in the ill-fated journey to the South Pole. The Institute was established as a centre for polar research, exploration and information where explorers could share their knowledge and experience of the polar regions, having as its most important function ‘to preserve continuity in research and exploration’.

  Frank Debenham wrote:

  “The building would contain these at least; a practical museum of Polar equipment (not the things one sees as relics in the R.G.S. [Royal Geographical Society] but the things explorers want to see and handle and know the use and cost of, such as camp gear, instruments, clothing etc.); a comprehensive library of Polar literature and maps, not only narratives as at the R.G.S. but all the scientific reports; thirdly a set of rooms for the use of people undertaking research, these people might be returned scientists, budding explorers or people working up papers on Polar subjects who require the facilities.”

  Initially the museum collection was made up in large part of equipment from Captain Scott’s second expedition, The British Antarctic Expedition 1910-13, such as sledges, scientific equipment, tents and outer clothing, deposited in the 1920’s, including Captain Oates’ sleeping bag and Herbert Ponting’s camera. The bulk of this material was deposited as examples for subsequent expeditions (e.g. of things that worked well or were best avoided) and a selection of material was available for loan to defray costs of equipment for polar expeditions. Expeditions to the Arctic also brought back material produced by the Indigenous people they encountered, such as hunting and trapping equipment, clothing, domestic equipment and carvings. Artefacts that played a commemorative and memorialisation role were also collected.

  In due course, the condition of the equipment in the collection, and new technological developments, caused much of this equipment to become historical artefacts, which were preserved as such. Several subsequent polar expeditions deposited clothing and equipment and other items with the Institute for a similar purpose, such as The British Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) (1929-31) led by Sir Douglas Mawson and the British Graham Land Expedition (BGLE) (1933-37) led by Sir John Rymill. In 1933 The Gino Watkins Memorial Fund was established similarly to lend equipment to small polar expeditions, and much of the material from that expedition was also donated to the Institute. In time this material, also, became out-dated, and was considered of significance to preserve for future generations.

  Since 1934, when the SPRI Museum was opened, the development of the collections has been characterised by systematic organisation, the adoption of a deliberate collecting policy and the professional guidance of both curatorial staff and specialist advisors. The Museum’s collections have been built upon the principle of seeking to represent human activity and the natural environment in the polar regions, with a focus on British polar activity.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2022

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The Museum displays a selection of unique museum artefacts and artworks, together with photographs, and manuscripts from the Institute’s collections. They focus primarily on historic British expeditions to the Antarctic and Arctic, particularly those of Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912), Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (1874-1922), and Sir John Franklin (1786-1847). It also shares the Institute’s current research into glaciology and climate, polar politics and the role and status of the Indigenous peoples of the Arctic.

  The Museum’s collections are considered to be of national and international importance. The collections form part of an international centre for research and reference relating to the science, exploration, history, geography and environment of the Arctic and Antarctic. Artefacts relating to polar exploration and research may be found in several British collections, and the SPRI Museum is one of only three with permanent displays on a range of Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, the others being the National Maritime Museum and Discovery Point. It is the only dedicated, specialist polar collection within a UK Higher Educational Institution.

  The museum’s collections continue to represent the key aims of the museum, that is, to inspire and educate people of all ages and backgrounds about the polar regions by facilitating and encouraging encounters with our carefully cared for collections of polar objects and art, and with polar research and scholarship.

  The Museum’s core collections consist of:

  • Arctic material culture collection: (1,000+ items) illustrative of Arctic material culture, such as; carvings, clothing, textiles and transportation.
  • Arctic exploration: (500+ items) material relating to a range of expeditions, including those of Sir John Franklin, John and James Clark Ross, Buchan and Back and Nares.
  • Antarctic collections: (2000+ items) artefacts relating to the history and technology of exploration, from 1885 to the present, including Captain Oates’s sleeping bag, Herbert Ponting’s camera, Frank Worsley’s sextant used to navigate the James Caird some 800 miles from Elephant Island to South Georgia in 1916 and Amundsen’s sextant measurements of the South Pole.
  • Scrimshaw collections (78 items)
  • Paintings (2295+ items) including over 500 watercolours and around 300 sketches by Edward Adrian Wilson and the earliest extant sketches on paper made by Canadian Inuit.

  In addition to the museum collection of three-dimensional artefacts and artworks, SPRI is also home to three other separately administered collections, which may also be displayed in the museum:

  • Photographs and film (100,000+ images) of polar exploration and science, dating from 1845 to the present, in a range of formats including cinematographic film, lantern slides and daguerreotypes.
  • Archival collections (1,000,000+ manuscript items) in 2,200+ accessions and the Institute’s own archive (the SPRI Working Files). Original documents and surrogate copies from the archives are made available to the public through display in the museum. These include one of the only documents recovered from Franklin’s ill-fated 1845-48 Arctic voyage and last letters written by Captain Scott, Dr Wilson and Lieutenant Bowers during the 1910-13 Antarctic expedition.
  • The Library of the Scott Polar Research Institute offers the world’s premier polar information centre. The Library holds a collection developed since the 1920s with over 700 current journals and over 250,000 printed works covering all subjects relating to the Arctic, the Antarctic, and to ice and snow wherever found, and includes extensive Special Collections printed before 1920.

  Antarctic displays include materials found in the tent with the bodies of Scott, Edward Wilson and Henry Bowers; the sleeping bag of Captain Oates; watercolours by Wilson; sledges, skis and equipment used by Scott’s and other expeditions; material from Shackleton’s Nimrod and Endurance expeditions; and the world’s earliest collected Emperor penguin egg.

  Arctic displays and collections relate primarily to the British Naval Northwest Passage expeditions of the first half of the 19th century. They include journals, artwork, daguerreotypes and cutlery recovered from Franklin’s last expedition. Further exhibits are devoted to indigenous Arctic cultures, including a kayak and equipment from East Greenland, Inuit art, shamanism and scrimshaw.

  Of materials not on display, artefact collections, including clothing, exploration technologies and framed artworks are housed in the Museum’s stores. The Archive and Picture Library hold extensive manuscript and photographic collections, and also house unframed artworks from the museum collection The Library holds special collections and a range of supporting secondary literature.

  The handling collection incorporates material that is considered appropriate for use or handling by visitors and researchers, with the understanding that the materials in the collection may become damaged with normal wear and tear over time and, ultimately, be disposed of. The handling collection may include duplicates of items in the collections, as well as other objects that are not considered suitable for acquisition into the permanent collection. Materials in the handling collection are not accessioned as part of the museum collections.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2022

  Licence: CC BY-NC