Antarctic conservation blog

George, Wednesday 25 November 2009

Over the past few weeks, I have been working through some of the reading material in the Reserve Collection. The first thing was a 380 page hardware catalogue by Baileys of London, which included almost everything from pig troughs to household cutlery. Some of the more obscure products like the Bad Egg Detector were particularly fun, and were a reminder of just how inventive the Victorians could be!

There were also various newspapers, from the Glasgow Herald to New Zealand’s Weekly Press , which is still in existence. Of particular interest was a great bundle of London Illustrated News, from 1908. These are very well-read, and as well as being torn and battered, are smeared throughout with dirty fingerprints and drops of candle wax.

The London Illustrated News © Antarctic Heritage Trust

It is easy to see how these would have been very popular about the huts, to be dipped into and perhaps, by the look of them, read from cover to cover many times over. They include articles and photographs relating to interesting happenings, scientific discoveries and customs from all over the world, as well as more local gossip, like ladies’ fashions and society weddings. The nearest comparison I can think of is a cross between a celebrity rag and National Geographic.

Working on these was very distracting and I kept catching myself with tools down, engrossed in some story or other, occasionally calling over to Nicola to ‘come see this!’ I cannot think of a comparable paper today – and if it were still in existence I’m sure I’d be a subscriber!

There were also various books, ranging from the literary (such as Cicero and some nicely bound Kiplings belonging to Cherry-Garrard, the Assistant Zoologist on Captain Scott’s 1910 expedition) to paperbacks and short stories including a surprisingly sensitive romance (100 year-old chick-lit!) entitled ‘An Elopement’; a rather incongruous find amongst the belongings of the hardy polar explorers.

Nelson, Day and Lashley reading books in February 1911, photographed by Ponting © Antarctica New Zealand

My favourite, however, has to be ‘Prince Rupert the Buccaneer’; a swashbuckling adventure involving pirates, treasure-hunts, capture and escape from the Spanish Inquisition, dering-do on the high-seas and of course, damsels in distress – just the thing to read after a hard day’s sledging!

Posted in Antarctica, Polar exploration, Scott, Social life

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