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Expeditions, Research and Related Materials, 1908-1969, undated

 Series
Identifier: M118.04

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Series Description:

This series contains materials related to expeditions led by Donald MacMillan with crew including Miriam MacMillan, geologist and botanist Walter Ekblaw, ichthyologist Alfred Weed, ornithologist Alfred O. Gross, geologist George Borup, ornithologist-turned-dentist Dr. Adelbert Fernald, botanist Rutherford Platt, and many Bowdoin students and alumni. Included are crew and provisioning lists; licenses, permits, manifests, bills of health, and customs forms; contracts between MacMillan and funding bodies; charters for Schooner Bowdoin, S.S. Diana, and S.S. Danmark; expedition notes, narratives, and reports; member agreements; ornithological, geological, meteorological, and botanical information, scientific readings, and cairn records from various arctic expeditions. Of note is a statement from the 1938 MacMillan Greenland Expedition crew providing honorary crew status to Miriam MacMillan, who went on nine arctic expeditions with her husband and was responsible for photography and motion picture filming, collecting data, and provisioning the MacMillan-Moravian School in Nain, Labrador. Also included is an important collection of nearly one hundred mounted plant specimens collected during the 1929 Bowdoin Baffin Land Expedition, and notecards with vocabulary for MacMillan's pioneering Inuit dictionary.

In addition, this series contains materials from MacMillan’s crew experience on Robert Peary’s 1908-1909 North Pole Expedition and clippings and articles on the Peary/Cook controversy, along with documents and keepsakes found by MacMillan at Ft. Conger, left by the members of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition.

Dates

  • Creation: 1875 - 2014
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1908-1987

Creator

Extent

19.5 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Organized in 4 subseries: Expeditions; Expedition Materials, General; Research Materials: 1929 Bowdoin Baffin Land Expedition, Plant Specimens; and Research Materials: English/Inuit and Inuit/English Dictionary.

Related Materials

Many other materials that relate to MacMillan expeditions are found throughout this collection, particularly in the Correspondence series (M118.01) which includes communications about the planning and funding of expeditions, and the Diaries, Journals, and Logs series (M118.05) which contains records and accounts of the day-to-day activities during expeditions.

Additional volumes related to the Crocker Land Expedition are in the Maruice C. Tanquary papers (M328), and Walter E. Ekblaw papers (M327).

Additional materials related to the 1934 and 1937 MacMillan expeditions are in the Alfred Otto Gross Papers, and, for 1937, also in the MacMillan-Thebaud Collection

The history of the Crocker Land Expedition (1913-1917) and resources that document the expedition may be found via the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum's website.

Selections of MacMillan's sizeable collection of motion picture film, shot during expeditions to northwest Greenland in 1923-24, and the summers of 1925 and 1926 have been digitized and are available for viewing via the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum website

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine 04011 Repository

http://library.bowdoin.edu/arch/index.shtml
Contact:
3000 College Station
Brunswick Maine 04011 USA
(207) 725-3288

Acknowledgment of non-neutrality

The George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, like all archives and special collections libraries, is the creation of human beings who have collected, organized, and described things in ways that reflect personal, cultural, societal, and institutional biases. Although we strive to preserve and present collections in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections, we acknowledge that our systems are neither neutral nor perfect. We encourage you to let us know if you encounter materials, descriptive language, or practices that are offensive or harmful, particularly those for which inadequate context or warning is offered. We are committed to modifying and updating our descriptive practices to use respectful and inclusive terminology and appreciate your help in this work. We look forward to supporting you in your research and learning together.