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Exploring the archives
Editorial
Endeavour
Vol.28 No.3 September 2004
Exploring the archives E. Henry Nicholls The Science Museum (http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk) in London, UK has just gone global with a new website (http://www.ingenious.org.uk), which contains a fully searchable database of more than 30 000 images. Many of these are new (and rather arty) photographs from the museum’s impressive collection, and all of them are accompanied by a bit of useful blurb. Just up the road, another important IT adventure has also just begun at the Royal Geographical Society (http://www.rgs.org), which recently unlocked its archives to the public for the first time. Its new study centre gives access to some 2 million items, which tell the story of some 500 years of geographical exploration. The cards that used to catalogue the Society’s bounty – maps, photographs, books, artefacts and documents – have now been computerized and are searchable on the internet. Unfortunately, it’s taken all of the £7.1 million available to the project just to get to this stage, so it’s still not possible to read or see the collection online. But it’s a start. In this issue, there are two tales of Antarctic adventure. On pages 109–113, Peder Roberts explores the tensions between Australian science and sport at the beginning of the 20th century, when geologist T.W. Edgeworth David joined Ernest Shackleton on the 1907–1909 Nimrod expedition to the South Pole. Whilst Shackleton did not quite make it to the geographical South Pole, a second party – comprising David, a young Australian geologist Douglas Mawson and the ship’s surgeon Alistair Forbes Mackay – succeeded in reaching the magnetic South Pole. The two Australians were also part of a six-man team that was the first to climb Mount Erebus, an active volcano on Ross Island. Also on the Nimrod expedition was Frank Wild, who would later play a crucial part in Shackleton’s famous Endurance expedition of 1914–1916. The incredible photographs from the Endurance expedition taken by the Australian photographer Frank
Hurley are part of the Royal Geographical Society’s impressive collection. After nine months trapped in the Weddell Sea (Figure 1), the men abandoned the Endurance, reaching Elephant Island in April 1916. Shackleton and five men set off for help in a lifeboat, the James Caird, on an improbable journey to South Georgia. Wild was left on Elephant Island in charge of 21 men for what turned out to be four and a half months. They had no way of knowing that the James Caird had reached South Georgia and whether they would ever be rescued, and the achievement of Shackleton’s men during this period of hardship is often overshadowed by the achievement of Shackleton himself. On pages 114–119, Jan Piggott considers life on Elephant Island, delving into the diaries and recollections of Wild and his men.
Figure 1. The Endurance trapped in the Antarctic Ice. Photograph by Frank Hurley. Reproduced, with permission, from the Royal Geographical Society, London.
Corresponding author: E. Henry Nicholls ([email protected]). Available online 3 August 2004 www.sciencedirect.com 0160-9327/$ - see front matter Q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.endeavour.2004.07.008
Endeavour
Vol.28 No.3 September 2004
Exploring the archives E. Henry Nicholls The Science Museum (http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk) in London, UK has just gone global with a new website (http://www.ingenious.org.uk), which contains a fully searchable database of more than 30 000 images. Many of these are new (and rather arty) photographs from the museum’s impressive collection, and all of them are accompanied by a bit of useful blurb. Just up the road, another important IT adventure has also just begun at the Royal Geographical Society (http://www.rgs.org), which recently unlocked its archives to the public for the first time. Its new study centre gives access to some 2 million items, which tell the story of some 500 years of geographical exploration. The cards that used to catalogue the Society’s bounty – maps, photographs, books, artefacts and documents – have now been computerized and are searchable on the internet. Unfortunately, it’s taken all of the £7.1 million available to the project just to get to this stage, so it’s still not possible to read or see the collection online. But it’s a start. In this issue, there are two tales of Antarctic adventure. On pages 109–113, Peder Roberts explores the tensions between Australian science and sport at the beginning of the 20th century, when geologist T.W. Edgeworth David joined Ernest Shackleton on the 1907–1909 Nimrod expedition to the South Pole. Whilst Shackleton did not quite make it to the geographical South Pole, a second party – comprising David, a young Australian geologist Douglas Mawson and the ship’s surgeon Alistair Forbes Mackay – succeeded in reaching the magnetic South Pole. The two Australians were also part of a six-man team that was the first to climb Mount Erebus, an active volcano on Ross Island. Also on the Nimrod expedition was Frank Wild, who would later play a crucial part in Shackleton’s famous Endurance expedition of 1914–1916. The incredible photographs from the Endurance expedition taken by the Australian photographer Frank
Hurley are part of the Royal Geographical Society’s impressive collection. After nine months trapped in the Weddell Sea (Figure 1), the men abandoned the Endurance, reaching Elephant Island in April 1916. Shackleton and five men set off for help in a lifeboat, the James Caird, on an improbable journey to South Georgia. Wild was left on Elephant Island in charge of 21 men for what turned out to be four and a half months. They had no way of knowing that the James Caird had reached South Georgia and whether they would ever be rescued, and the achievement of Shackleton’s men during this period of hardship is often overshadowed by the achievement of Shackleton himself. On pages 114–119, Jan Piggott considers life on Elephant Island, delving into the diaries and recollections of Wild and his men.
Figure 1. The Endurance trapped in the Antarctic Ice. Photograph by Frank Hurley. Reproduced, with permission, from the Royal Geographical Society, London.
Corresponding author: E. Henry Nicholls ([email protected]). Available online 3 August 2004 www.sciencedirect.com 0160-9327/$ - see front matter Q 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.endeavour.2004.07.008