̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Polar Museum

Endurance descendants to mark centenary by completing ancestor’s unfinished business

tdk25 — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 00:01:33 +0000

A century after Sir Ernest Shackleton’s plan to cross Antarctica was dashed on the ice, the relatives of his party’s chief scientific officer are planning to complete their ancestor’s unfinished journey.

Next week, members of the family of James Wordie, geologist and chief scientific officer on Shackleton’s ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-1917, will mark its centenary by setting out on an expedition to the frozen continent. ̽��ֱ��group of 12, led by noted explorer David Hempelman-Adams, plan to walk and ski the final leg of Shackleton’s intended route to the South Pole, arriving on December 15, almost 100 years after Shackleton hoped to do so himself.

As well as commemorating the anniversary of one of the most dramatic episodes from the heroic age of Antarctic exploration, the project - Endurance 100 - has been devised to encourage fundraising for the creation of a digital legacy that will benefit future generations. ̽��ֱ��intention is to raise enough money to digitise Wordie’s diaries, and relevant papers belonging both to him and other members of the Endurance expedition. These will be made available for public research with the help of St John’s College, Cambridge, where Wordie was a student, Fellow, and later Master; and the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge.

Enough has already been acquired to begin work on a pilot stage of the project, which involves digitising Wordie’s Weddell Sea diary, which he kept whilst aboard Shackleton’s ship, Endurance. Famously, the crew were forced to abandon ship after the Endurance became icebound. They then drifted on ice floes for several months before reaching Elephant Island, which was uninhabited. From there, Shackleton and five others made a daring, 800-mile sea crossing to South Georgia, from where a rescue was mounted. Wordie’s account concludes in November 1916, when all 28 of the crew returned home.

̽��ֱ��remarkably detailed volumes capture the spirit, courage and determination of men trapped in gruelling conditions in Antarctica for nearly two years. They also include Wordie’s scientific considerations and environmental observations, which it is believed will be of significant interest to historians and the scientific community today.

̽��ֱ��digitised records will be held by the Scott Polar Research Institute, while a printed copy will be kept at St John’s College. Both institutions have actively supported the project, in particular by hosting fundraising events for the initial digitisation.

̽��ֱ��South Pole expedition marks the next phase of the fundraising campaign. It was conceived by Tim Holmes, head of Cambridge property company Endurance Estates, and his wife, Alice, who is Wordie’s granddaughter. ̽��ֱ��campaign has also been supported by the novelist and former SAS Sergeant Andy McNab, who has helped to train the group and will be part of the expedition.

While in Antarctica, the team will carry out their own studies, including a psychological evaluation of stress and mood in extreme environments by Medical Officer, Dr Patrick Gillespie, who is another graduate of the College.

“In walking the last 100 miles to the South Pole, this completes some unfinished family business, but it is also a way to understand the hardships and to remember the heroism of those who set out 100 years ago,” Mr Holmes said.

“As a team we feel that one of the best legacies of our trip would be the creation of an archive covering Wordie and the other members of the Endurance expedition, so that their narrative can be available to anyone interested in polar science, its history, and climate change.”

Originally from Glasgow, Wordie was just 25 when Shackleton recruited him for the trans-Antarctic expedition, which he described as the final, “one great main object of Antarctic journeying.” Wordie was fit, young and an experienced Alpine climber, and hoped to be chosen as part of the shore party crossing coast to coast via the Pole.

Instead, the expedition became a famous tale of adventure and survival. Wordie, who was one of those waiting on Elephant Island for four months, is credited with having played a vital role in maintaining morale, and also continued to record scientific findings in his notebook throughout.

It was merely the first chapter in a distinguished career that included eight further polar expeditions, active service in the First World War, an intelligence role in the Second World War, roles at SPRI and the Falkland Island Dependency Survey, and numerous publications. ̽��ֱ��Wordie Ice Shelf, which broke away from the Antarctic continent due to global warming in 2009, was one of several polar landmarks named in his honour.

In later life, he became one of the more prominent figures in British polar exploration. Most expeditions sought his counsel before departure and he supported and inspired a younger generation of adventurers, including Gino Watkins, Launcelot Fleming, and Vivian Fuchs. Fuchs, a graduate of St John’s, in 1957-1958 led the expedition team that completed the first overland crossing of Antarctica, finally realising the ambitions of Wordie’s own party more than 40 years previously.

It is estimated that the full cost of creating a digital archive could be as much as £50,000, which the Endurance 100 team has set as its initial target. For more information, visit: http://endurance100.org/

̽��ֱ��family of the chief scientific officer from Ernest Shackleton’s famous Endurance expedition are to mark its centenary by completing part of his intended route to the South Pole and by digitising unpublished journals kept by their ancestor, James Wordie.

One of the best legacies of our trip would be the creation of an archive covering Wordie and the other members of the Endurance expedition, so that their narrative can be available to anyone interested in polar science, its history, and climate change

Tim Holmes

Frank Hurley via Wikimedia Commons / Tim Holmes

Left: James Wordie was chief scientific officer in Shackleton’s Weddell Sea party, which sought to walk across Antarctica via the South Pole in 1915. Right: Members of the Endurance South Pole 100 team training in the Cairngorms

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By Endurance We Conquer: Shackleton and his Men

sjr81 — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 15:01:42 +0000

By Endurance We Conquer: Shackleton and his Men draws on the world’s largest and pre-eminent collection of Shackleton and Endurance artefacts and archives, held in Cambridge, and is the major international exhibition of the centenary celebrations.

Running at Scott Polar Research Institute’s Polar Museum until June 2016, the unique exhibition puts on display many rarely seen objects such as Shackleton’s diaries, and for the first time, letters by Huberht Hudson, the ship’s navigator.

̽��ֱ��Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition 1914-17 set out to cross Antarctica via the South Pole. However, in November 1915, Shackleton and his 28-man crew were confronted with one of the worst disasters in Antarctic history when Endurance was trapped, crushed and sunk by pack ice. ̽��ֱ��outside world was unaware of their predicament or location, food was scarce and the chance of survival was remote.

̽��ֱ��Cambridge exhibition draws together, for the first time in decades, the navigation equipment used by Shackleton and a five-man crew on their remarkable 800-mile open boat journey in the James Caird. ̽��ֱ��23ft lifeboat had to battle deadly storms in the Southern Ocean as it sailed to South Georgia to raise the alarm. A replica of the vessel sits outside the Polar Museum – serving as a poignant reminder of the challenges faced as Shackleton sought rescue for his trapped crew.

Alexandra Shackleton, granddaughter of Sir Ernest, said: “This exhibition captures the spirit of Shackleton and his men as they endured unspeakable hardship. Visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to explore this extraordinary story of human courage. ”

As well as Shackleton’s technical logs, other archive material on display includes Shackleton’s engraved pannikin (drinking tankard), a memory map drawn by Frank Worsley -showing the route taken during the South Georgia crossing - and the hunting knife belonging to the geologist James Wordie, used to explore the contents of penguin stomachs for gizzard stones that revealed the geology underneath the sea ice.

While the majority of Endurance now sits more than 10,000ft below the sea ice of the Weddell Sea, a tiny handful of remnants of the doomed ship do remain. By far the largest single surviving piece of Endurance (9ft long) is going on display in Cambridge.

̽��ֱ��‘Endurance spar’ was part of Endurance’s mast and brought back from Antarctica by James Wordie where it had been used to build an observation tower to hunt for food. For many years, this last great piece of Shackleton’s ship hung in the Friends room of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge and is on public display for the first time.

SPRI Director Julian Dowdeswell said: “Shackleton's Endurance expedition and modern polar research share the essential characteristic that only as a team can you operate successfully in the harsh conditions of the Antarctic and Arctic.”

Ernest Shackleton’s Endurance diaries and boots – as well as the largest remaining piece of the doomed vessel – have gone on display in Cambridge, almost 100 years since the ship was crushed and sunk by pack ice in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea.

This exhibition captures the spirit of Shackleton and his men as they endured unspeakable hardship.

Alexandra Shackleton

Credit: Scott Polar Research Institute

Sir Ernest Shackleton, pictured during the Endurance expedition

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Last letter of Captain Scott finally revealed in full - 101 years on

sjr81 — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 00:01:01 +0000

Written by Scott from his final Antarctic camp at the very end of his life in March 1912, the letter to Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman speaks poignantly of Scott’s anxiety for his family and his hope that he and companions have set a good example. ̽��ֱ��acquisition of this letter is of considerable importance for the United Kingdom’s polar heritage.

It is being revealed to the public 101 years to the day since Captain Scott’s final diary entry (March 29, 1912).

Though previously quoted in part, its full contents have remained unknown to the wider public until today, having passed into private hands following delivery to Bridgeman

It will now take its place at SPRI alongside the other ‘last letters’ written to his widow Kathleen Scott, Mrs Oriana Wilson, Mrs Emily Bowers, Sir Reginald Smith and George Egerton. ̽��ֱ��only other last letter in private hands, written to Edgar Speyer, was sold last year at auction for £165,000.

Scott is known to have written to his friend, the author JM Barrie, but the whereabouts of this letter are completely unknown.

SPRI Archivist, Naomi Boneham said: “It seems very fitting that we should be able to announce this major acquisition exactly one hundred and one years after Scott’s final diary entry. We intend to put the letter on public display in the Polar Museum as soon as it has been conserved.”

Admiral Sir Francis Charles Bridgeman Bridgeman GCB, GCVO (7 December 1848 – 17 February 1929) was a Royal Navy officer. As a Captain he commanded a battleship and then an armoured cruiser and then, after serving as second-in-command of three different fleets, he twice undertook tours as Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet with a stint as Second Sea Lord in between those tours. He became First Sea Lord in November 1911. He had been Scott's Commanding Officer.

Thanks to donations from the V&A Purchase Grant Fund, the John R Murray Trust, the Friends of the National Libraries and Dr Richard Dehmel, the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge has been able to make the purchase for the sum of £78,816. ̽��ֱ��letter was sold by Lord and Lady Graham, descendants of Sir Francis Bridgeman.

̽��ֱ��Institute was delighted to be offered the opportunity to acquire Scott’s letter to Bridgeman, along with associated correspondence, as the majority of the surviving letters are already held in the collections of the Scott Polar Research Institute and are publicly accessible via its Polar Museum. They are among the museum’s greatest treasures.

SPRI’s Librarian & Keeper of Collections, Heather Lane, said: “Without the generous support of these organisations and individuals we would not have been able to secure this important manuscript. It is extraordinary to think that the letter will now be reunited with the others written by Scott in the Antarctic over 100 years ago.”

̽��ֱ��final letters written in March 1912 from the Antarctic to family and friends by Captain Scott and his companions, Dr Edward Wilson, Captain Lawrence Oates and Lt. Henry Robertson Bowers, are of major significance to the national heritage. No letters are known to survive from P.O. Edgar Evans, the fifth member of the Polar Party. In the case of Scott, this letter clearly expresses his feelings as he lay dying and is a testament to the qualities of endurance which propelled Scott to the status of a national hero.

We know much about the expedition from Scott’s personal journal, which was bequeathed to the nation and is held by the British Library, which kindly lent the final volume for a temporary exhibition at the Polar Museum in 2012 to mark the centenary of Scott’s achievement of the South Pole. As the extract below illustrates, the Bridgeman letter is an important addition to the story as it conveys Scott’s feelings at the very end of his life. It has never been reproduced in full in any of the editions of Scott’s writings.

Its purchase enables this letter to be reunited with the others written from the tent on the Great Ice Barrier, already in the Institute’s care, and with the photographs, sledging journals and personal diaries of Scott and his team, which form the most comprehensive record of the expedition held anywhere.

SPRI is the oldest international centre for polar research and is world-renowned for research and reference in a variety of fields relating to the environment, history, science and social science of the polar regions. ̽��ֱ��Institute was founded in Cambridge, as a memorial Scott and his four companions, who died returning from the South Pole in 1912. As well as research programmes, the Institute provides access to its library, archives and museum for the general public and has a strong educational outreach programme on the Arctic and Antarctic, ice and environmental change. It houses the largest public collection of historic archives, photographs and artefacts from polar expeditions in the United Kingdom.

Text of the letter:

To Sir Francis Bridgeman

My Dear Sir Francis
I fear we have shipped up – a close shave. I am writing a few letters which I hope will be delivered some day. I want to thank you for the friendship you gave me of late years, and to tell you how extraordinarily pleasant I found it to serve under you. I want to tell you that I was not too old for this job. It was the younger men that went under first. Finally I want you to secure a competence for my widow and boy. I leave them very ill provided for, but feel that the country ought not to neglect them. After all we are setting a good example to our countrymen, if not by getting into a tight place, by facing it like men when we were there. We could have come through had we neglected the sick.

Good-bye and good-bye to dear Lady Bridgeman

Yours ever

R. Scott

Excuse writing – it is -40, and has been for nigh a month

A letter written by the dying Captain Scott - one of only two remaining in private hands - can be revealed in full for the first time after being acquired by the Scott Polar Research Institute at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

I want to tell you that I was not too old for this job. It was the younger men that went under first.

Captain Scott

Scott Polar Research Institute

Captain Scott writing in his Antarctic hut, before the expedition that cost him his life

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Final letters mark centenary of Scott’s last march

fpjl2 — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 12:24:30 +0000

Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Dr Edward Wilson and Lieutenant Henry Bowers were found in their last camp, on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, 100 years ago today. They had been trying to make their way back through 800 miles of frozen wastes after their successful attempt on the South Pole.

Defined by a potent combination of heroism and tragedy, their expedition has, over the last century, become the stuff of British legend.

̽��ֱ��Scott Polar Research Institute is currently attempting to raise £35,000 towards the purchase of one of the few of Captain Scott’s last letters still remaining in private hands. ̽��ֱ��letter, written to Sir Francis Bridgeman, is one of the most telling; in it Scott wrote, ‘I want to tell you that I was not too old for this job.’

̽��ֱ��Institute holds many of Scott’s last letters and those of his companions among its collections and makes them accessible through its Polar Museum.

̽��ֱ��book, ̽��ֱ��Last Letters: the British Antarctic Expedition 1910-13 has been compiled by the collections staff of the Scott Polar Research Institute, at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, to enable the public to learn more about the contribution made during the “Heroic” age of Polar exploration, 100 years on.

̽��ֱ��book’s launch will take place at 6.30pm at the Polar Museum on Thursday, 15 November. ̽��ֱ��event will be marked by a performance by singer-songwriter Jake Wilson of “All’s Well,” a collection of songs inspired by the Pole Party. Tickets, priced £5 (£3.50 concessions) are available on request by contacting museum@spri.cam.ac.uk. ̽��ֱ��book is also available from the Polar Museum shop and costs £10.

Naomi Boneham, Archives Manager at SPRI said, " ̽��ֱ��men wrote in the hope that one day their loved ones and friends would get to read their words. These are some of the most poignant letters ever to be written from the polar regions and I am delighted we can now bring them together for a wider audience to appreciate."

Scott, Wilson, Bowers, Captain Lawrence Oates, and Petty Officer Edgar “Taff” Evans, reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912. To their dismay, they had found traces of a camp made by the rival Norwegian team, led by Roald Amundsen, the previous day.

Scott noted in his journal: “ ̽��ֱ��Norwegians have forestalled us and are first at the Pole. It is a terrible disappointment, and I am very sorry for my loyal companions.” At the Pole, he continued: “Great God! This is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have laboured to it without the reward of priority.”

̽��ֱ��five men had hauled their sledges up the Beardmore Glacier and over the Polar Plateau to reach the Pole. After taking careful measurements and photographing themselves and their “poor, slighted Union Jack”, they started on the arduous journey back on 19 January. Scott noted: “I’m afraid the return journey is going to be dreadfully tiring and monotonous”.

Their progress was good at first, and they covered about 300 miles in just 19 days before starting the descent of the Beardmore Glacier. Not all was well, however. Evans, whose condition was deteriorating, was a cause of particular concern. He had fallen over on 4 February and was, Scott noted, “dull and incapable”.

A further fall on 17 February left him comatose and he died near the foot of the glacier, where his companions buried him.

̽��ֱ��remaining four ploughed on, but as poor weather set in, frostbite, exhaustion and malnutrition took their toll. On 16 March, Oates, who had the previous day expressed the wish not to wake up, left the tent in a blizzard. He hoped that his actions – which have since become the iconic episode in a tale of determination and self-sacrifice – might give the remaining three the chance they needed.

According to Scott’s journal, Oates’ last words were: “I am just going outside and may be some time.” He also wrote: “We knew that poor Oates was walking to his death, but though we tried to dissuade him, we knew it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman.”

His sacrifice was not enough. ̽��ֱ��remaining three companions struggled on a further 20 miles before making their final camp around 19 March, some 11 miles short of a depot that they had set up. Further progress was prohibited as a fierce blizzard set in. Wilson and Bowers hoped to make a dash for the depot, then return with supplies, but it was not to be.

Facing the end, the three wrote final letters to their families and friends, in the hope that these would be found and sent on.

When the search party led by Surgeon Atkinson found the tent on 12 November, 1912, the final wishes of the men were fulfilled and their letters were indeed sent home. Over the years, many of these have made their way to the Research Institute in Cambridge. Thus reunited, the edition brings them together in full for the first time, along with the texts of other letters known to survive elsewhere.

A new collection of the last letters of Captain Scott and the Pole Party has been released to mark the centenary of the discovery of their bodies in 1912. ̽��ֱ��book brings together the final thoughts of Scott and his companions in a single volume for the first time.

Great God! This is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have laboured to it without the reward of priority.

Robert Falcon Scott

Scott Polar Research Institute

This photograph is a composite image made by Ponting to capture the desolation of the Polar Party.

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Celebrating the centenary of Captain Scott reaching the South Pole

bjb42 — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:20:28 +0000

Descendants, politicians, historians and scientists have gathered in Cambridge for a symposium to consider Scott’s scientific, historical and cultural legacy.

̽��ֱ��Institute’s Director, Professor Julian Dowdeswell said, “ ̽��ֱ��centenary gives us the perfect opportunity to reflect on Scott’s achievements and his legacy and to celebrate a century of Antarctic science. ̽��ֱ��Institute’s education and outreach activities are designed to encourage the next generation of young people to take up careers in polar science and to be inspired by Scott’s example.” ̽��ֱ��conference will be followed by a gala dinner to be attended by HRH ̽��ֱ��Duke of Edinburgh and HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco.

In addition, the photographs taken by Captain Scott on his final expedition to the South Pole will be saved for the nation by SPRI, thanks to the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) enabling their purchase.

This remarkable collection consists of 109 photographs, and gives a view of the Antarctic as seen through Captain Scott’s eyes as he documented the first part of his epic journey to the South Pole. Subjects include his companions, the ponies and sledges, the scientific work they were undertaking and the breathtaking Antarctic landscape.

̽��ֱ��photographs themselves were printed in the Antarctic by members of Scott’s team as they waited for his return from the Pole, and for most of the past 70 years were considered lost.

̽��ֱ��purchase of the photographs by SPRI will allow the images to be reunited with Scott's camera, which was given to the Institute by the late Lady Philippa Scott in 2008. Once they have been fully conserved, the photographs will be digitised and made available online.

“Scott’s photographs bring to life, in vivid detail, his party’s sledging journey into the interior of Antarctica,” says Dowdeswell. "From men and ponies struggling through deep snow, to panoramas of the Transantarctic Mountains, the images are very powerful. They are a superb complement to the Antarctic photographs of Herbert Ponting, which the Heritage Lottery Fund also helped us to acquire.”

Robyn Llewellyn, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund East of England, said “This stunning collection provides a fascinating insight into Captain Scott’s ill-fated Antarctic expedition. Although he was never to return, the research and records that were undertaken by his team are of historic and scientific importance. We at the Heritage Lottery Fund are delighted to play a part in bringing these photographs to the Scott Polar Research Institute where they will be conserved and made available for everyone to see.”

̽��ֱ��British Antarctic (Terra Nova) Expedition was led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott RN with the twin objectives of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole and to undertake scientific research on the Antarctic environment.

Scott and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had preceded them by 34 days. Scott's entire party died on the return journey from the pole. Some of their bodies, journals, and personal effects were discovered by a search party eight months later.

Captain Scott’s photographs were developed in the Antarctic by the geologist, Frank Debenham, who later became the founding Director of SPRI. ̽��ֱ��images were returned to the UK by members of the expedition in 1913 and it was intended that they be used to illustrate books, reports and lectures; however, difficulties with establishing copyright meant that only a handful were ever used.

̽��ֱ��First World War intervened and confusion over ownership was never resolved, any remaining negatives were lost and the prints passed to Herbert Ponting. On Ponting's death in 1935 the prints were sold to the photographic agency Popperfoto, who in turn sold them at auction in New York in 2001 and they have remained in private hands ever since.

As part of the centenary celebrations, SPRI has put on display a special exhibition ‘These Rough Notes: Capt. Scott’s Last Expedition’ which includes manuscript material from the planning of the expedition to the diaries of the men on the search party who discovered the fate of Scott and his men.

Tuesday 17 January 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the first British team reaching the South Pole. Founded as a memorial to Captain Scott and his four companions, the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) is marking the occasion with two days of celebrations.

̽��ֱ��Institute’s education and outreach activities are designed to encourage the next generation of young people to take up careers in polar science and to be inspired by Scott’s example.

Professor Julian Dowdeswell

Scott Polar Research Institute - Centenary of Scott reaching the Pole

Scott Polar Research Institute

Foundering in soft snow: Bowers' sledge team; Wilson pushing; Oates and PO Evans repairing, Beardmore Glacier, 13 December 1911

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Final chance to vote for Polar Museum

sjr81 — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:47:50 +0000

̽��ֱ��vote closes at 5pm on 7 June 2011, representing the last chance for the public to show their support for the Polar Museum’s bid to win the 2011 Art Fund Prize.

An eighteen-month refurbishment has transformed an almost unknown collection into a world-class museum with a programme of new activities and events. Refitting the museum and archive stores provides better access for researchers to the outstanding objects and manuscripts in one of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s smallest museums.

Staff at the Scott Polar Research Institute in the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge are delighted to have been shortlisted for the £100,000 accolade celebrating the ‘museum of the year’. ̽��ֱ��winner will be announced on 15 June 2011 at an awards ceremony hosted at Tate Britain.

Heather Lane, Librarian and Keeper of Collections at the Scott Polar Research Institute said: “We are delighted to have made it to the shortlist. It’s fantastic recognition for all the hard work that the very small team here have put in. Essentially, this is our vision of how to present polar history and science. It’s gratifying to know that other people find what we have done is appealing and enables them to further their knowledge of the subject. Winning the Prize would enable us to plan further ahead and build on what we have already achieved.”

Winning the £100,000 Prize would make an enormous difference to the Polar Museum, funding Education and Outreach work for the next three years. It would significantly increase the budget the museum could make available for education activities, helping to develop programmes for an even wider audience. ̽��ֱ��Prize would be used to expand resources for schools and communities, not only in the galleries, but also developing web-based projects and making better use of new technology. Audience numbers have tripled to 45,000 visitors a year since the museum reopened in June 2010 after a £1.75 million refurbishment, funded in part by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Polar history and science are a vital part of the UK’s cultural heritage and the stories of British exploration in the Arctic and Antarctic are a part of our shared national identity – the stories of Scott and Shackleton have been an inspiration for a century. ̽��ֱ��Polar Museum now enables visitors to learn why the Poles are significant in the global environment and shows how the science carried out on the early expeditions is fundamental to our understanding of the way in which the world’s climate is changing. Without those early records, SPRI’s scientists would not be able to produce such accurate models and forecasts today. With such interest in the environment, a visit to the Polar Museum is a great way to encourage the next generation of young scientists to get involved.

Time is running out in order to cast your vote and make the Polar Museum the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year for 2011.

Essentially, this is our vision of how to present polar history and science

Heather Lane

Sir Cam

Art Fund judges visit the Polar Museum

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Polar Museum short listed for £100,000 Art Fund Prize

sjr81 — Thu, 19 May 2011 20:00:29 +0000

Four museums across the UK have been short listed for the prestigious accolade out of a long list of ten. ̽��ֱ��single, £100,000 prize for the ‘Museum of the Year’ will be presented to the winning museum on 15 June.

̽��ֱ��Polar Museum, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, has been selected for Promoting Britain's Polar Heritage – a major renovation of galleries and stores at the UK's only museum dedicated to the Polar Regions, their exploration and science.

̽��ֱ��museum was established principally to preserve the collections relating to Polar exploration and – later – scientific research in the Polar Regions.

̽��ֱ��museum holds some 10,000 objects, over 100,000 images and the world’s largest polar archive, comprising well over one million documents. Key items include Captain Oates’ sleeping bag and the last letters from Captain Scott’s Polar party to their families and friends. ̽��ֱ��museum is run by a total of seven staff, assisted by 15 volunteers. ̽��ֱ��renovation project cost £1.75m, of which £994,500 came from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Remaining funds were raised from a range of charities, funding bodies and individual donors.

Heather Lane, Keeper of Collections at the Polar Museum, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been short listed for the Art Fund Prize. This is a real tribute to the efforts of the very small team here, who have worked so hard to make the collections truly accessible. We have been particularly moved by the heartfelt comments from voters in the first round - it is fantastic to know that we have made such an impact in the short time that the museum has been open. We hope that everyone will support us again in the next round of the public vote.”

̽��ֱ��Polar Museum at Cambridge ̽��ֱ��'s Scott Polar Research Institute, has been short listed for the Art Fund Prize 2011 – the £100,000 prize for the ‘Museum of the Year’.

This is a real tribute to the efforts of the very small team here.

Heather Lane, SPRI

Sir Cam

Art Fund judges' visit to the Polar Museum

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