Guide to the Frederick A. Cook and Robert E. Peary Collection MSS.2017.07.14

Daniel Morales

Archives & Special Collections, Santa Clara University Library

Santa Clara University Library

500 El Camino Real

Santa Clara, California 95053-0500

Email: specialcollections@scu.edu

URL: https://www.scu.edu/library/asc/

Language of Material: English

Contributing Institution: Archives & Special Collections, Santa Clara University Library

Title: The Frederick A. Cook and Robert E. Peary Collection

creator: Cook, Frederick , 1865-1940

creator: Hubbard, Bernard Rosecrans, S.J.

Identifier/Call Number: MSS.2017.07.14

Physical Description: 0.42 linear feet (2 boxes)

Date (inclusive): 1904-1960

Abstract: The Frederick A. Cook and Robert E. Peary Collection, 1904-1960, documents the controversy surrounding the dual claims of the discovery of the North Pole by Frederick A. Cook and Robert E. Peary. The bulk of the collection consists of multiple drafts of articles written by William Shea, a Cook supporter who began writing about him after meeting with him. A portion of the collection is dedicated to articles written by various authors expressing their beliefs on the issue, and newspaper clippings regarding Cook and Peary. The records also consist of congressional hearing records regarding the debate, and correspondence discussing the controversy sent to Father Bernard Hubbard, a priest, lecturer, and Alaskan explorer who reignited the issue during his lectures in the mid-twentieth century. Fr. Hubbard was of the belief that Cook was successful in the discovery of the North Pole as opposed to Peary, and most of the correspondence sent to him agrees with this sentiment. This collection is arranged into one series: Series I. Cook-Peary Controversy (1904-1960).

Language of Material: English.

Physical Location: This collection is located in Santa Clara University Library's Archives & Special Collections.

Access

The collection is open for research.

Collection Contents

SERIES I: Cook-Peary Controversy (1904-1960).

This series documents the controversy regarding the discovery of the North Pole as claimed by Cook and Peary. The bulk of the series consists of multiple drafts of articles written by William Shea, along with a few single articles written by various authors. The records also consist of congressional hearing records regarding the debate and correspondence discussing the controversy sent to Father Bernard Hubbard.

This series is arranged by format.

Biographical History

Frederick Albert Cook was born in Callicoon, New York, in 1865. He received his M.D. from New York Medical School in 1890, and soon used his newly acquired skills to become a surgeon for Robert Peary’s 1891-1892 Arctic expedition, where he proved to be a valuable asset in preventing scurvy among the explorers. During his time on Adrien de Gerlache’s Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897-1899, he visited Tierra del Fuego, where he met Anglican missionary Thomas Bridges, who had prepared a dictionary in Yahgan. Cook borrowed this dictionary and never returned it, later attempting to publish it as his own work. In 1903, he became his own explorer during a trip to the area surrounding Mount Denali, previously known as Mount McKinley, and later returned to supposedly climb it in 1906. Though he claimed he was the first to scale the mountain, Peary supporters during the North Pole debacle noted that he reached the wrong summit, a spot now known as Fake Peak. In 1907, Cook announced he was determined to discover the North Pole, and claimed to have reached it after a 14-month disappearance. Robert Peary then claimed in 1909 to have truly discovered it first. While Cook originally congratulated Peary, Peary purposefully campaigned to discredit Cook’s claims, since Cook had no navigational records of his trip to prove his achievement. After reviewing Cook's limited records, a commission of the University of Copenhagen ruled in December 1909 that he had not proven that he reached the pole. In 1911, Cook published a memoir of his expedition, continuing to assert his success. His reputation as an explorer never recovered, and he died in 1940.

Robert Edwin Peary Sr. was born in Cresson, Pennsylvania in 1856. He earned a civil engineering degree from Bowdoin College in 1877, and later joined as an engineer for the United States Navy in 1881. During his time with the Navy in 1885, he noted in his diary that he would be the first man to reach the North Pole. His first expedition took place across Greenland by dog sled in 1886, and served as a learning experience for future endeavours. He returned to Greenland in 1891 on a larger, more difficult expedition to see if Greenland extended as a land mass to the North Pole. Using Inuit survival techniques, he was able to complete a few more Greenland expeditions before attempting his final expedition from Ellesmere Island to the North Pole in 1909. During this time, he established “Camp Jesup,” allegedly within 5 miles of the pole. However, upon returning from his expedition, he learned that Frederick Cook, a surgeon from one of his previous expeditions, claimed to have reached the North Pole a year prior in 1908. Peary campaigned to discredit Cook, and after a trial at the University of Copenhagen, Peary was proved correct and Cook’s claim was disproved after he failed to supply proof (though Peary himself refused to submit his records, and the National Geographic Society forbade researchers from seeing them). Later on, Peary would become the leader of the Explorers Club and the Aero Club of America, along with proposing air mail routes that became the genesis of the U.S. Postal Service’s air mail system. He died a successful man in 1920.

Organizational History

Santa Clara University was founded in 1851 by the Society of Jesus as Santa Clara College and is California’s oldest operating institution of higher learning. It was established on the grounds of Mission Santa Clara de Asìs, the eighth of the original 21 California missions. The college originally operated as a preparatory school and did not offer courses of collegiate rank until 1853. The institution became known as the University of Santa Clara in 1912, when the schools of engineering and law were added. For 110 years, Santa Clara University was an all-male school. In 1961, women were accepted as undergraduates and Santa Clara University became the first coeducational Catholic university in California. The number of students and faculty tripled over the next decade and the university began the largest building program in school history with eight residence halls, a student union, and an athletic stadium. In the early 1970s, the Board of Trustees voted to limit the size of the undergraduate population, an action that was intended to preserve the character and ensure the quality of the university for generations to come. In 1985, the university adopted Santa Clara University as its official name. Bibliography: Santa Clara University. “About SCU – History.” www.scu.edu/about/history.cfm (Accessed Nov. 23, 2010) McKevitt, Gerald, S.J. The University of Santa Clara: A History, 1851-1977. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1979.

Preferred Citation

Frederick A. Cook and Robert E. Peary Papers, MSS.2017.7.14. Santa Clara University Library, Archives & Special Collections.

Processing Information

Collection processed by Daniel Morales and finding aid EAD encoded by Michelle Runyon in 2017. Additional descriptive information added by Mia Hope in 2018.

Related Material

Bernard R. Hubbard, S.J., Papers, Santa Clara University. University Archives.

Bryce, Robert M., Cook & Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 1997. https://sculib.scu.edu/record=b1782737

Gibbins, Russell W., An Historical Evaluation of the Cook-Peary Controversy: A Critique of the Acceptance by History and Reference Works of the Claims of Robert Edwin Peary Against Those of Frederick Albert Cook as to the Discovery of the North Pole, 1908-09. Ada, Ohio: Department of History, Ohio Northern University, 1954. https://sculib.scu.edu/record=b1296681

Peary, Robert E., Secrets of Polar Travel. New York, New York: Century, 1917. https://sculib.scu.edu/record=b1574839

Peary, Robert E., The North Pole : Its Discovery in 1909 Under the Auspices of the Peary Arctic Club. New York, New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1910. https://sculib.scu.edu/record=b1261119

Hall, Thomas F., Has the North Pole Been Discovered?: An Analytical and Synthetical Review of the Published Narratives of the Two Arctic explorers, Dr. Frederick A. Cook and Civil Engineer Robert E. Peary, U.S.N.. Boston, Massachussetts: R.G. Badger, 1917. https://sculib.scu.edu/record=b1232741

Morris, Charles. Discovery of the North Pole; Dr. Frederick A. Cook's Own Story of How He Reached the North Pole, April 21, 1908, the Story of Commander Peary's Discovery, April 6, 1909. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: G.A. Parker, 1909. https://sculib.scu.edu/record=b1104193

Scope and Content of the Collection

The Frederick A. Cook and Robert E. Peary Collection, 1904-1960, documents the controversy surrounding the dual claims of the discovery of the North Pole by Frederick A. Cook and Robert E. Peary. The bulk of the collection consists of multiple drafts of articles written by William Shea, a Cook supporter who began writing about him after meeting with him. A portion of the collection is dedicated to articles written by various authors expressing their beliefs on the issue, and newspaper clippings regarding Cook and Peary. The records also consist of congressional hearing records regarding the debate, and correspondence discussing the controversy sent to Father Bernard Hubbard. This collection is arranged into one series: Series I. Cook-Peary Controversy (1904-1960).

Publication Rights

Materials in Archives & Special Collections may be subject to copyright. All requests for permission to publish from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the University Archivist. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Archives & Special Collections as the owner of the physical materials, and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital reproductions of the original materials.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Hubbard, Bernard R. (Bernard Rosecrans), 1888-1962

North Pole (Alaska)

Discovery and Exploration

Explorers -- United States -- Biography

Cook, Frederick Albert, 1865-1940

Peary, Robert E. (Robert Edwin), 1856-1920

SERIES I: Cook-Peary Controversy, 1904-1960

Scope and Content

Arrangement

This series is arranged by format.

Box 1: Correspondence and W. Shea Manuscript, 1910-1960

Folder 1: Correspondence, 1949

Folder 2: Correspondence, 1950-1960

Folder 3: W. Shea, The North Polar Epic, MS, undated

Folder 4: W. Shea, The North Polar Epic, MS, undated

Folder 5: W. Shea, The North Polar Epic, MS (facsimile), undated

Box 2: Correspondence, Newspaper Clippings, Congressional Record and Other Miscellaneous Documents, 1904-1936

Folder 1: W. Shea, "IS The North Pole Still Undiscovered", 1925

Folder 2: Congressional Record, 1915

Folder 3: Shea/Cook Correspondence, 1927-1936

Folder 4: Leavenworth New Era, 1926-1929

Folder 5: J. Stowell, Ross Martin; W. Shea, "Ross Marvin's Death", undated

Folder 6: T. Hall, "Confessions of the Murder of Prof. Marvin", 1926

Folder 7: News Clippings re: Cook-Peary Controversy, 1925-1934

Folder 8: News Clippings re: Lincoln Ellsworth Expeditions, 1925-1935

Folder 9: News Clippings re: Roald Admunsen Expedition, 1925

Folder 10: News Clippings re: Richard Byrd Polar Expeditions, undated

Folder 11: News Clippings re: George Wilkins Polar Expeditions, 1925-1928

Folder 12: News Clippings re: Polar Exploration, 1904-1926