EN485B Engineering for Cold Regions

These resources represent a small selection of the works available in SC&A related to Arctic and Antarctic exploration. Narratives of most of the major expeditions since the 1700s are in the collections, as well as accounts of early explorations in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The items below have been chosen based on the description of the course by Dr. Jennifer Bryan, Head of Special Collections & Archives.

• Scoresby, William.  An Account of the Arctic Regions with a History and Description of the Northern Whale-Fishery.  2 vols.  Edinburgh, 1820.   G742.S42 1820
  • Vol. 1 contains chapters: Hydrographical Survey of the Greenland Sea and An Account of the Greenland or Polar Ice.
• Ross, John, Sir.  Appendix to the Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-West Passage and of a Residence in the Arctic Regions.  London, 1835.  Oversize G650 1829.R8 v.2
  • Includes meteorological observations, analysis of fluids, and geology.
• Edwin Jesse De Haven Papers, 1832-1928, MS 211 (available online through the USNA Digital Collections)
  • De Haven commanded the first Grinnell Expedition (1850) in search of Sir John Franklin’s expedition.  Includes position log and an inventory of supplies used by British Arctic Explorer Sir William Parry.
• Scientific Results of the United States Arctic Expedition.  Washington, D.C., 1876 (Polaris Expedition under the command of Charles Francis Hall).  G670 1871.P77 1876 
  • Vol. 1 only (no more published), Physical Observations, by Emil Bessels. Includes hydrography, air temperature, hygrometrical observations, atmospheric pressure, winds, solar radiation, terrestrial radiation, and meteorological observations at sea.
• Greely, A. W.  Three Years of Arctic Service.  2 vols.  New York, 1881  (Lady Franklin Bay Expedition).  G670 1881.G6 1886
  • Vol. 2 contains appendices on meteorology, atmosphere, temperatures, maximum thickness of salt-water ice. 
• William Dixon Weaver Papers, 1876-1883, MS 276 (USNA 1880)
  • Served on the USS Yantic of the Greely Relief Expedition (1884).  Diary while on the Yantic and a scrapbook with clippings about the expedition.
• Amundsen, Roald.  Roald Amundsen’s “The North West Passage.”  2 vols.  London, 1908.  G650 1903.A7 1908
  • First successful navigation of the Northwest Passage
• Leo Hewlett Thebaud Papers, 1880-1951, MS 227 (USNA 1913)
  • Box 1, Folder 4 contains photographs of outposts in the Canadian arctic, 1949.

• South Polar Times.  London, 2012.  G845.S68 2012
  • Facsimile edition of the publication created by the officers of the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901-1904 (Robert Falcon Scott)
• Shackleton, Ernest Henry.  The Heart of the Antarctic.  2 vols.  London, 1909. (British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909).  G850 1907.A32 1909.     
  • Vol. 1, chapter 1 describes the preparations for the expedition, including lists of foodstuffs, clothing, and scientific instruments, as well as descriptions of the Nimrod, the expedition’s ship, and the hut that was to be erected for the winter.  Volume 1 gives a description of life in winter quarters; vol. 2 contains appendices on the scientific results, including notes on ice and snow.
• Mawson, Douglas.  The Home of the Blizzard.  2 vols. Philadelphia, 1915.  (Australasian Antarctic Expedition) G850 1911.M3 1915b
  • Vol. 1 provides a plan and section of the expedition’s ship (Aurora) with text regarding its fitting out for Antarctic exploration.
• Byrd, Richard E.  Into the Home of the Blizzard.  New York, 1928?  Guggenheim G850 1928.A32 1928
  • Bound with discussion of Byrd’s base ship and his Antarctic village
• Poulter, Thomas Charles. Outline of the Scientific Accomplishments of the Byrd Antarctic Expedition II (1933-1935).  G850 1933.P6 1936