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The Polar Museum: news blog

The Polar Museum: news blog

Welcome to the Scott Polar Research Institute Museum news section.

Lakes Engagement Project

April 7th, 2022

At 1.71 million square kilometres, almost 80% of Greenland’s surface is covered in a 2 to 3 kilometre-thick ice sheet. Within it, 8% of the planet’s freshwater resides. In contrast to almost all other landmasses, we do not want to access Greenland’s freshwater stores; rather, we want to preserve it.

Anthropogenic global warming is the most important problem of our generation, and Greenland’s ice shee

t is suffering because of it. Seasonally, when temperatures rise above 0°C, the surface of Greenland’s ice sheet melts. Global warming is elongating this period, as highlighted in July of 2012 when much as 98% of the ice sheet’s surface was covered in meltwater. Around the coastline of Greenland, where gravity-driven glacial motion is most prominent, shear stresses from adjacent ice of contrasting velocities form crevasses. Meltwater can collect in these crevasses to form supraglacial lakes.

Supraglacial lakes are temporary basins to enormous supplies of freshwater, and pose two problems to global sea levels. Firstly, as they are, these lakes absorb solar radiation (i.e. heat) more readily than ice, and so accelerate glacial melting. Secondly, when a crevasse that is holding water erodes into a nearby moulin (glacial water shaft), supraglacial lakes containing gigalitres of water can completely drain in as little as a few hours.

The draining of a supraglacial lake coincides with the plummeting of water from the surface of the ice sheet to its base. At this level, subglacial meltwater can travel along the ice bed and underneath the ice sheet itself. Just as heavy rain causes cars to aquaplane on otherwise safe roads, meltwater can cause the termini of Greenland’s ice sheet to ‘slip’ towards the Arctic Ocean. By accelerating glacial movement, in a process known as basal sliding, meltwater increases waterline calving, the number of melting icebergs, and the global sea level.

To better understand this process, and its impact in rising sea levels, the Lakes Engagement Project seeks to engage visitors with software used to identify supraglacial lakes from satellite images of Greenland. These images span nearly a decade, and could tell us whether the annual number, or size, of Greenland’s ice lakes is changing. Our software is not yet optimized, however, and can misidentify shadows as ice lakes. Humans, on the other hand, use holistic thinking to know that shadows are cast from sunlit mountains, and are not lakes.

Discerning what is and isn’t a lake is the crux of our software’s issue, but with the help of the public, we may be able to better understand and convey how manmade global warming is adversely affecting Greenland’s ice sheet, and the consequences it has to global sea level rise.

 

 

Polar Cows

July 13th, 2021

Residents and visitors to Cambridge will have noticed that there are some new faces around town. The extensive public art event ‘Cows About Cambridge’ has seen ninety sculptures of cows take to the streets, parks and public buildings of the city, each one designed by an artist, school or community group. Here at the Scott Polar Research Institute, we have our very own: a ‘mini moo’ called Morca, who has been designed and named by students at the Cambridge Academy for Science and Technology. She can be found at the side entrance to the Institute, off Lensfield Road, and looks very much at home in the harsh, wintery conditions of the Polar Museum. But what about other cows and domesticated animals in the Polar regions? Is Morca really the first to set foot on the ice?

Morca the cow sculpture

‘Morca’ the cow, part of the Cows About Cambridge public art trail

Although reindeer domestication has occurred for centuries in the Arctic, you might think that examples of domesticated animals in the South Polar region would be few and far between, but not so! Photographs taken during the South Georgia surveys in the 1950s show a working dairy farm, and chickens being kept by the only policeman on the island, Mr Barry Goss. South Georgia is a remote location in its own right, some domesticated animals have made it even further south than this.

A cow (lying down) and calf in a field on the Grytviken dairy farm look towards the camera.

Cows on the Grytviken dairy farm

Some twenty years after Captain Scott infamously took ponies to Antarctica for his ill-fated Terra Nova expedition, another naval officer brought with him his own group of animals. When US Admiral Richard Byrd went on his Second Antarctic Expedition in 1933, he took with him three Guernsey cows. The somewhat outlandishly named Klondike Gay Nira, Deerfoot Guernsey Maid, and Foremost Southern Girl ,were transported to Antarctica and would spend over a year on the ice. They were joined by a young calf, named Iceberg, who was born to Klondike Gay Nira en route.

It seems that an easy supply of milk was not necessarily the only reason for moving three cows across sea and ice. Public image and fame were big issues even then, not least because expeditions such as Byrd’s were privately funded. Laying claim to being the first people to run a functional farm in the Antarctic was a major coup for Byrd and his expedition, and landed the three cows with national fame. Iceberg especially, who was born at sea and raised in Antarctica, landed back in the United States to a hero’s welcome.

Another reason for taking cows to the Antarctic comes down to the political situation at the time. Numerous claims were being made for ownership of slices of the continent, and Byrd was adamant that America should follow suit. Running a farm was a way of showing evidence that the USA had a settlement on Antarctica, which was a requirement when making a claim on a territory. Although America never did fulfil Byrd’s wishes, and all claims were subsequently frozen following the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, his three Guernsey cows (and little Iceberg) have earned their place in Antarctic history. Morca is truly walking in the hoofsteps of legends.

If you want to come and visit Morca, and discover more amazing stories from the Polar regions, book your free ticket to visit the museum on the University of Cambridge Museums website.

The Big Freeze, Here, Now. And there, then.

March 8th, 2021

Zsuzsanna Ardó, visual artist/curator and writer, reflects on the creative processes behind her international arts project she curated for the Scott Polar Museum’s Big Freeze Art Festival.

Polar self Portraits, the film, featured in The Big Freeze Art Festival at the Polar Museum, sets out on two creative expeditions.

 

It explores the changing dynamics between the (perceived) centrality of the self and the (perceived) peripheries of the planet, the polar region.  At the same time, it investigates the dynamics between two iconic art genres: the landscape of the face – the self-portrait – and the face of the land – aka the landscape.

 

How can we re-imagine the boundaries of these classical visual art genres in the context of climate emergency? Come and join us on this exciting virtual journey.

 

In the spirit of the project, I reached out far and wide to curate Polar self Portraits: artists from six continents imagined their polar self.

 

Would you like to create your polar self? To celebrate creativity and curiosity during The Big Freeze Art Festival, let us hear from some of the participating artists and the composer for the second edition of the film, Polar self-Portraits_2. I asked them how they got their idea, how they went from inspiration to incubation and creation, and about the creative process behind their polar self-portrait.

 

Clarice Zdanski, artist

The creative process is like swimming. I just jump in and swim through the marvellous chaos of ideas and stimuli, just like a polar bear does in her icy, watery home.

 

In the image, I became a polar bear: Clarice the bear loves her icy home. She loves to swim, to gaze at the aurora borealis in the cold winter sky, and the return of light during the seemingly endless days of summer. Will this wonderful world last? Where will she go when the ice runs out?

 

In becoming a polar bear, I started by collecting a whole series of material on polar bears, and started drawing.

 

The drawings started with gestural, textural work pigments and lots of water as I clawed at paper like a bear might claw the ice, or rapid swirls to capture the sense of a dancing bear, then a series of drawings showing this little bear against different backgrounds, or flooded with water color as if underwater. I tried freezing passport-sized photos in water.

 

But then in the end envisioned myself as a swimming bear. I did drypoints of both the little bear and of myself swimming with the bears. In this gallery, you can see the creative process.

 

Zsuzsanna Ardó, artist and curator of Polar self Portraits

by Zsuzsanna Ardó, visual artist and writer, curator of the Polar self Portrait project www.ardo.org

 

My face becomes the polar landscape itself.

Polar bears set forth from inside my body.

From the pupils of my eyes.

 

How did these polar bears get into my eyes?

 

Deep in the woods. That is where this metamorphosis started.

 

In the woods of Hampstead Heath.

 

These woods, my ‘peripatetic office,’ are sitting on the highest point of the London basin, carved out by slow but persistent movement of ice. In my mind’s eye, ice sheets of The Big Freeze wrap around me as I walk.

 

I sense the glacier under my sole, under the soil. The journey deep into the woods, to gear up for or wind down from the day, takes me to the imaginary ridge.

 

The creative energy of imagining the glacier so close in space but so far in time, on the retina of my eye, drives me in search of glaciers… albeit far away in space but close in time. When if not now? Where if not in the Arctic?

 

On a tall ship, I work to sail to the High Arctic. Here and now, I lay my eyes on real glaciers in real time. I connect the here and now with the there and then. Here and now, I observe icebergs float, here I listen to glaciers calve*; here I meet the polar bears.

 

These bears are now staring right at you from the pupils of my eyes, in my polar self-portrait.

 

The Big Freeze, back there and then. Here and now.

Polar bears, looking back at us.

In the pupils of our eyes.

 

Read more about how a calving glacier teaches me lessons in the Arctic at www.opendemocracy.net/en/who-are-you-identity-vortex/

 

Chen Li, artist 

The idea of polar self-portrait came to me thanks to artist and curator Zsuzsanna Ardó, whom I met during an art symposium in Germany. Thanks to her, I realized how our  environment is changing, and heard about the pollution in the Arctic.

 

 I was interested to join the art project, because for me the most important part of doing art is relationships between people.

 

My artwork for Polar self Portrait is inspired by and based on the landscape: the structure of the beautiful natural architecture of Arctic itself.

 

I researched the web, and took a photograph of what I found on the net. Nature is also ice and its code. I joined the lines of my face together with the lines of nature.

 

The result is a cold enigmatic character in my image.

 

We have to learn more about the language of nature, starting from being nature and identifying ourselves with it.

­

Ikbale Kalaja, artist

A major problem has hit our Earth. And with it, us too.

 

Global warming has brought climate change, and it is destroying all life balances.

Ice is melting and flooding the Earth.

 

Arctic icebergs are having their own metamorphosis.

 

What will be our metamorphosis?

 

Michelle Dawson, artist

I think one of the most evocative images of the repercussions of climate change for me has been photographs of the lone polar bear marooned on an iceberg, caught out by the warming sea temperatures and therefore cut adrift in the middle of the ocean on an ever diminishing iceberg. My intention was to convey that I would, if I could, afford them sanctuary.

 

I didn’t realise until I had completed the work, that this piece is also about the bereavement I have experienced, the sense of loss, aloneness and being emotionally frozen that has occurred as a result.

 

So unexpectedly and unbidden it is almost as if the bear is concerned for my well being in the resulting image.

 

I do not know what to make of this, except that it is the nature of art to show us inexplicable things.

 

Polar self Portraits, the film

Polar self Portraits, the film, has two editions. If you compare the first edition and the second edition, Polar self Portraits_2, you’ll hear that the two sound tracks are somewhat different. In the second edition of the film, music interacts with the sounds of the polar landscape and self-portraits.

 

What changes in the impact of the film, depending on which edition you listen to? Both tell a story without a single word, but one with silence and sounds of nature, whereas the other with music composed to interact with the sounds and rhythms of silence and ice. Watching and comparing the two different editions of Polar self Portraits can be an experience of discovery learning about the power of immersive story-telling and potential for creative, meditative interactions between nature, art, music and silence.

 

As with artists, l asked the composer to share his thoughts about some questions about his inspiration and creative process. How did the polar soundscape and polar self-portraits influence the creative process? How did the composition process develop the narrative of the film and the very different characters of the portraits musically? In what way, if at all, the music for the film is the composer’s polar self-portrait?

 

John Bostock, composer:

At first I was mainly interested in the recorded sounds of the ice on the original soundtrack.

I listened to them and began to hear various pitches, which I incorporated into the background material. Slowly a narrative developed based on my musical reactions to the portraits depicted, whilst attempting to hold the music together with a narrow thematic basis.

 

An actual theme only became evident with the arrival of a polar bear adrift on the ice.

 

The climax of the original soundtrack comes only as the credits unfold. I attempted to build my material towards the same juncture, where the sounds of the breaking ice come to dominate the music and eventually turn it into a free jazz-like improvisation.

 

I used the music software, Logic, to sample the sounds of the ice sounds, producing the random elements of the composition. All the sounds of natural instruments are those available with the software.

 

I think that I was aware of a process happening as I composed the music that consisted of a reaction to the editing of the portraits in the original film – I changed the rhythm so that there is more of a flow through the film. That means that there is an awareness of the background as well as a reaction to the changing foreground.

 

The film is a self-portrait in that everything I compose has certain aspects in common to my personality and experience as a musician and composer. I didn’t notice this while I was writing the work, only after it was finished did I notice many areas in common with previous things I have done.

 

Both editions of Polar self Portraits premiered, where else, in the polar landscape of Greenland, at the Ilulissat Art Museum. Audiences have seen the film in a wide variety of venues, from research stations in Antarctica, contemporary concerts in NY, universities in Albania, to a philosophers’ salon and ideas festival in England, an art festivals in France and Italy, and an art gallery in Morocco.

 

The British premier is during The Big Freeze Art Festival in March 2021 at The Polar Museum in Cambridge UK. Read about the fascinating story of the Polar self Portraits climate emergency art project here: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/who-are-you-identity-vortex/

 

©Zsuzsanna Ardó www.ardo.org

A Brief History of the Polar Library

November 25th, 2020

Frances Marsh, Senior Library Assistant writes about the history and future of the Library at the Scott Polar Research Institute.

 

I recently watched this 1961 clip of Anglia Television reporting on the Scott Polar Research Institute. There is a section in in the middle, where the reporter speaks to Harry King, Librarian of SPRI between 1955 and 1983. King’s legacy has left its traces in the library today and it has been fascinating to reflect on some of the similarities of the library in 2020, some of the big changes since the 1960s and also some of the things which could develop in the future!

Anglia Television interview Librarian Harry King in 1961

Library users

In the video, King explains that the library’s purpose is to gather together all polar literature for people to consult rapidly. The Institute was always envisaged as a centre of information for polar researchers, explorers and scientists yet to come and the library, naturally, was a vital part of that. The library today serves a whole range of people, from the cohorts of MPhil and final year Geography students working on polar and glaciological topics, doctoral students and academic researchers based at the Institute, to visiting scholars from all corners of the globe, researchers working for government and industry, and any member of the public interested in the polar regions, whether that be for personal family history reasons, a penchant for polar fiction or research interests in glaciology. I wouldn’t be so rude as to say, like King did, that we regularly get ‘odd enquiries’ but I am always amazed at the variety of research, interests and passions that the Polar Library supports!

Polar Library Collections

Our collection’s development since the early 1920s means that the cutting-edge polar research publications of their time now form an important part of the historical record of polar scholarship. In keeping with the history and original intentions of a polar research institute, the ‘nucleus’ of the library collection came from the published results of Scott’s Terra Nova expedition. Bequests of private libraries have helped build the collection from then on and it is for this reason that the Institute has a strong special collection, especially on the history of British polar exploration, with titles dating from the 16th century. Hugh Robert Mill, for instance, donated 500 books which now form the base of the Antarctic special collections. In 1951, the Library purchased the collection of Arctic literature belonging to the German researcher Leonid Breitfuss.

Nowadays, many information needs can be fulfilled by online information, whether open access or thanks to a University subscription, but it’s also clear that our physical collections are very significant, with people seeking out SPRI as the only library in Cambridge, the UK or even further afield to hold both historic and more recently published literature. The library selectively purchases new publications based on the current research interests across the Institute and to maintain a comprehensive collection for polar research of the future.


International cooperation for collection development

Something else that Harry King mentions in the clip is the absolutely crucial role of international cooperation for building a collection that is not limited to English-language material. The Polar Library holds scholarship in over 90 different languages and we have built up a comprehensive collection over the years thanks to partnerships with libraries internationally. We still run a journal exchange, sending the online publication Polar Record and receiving copies of many titles such as Études Inuit Studies, Advances in Polar Science, Led i Sneg and the Falkland Islands Gazette. The library has actively collected material on and from the Russian Far North since the 1930s, though it accelerated in the 1950s and 60s when Terence Armstrong set up many exchange partnerships with Soviet institutes and libraries. This makes our Russian collections particularly strong and the tradition continues today with my colleague Eleanor’s work to build and promote the Russian-language collections.

The library space

A 1934 article in Nature recounts the opening of the current SPRI building, highlighting the beautiful parquet floor and oak furniture, and proclaiming “these two rooms will be spacious enough for their purpose for a very long time to come”. The empty shelves that you see in early photographs of the library are now packed full and indeed even 30 years later as the Anglia Television clip explains, “Information has accumulated to such an extent that the library is already hard-pressed to accommodate it”. An extension to the whole building, including a huge expansion to the library space, was financed by the Ford Foundation in the 1960s and 30 years on, in 1998, the Rotunda extension was completed, adding yet more space for books to be shelved floor-to-ceiling on the curved walls. Space is still an issue for us today, and though we do not routinely deaccession items, we are thinking about how our collection works with and relies on other libraries across Cambridge, and how we might utilise the space in the Library Storage Facility in Ely to hold some of the physical copies of periodical titles that are available to consult elsewhere online.


Library systems

Harry King was Librarian at SPRI in a pre-computerised era, when the library collection was listed on catalogue cards. In 1987, most of that catalogue moved from the physical index cards into a computerised system; state of the art for its time! More recently, it has migrated from that clunky, unsupported system into the University of Cambridge’s library catalogue, iDiscover, which has opened up our collections to all those searching the University’s print and electronic holdings, and indeed library users across the globe.

In the postwar era, the Polar Library developed its own system for organising knowledge of the polar worlds; an adapted version of the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) scheme. Brian Roberts is credited as its ‘principal champion’ whose ‘intellectual capital’ built Polar UDC into a detailed classification system suited to the collection at SPRI. Looking to the future, the Polar UDC classification scheme is something that we hope to update and develop so that it continues to function as an organisational system for 21st century polar knowledge. Working on the classification scheme is part of a wider strategic priority to decolonise the library, ensuring that the principles of our knowledge organisation system do not perpetuate harmful and problematic western understandings of the polar regions and Indigenous peoples. Alongside this, we are thinking about how we teach about the information in the library collection and how we can continue to proactively collect diverse, multilingual and multiepistemic material.


Library futures

Looking to the future, I think there is a role for the library to play in supporting excellent new initiatives such as Polar Impact and Pride in Polar. The library has occupied a central role in the polar research community at SPRI and across the world for the past century and I am certain it will continue to do so for many years to come. We should reflect on the inclusivity our spaces, collections and practices and think intersectionally about some of the barriers that the library presents. I think some of those barriers come down to the institutional narrative and history the library paints of itself. Looking at the account I’ve just written, I can’t help but notice how the narrative centres around a selection of white men. In reality, the library has also relied on the unacknowledged labour, expertise, knowledge and generosity of many women in its 100 year history, and I would love to learn more about the diverse people, institutions, relationships and knowledges that have influenced the development of the library collections, space and organising principles; perhaps less prominent but no less significant in the development of a truly multi-faceted polar library.

 

The Women Who Made SPRI

September 10th, 2020

During lockdown, I have been working on a new temporary exhibition which will celebrate SPRI’s centenary year. Though it has been strange to think about a new exhibition, not knowing exactly when it will open or when you will be able to see it, it has been lovely to learn more about SPRI’s history. In particular, it’s been fascinating to uncover the stories of the women whose lives have been linked to SPRI since its inception and beyond. I’d like to introduce you to some of my favourites in the exhibition, and if you’d like to see them again, or learn more about any other women of SPRI (or men, for that matter!) then do come along to our centenary exhibition once the museum reopens.

SPRI

The Founding Mothers

Founded in 1920, SPRI was the brain-child of Terra Nova geologist Frank Debenham, but it took more than one woman to bring his ideas to fruition. Perhaps the most well-known of these early female pioneers was Kathleen Scott, the indomitable widow of Captain Robert Falcon Scott. Kathleen was a well-renowned sculptor in her own right who had studied under Auguste Rodin in Paris long before meeting her future husband. As well as donating several statues to the museum, Kathleen was instrumental in introducing Debenham to the right people to help get SPRI off the ground, and in securing funding for the Institute. Once SPRI had become a reality, British naturalist Oriana Wilson helped to furnish it with some of the most famous polar objects it holds today – her husband Edward Wilson’s Antarctic watercolours. Oriana persuaded Debenham to include a purpose built gallery in the 1934 building, so that the paintings could be put on display and admired.

Kathleen Scott

Kathleen Scott, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and George Frederick Wyatt on the bridge of the ‘Terra Nova’

Oriana Wilson

Oriana Wilson

The Shapers

In the late 1920s the British anthropologist Dr Ethel John Lindgren began a career studying different cultural groups across Inner Mongolia and Siberia. Lindgren gathered knowledge and collected cultural objects from the people she studied, later donating many of these objects to SPRI’s museum collection. Her collection was used to teach aspiring western polar explorers the best ways to deal with the harsh environments they would be facing. Lindgren also lectured the MPhil students at SPRI about the people she had met and their ways of life. Lindgren’s collections, and the many other objects donated to the Institute, had to be accurately recorded and catalogued so that they could be put to good use. In the early days of SPRI, this work fell to women who volunteered their time. Miss Winifred Drake, arranged and catalogued a good proportion of the collection, including equipment, maps and books. Her meticulous record keeping in all areas ensured the smooth operating of the Institute and its collections and she later went on to paid employment as the official Assistant to the Director. Her work forms the foundations of our records today.

‘Overnight camp on the banks of the Oura’ by Ivan Dmitriyevich Bulychov. Presented to SPRI by Dr E Lindgren.

Miss W M Drake

Miss Winifred Drake

The Knowledge Holders

Women connected to SPRI were instrumental in the formation of our knowledge about the polar regions. Hilda Richardson was a glaciologist and the only employee of the International Glaciological Society following its creation in 1936. The society, which had its headquarters at SPRI for almost 70 years, became a well-renowned international organisation under her leadership, publishing prestigious academic journals and organising international symposia.

In our understanding of the polar regions, it can be all too easy to only consider western perspectives, but indigenous knowledge is invaluable to understanding and surviving in the Arctic environment. As Dr Lindgren showed SPRI’s early MPhil students, the foremost knowledge holders in the Arctic are the people who live and work there, their ancestors having inhabited the far north for thousands of years. Gusdiana was a Tunumiit from North Eastern Greenland who was instrumental in the expeditions of British explorer Gino Watkins’ in the 1930s. Photographs in SPRI’s archives show Gusdiana sewing kayaks for the western explorers, who would use these traditional boats to hunt seal. Kayaks are made by stretching animal skins over a frame and sewing them together to make a watertight vessel, and this process of stretching and sewing is traditionally done by Inuit women. Without Gusdiana, Watkins and the men of his expedition would not have been able to hunt using these specially designed craft.

Gusdiana

Portrait of Gusdiana

Gusdiana sewing skin on kayak

Gusdiana sewing skin on to a kayak as Gino Watkins watches her work.

Women have been instrumental to SPRI over its 100 year history. Whether by supporting its early years, to ensuring the standard and care of its collections, to making the discoveries and teaching the knowledge which informs its work. SPRI is now home to many female scientists, social scientists, museum, library and archive professionals, financial and administrative staff, and without them, and the women who came before them, the very character of the Institute would not be what it is today.

 

Amendement, 17th January 2022: special thanks to Anne Strathie for her assitance for providing us with Miss Winifred Drake’s first name.

A Brief History of SPRI

September 10th, 2020

A lot has changed in the hundred years since the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) was officially founded. In the 1920s, western explorers were still visiting the polar regions in wooden boats, but not fifty years later technology had advanced so much that man had landed on the moon. Another fifty years went by and now scientists and researchers can overwinter at the South Pole – once so inaccessible as to be deadly – in a station fully fitted with comfortable beds, hot meals and internet connection. So, with all the change and upheaval of the last century, what has happened to SPRI?

1920 – The Scott Polar Research Institute started life in the attic of the Sedgwick Museum – crammed full of polar artifacts, equipment and scientific data. In spite of these modest beginnings, the camaraderie and friendly atmosphere which are still characteristic of SPRI today were created by the men and women who visited the attic, united by their interest in the polar regions.

1934 – A group of famous designers collaborated on a purpose-built home for SPRI on Lensfield Road. The renowned architect Sir Herbert Baker designed the building, while MacDonald Gill painted the spectacular domed maps which can still be seen in the Memorial Hall. Captain Scott’s widow, Kathleen – a distinguished sculptor – donated her own works which still keep watch over the Institute above the door and in the garden on Lensfield Road.

Opening day at the new home of SPRI, 1934.

MacDonald Gill and Priscilla Johnston paint the Memorial Hall domes

Bust of Captain Scott by Lady Kathleen Scott

1940s – During World War II SPRI helped the British government research clothing and equipment for Arctic missions. The museum collection at SPRI was initially a teaching collection, designed to equip polar explorers with the hard-won knowledge of their predecessors. During WWII, this specialist knowledge of equipment and polar clothing was especially useful when the War Office was considering a possible northern invasion route into Europe.

1959 – SPRI was heavily involved in setting up the Antarctic Treaty which protects the Antarctic as a continent for scientific research. An incredibly important agreement for the governance of the Antarctic even today, the Antarctic Treaty ensures that nobody owns the Antarctic. It also dedicates the continent as a place for peace and science. SPRI scientists helped to produce this remarkable treaty.

1968 – A lecture theatre, laboratories and ‘cold rooms’ for research were added to the building, more than doubling its size. SPRI is a specialist institute with specialist facilities – as scientific research within the university became ever more advanced, so more unusual features were added to SPRI. Today a large freezer in the basement is used for everything from testing kit to freezing our historic museum collections to protect them from insects and other pests!

The SPRI Lecture Theatre

1970s – SPRI scientists perfected the invention of radio echo sounding. This revolutionary new glaciological technique meant that scientists could fly over the ice sheets and measure how thick they were by emitting radio waves and measuring how long it took them to bounce back to the plane. This technique led to the discovery of a hidden world of lakes and volcanoes beneath the surface of the Antarctic ice sheet.

Radio Echo Sounding

1980 – SPRI welcomed the first students to its brand new Polar Studies program which still runs to this day. SPRI has always been a place of learning – first, it was for collaboration and the analysis of data by early explorers, then it became somewhere for budding polar scientists to benefit from the experience of the past. Today, students at the Institute study everything from the social sciences to climate change.

1998 – The Shackleton Memorial Library opened, securing SPRI’s position as the largest polar library in the world. The library at SPRI is home to an enormous collection of over 54,000 monographs, DVDs, Masters and Doctoral theses, as well as pamphlets, press-cuttings, periodicals and around 18,000 maps. As a resource on the polar regions it is of international importance.

The Polar Library

The Shackleton Memorial Library

2000s – SPRI was a well established hub of polar research and information as public interest in the polar regions continued to rise. As the general public became increasingly aware of the effects of climate change on the polar regions, SPRI’s role as a resource and centre for research on these fragile ecosystems became even more important.

2010 – The Polar Museum underwent a total refurbishment, in time for the centenary of the death of Captain Scott and his companions on their return from the South Pole in 1912. The museum now has permanent displays on the indigenous communities of the Arctic, the western explorers of the Arctic and Antarctic and contemporary scientific research in the polar regions. There is also a dedicated temporary exhibition space.

The Polar Museum

2020 – The Scott Polar Research Institute celebrates 100 years of polar research. So much has changed since the attic days of the early 1920s, and who knows what the next 100 years have in store for SPRI, but if the last century is anything to go by then it’s sure to be busy!

SPRI today

 

A Century of Polar Research

May 14th, 2020

The year 2020 marks 100 years since the establishment of the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI). While our founders could never have imagined what this year would be like, we are grateful to the foresight which lead them to create an Institute, a building and most importantly, a community, which has dedicated itself to researching and understanding the polar regions ever since.

The Scott Polar Research Institute today.

Let’s wind the clock right back to the very beginning – Scott’s British Antarctic Expedition 1910-13 (Terra Nova). Frank Debenham and Raymond Priestley, geologists on the expedition, realised they needed a place to share their data, and the lessons they had learned on expeditions, with other polar explorers and researchers. The Terra Nova expedition ultimately ended in the tragic death of Captain Scott and the other four members of his polar party on their return from the South Pole. But Debenham and Priestley remembered their idea for a ‘polar headquarters’ and in 1920 it was made a reality thanks to funds donated after Scott’s death.

The Southern Party upon reaching the South Pole. British Antarctic Expedition 1910-13

Frank Debenham examines geological samples. British Antarctic Expedition 1910-13.

In 1920 the Scott Polar Research Institute was officially opened as part of the University of Cambridge and it flourished. Polar explorers and researchers shared their knowledge and experience with the next generation of scientists. Documents and objects formed comprehensive archival and varied museum collections. People wrote from far and wide to ask questions of the experts who worked there, and the veranda of the old building was found to be just the right size for oiling sealskin kayaks. In 1934, the Institute moved into its current home on Lensfield Road – adorned with Kathleen Scott’s sculpture of her late husband above the front door.

Opening day at the new home of SPRI, 1934.

Bust of Captain Scott by Kathleen Scott above the entrance to the Polar Museum.

In spite of its Antarctic beginnings, SPRI was always also interested in the people and environment of the Arctic. Terence Armstrong and John Elbo were employed to work in the Russian and north American Arctic in the 1940s and researchers from the Institute continue to work with Arctic communities to this day. Increasingly in recent years, SPRI has been privileged to learn from the knowledge and advice of visiting indigenous scholars, artists and community representatives.

Visiting artist Willy Topkok viewing our Alaskan collection

In the Antarctic, SPRI scientists pioneered a technique known as radio-echo sounding in the 60s and 70s, which allowed glaciologists to measure the depth of ice in the Antarctic ice-sheet. This was made possible by instruments designed and developed at the Institute in a project led by Stan Evans and Gordon Robin. For the first time, we were beginning to understand how much ice was actually in Antarctica!

Radio Echo Sounding

Today, SPRI contributes significantly to our global understanding of climate change and its impact on the polar regions. Building on the work of previous expeditions and scientists, as well as spearheading new research in glaciology, glacimarine environments and remote sensing.

Drone launch

Researchers from the RESPONDER project team launch a drone

SPRI continues to fulfil its promise to educate the next generation of polar researchers. An MPhil degree in polar studies was introduced in the 1970s, its present-day form taking shape in 1980. PhD students from across the world also undertake vital research across a wide range of academic areas. Their work is enriched by SPRI’s unparalleled archives, picture library and museum collections which educate and inspire researchers and public alike. What’s more, the SPRI library is the largest library of the polar regions in the world.

The Polar Library

The Polar Library

In its hundred year history, SPRI has continually adapted to new challenges and questions in polar research. It remains as relevant today as a site for learning as it was at its conception. This year, we will be sharing our history in more detail in a series of blog and social media posts, and we can’t wait to have you along for the ride.

‘Walking on Thin Ice’ – A virtual exhibition tour

January 6th, 2020

‘Walking on Thin Ice: co-operation in the face of a changing climate’ is an exhibition put together in collaboration with twelve teenagers. In August 2019, the co-curation team met at the Scott Polar Institute (SPRI) for a week of activities. By the end of the week, they had a framework for their exhibition. They met and talked with researchers studying the Polar Regions, developing their own knowledge of the issues posed by climate change. They visited the British Antarctic Survey, for a similar series of talks with researchers there.

The co-curators worked to reach a consensus on the themes their exhibition would draw upon. This was made possible by engaging with the collection of the Polar Museum at SPRI, and thinking about the best objects and archival documents to include. In the time after their week of hard work, the Polar Museum team brought their ideas to life, and were pleased to welcome the co-curation team back to the museum at the end of November 2019, to launch the exhibition and celebrate their achievements. What follows is the text of the exhibition, with accompanying photographs of it in situ in the temporary gallery of the Polar Museum.

Lush Landscapes to Icy Continent

For the whole of human history there has been ice in the Antarctic. But when dinosaurs roamed the Earth during the Cretaceous Period 145-66 million years ago, things looked very different. Antarctica was still part of a large landmass reaching from South America to Australasia. High levels of volcanic activity were releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in greater concentrations than today. Global temperatures were warmer, thanks to the ‘greenhouse effect’ of carbon dioxide trapping heat from the Sun in the Earth’s atmosphere. Some scientists estimate that the seas around the Antarctic were as warm as 30°C during this period.
The warmer Antarctic climate meant that many plants and animals flourished in sub-tropical forests similar to those in New Zealand and Tasmania today. Gingkos, Monkey Puzzle trees and ferns survived through the polar winter, when no light may have reached them for months at a time. The fossilised remains of Leaellynasaura – a small herbivorous dinosaur with large optic lobes (the part of the brain involved in vision) – have also been found, suggesting that dinosaurs may have adapted ‘night-vision’ to help them forage in the darkness of the polar night.
56-55 million years ago, Antarctica broke off from Australasia, becoming the separate continent that it is today. Around 33 million years ago, it became largely covered in ice and, although global temperatures fluctuated, they would never again be warm enough to sustain an ice-free Antarctic.

Breaking the Cycle

Understanding how Earth’s climate has changed over millennia, decades and single years can help scientists to build a big picture of our current climate and make predictions about the future.
There have always been variations in the Earth’s climate. Even in the last 650,000 years – a relatively short period in our planet’s history – there have been seven cycles of colder and warmer periods. The modern climate era is marked by the end of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago. During warmer periods, higher levels of carbon dioxide are recorded. This is because carbon dioxide traps heat from the Sun in the Earth’s atmosphere, leading to warming global temperatures.
By analysing tiny bubbles of air trapped in ice cores collected from ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, scientists reveal the impact of fluctuating levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide on global temperature. Today measurements show unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide well above the natural cycles of the last 650,000 years. The rate at which levels of this gas are increasing is also about 100 times faster than in any previous cycles. Research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicates a 90% likelihood that recent changes in global temperature are directly linked to human activity releasing larger amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

 

Impacts

The impacts of climate change are already being felt at levels that range from human lives to the planet’s smallest micro-organisms.
Arctic animals are of fundamental importance to Inuit life. Firmly embedded within cultural practices, they are also a primary source of nutritious food. Many Arctic animals, like seals, walrus and polar bears, are themselves dependent on sea ice as a place to hunt, rest and give birth. But as sea ice decreases year on year, these animals’ lives, and the futures of their species, are being threatened. The loss of Arctic species would not only deal an enormous ecological blow, but also spell the loss of the traditional ecological knowledge and cultural foundation stones of northern peoples.
At the microscopic end of the food chain, recent studies have suggested that, as global temperatures rise, some areas of the ocean will see increased evaporation from their surface waters. The resulting increase in water density will trap microplastics (plastics measuring less than 5 mm introduced into the oceanic environment by the breaking up of plastic pollutants) at the surface. Microplastics in these upper levels are consumed by micro-organisms such as plankton, which form the basis of the oceanic food chain, inevitably infiltrating the food we eat.
By continuing to support interdisciplinary research and cooperation into climate change, we can be well placed to address its wide-ranging impacts.

Climate Research Behind the Scenes

The Polar regions are often described as the ‘front line’ of climate change because change is happening there faster than anywhere else on Earth. The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets hold 99% of the world’s fresh water. If they were to melt, global sea levels would rise by over 60 metres. As a result, scientists have been looking to the poles to help predict the effects of a changing climate.
In January 2019, a team of researchers from the British Antarctic Survey visited the Rutford Ice Stream in Antarctica – a 300 km long, 25 km wide, relatively fast-moving stream of ice which flows into the Weddell Sea. They used a technique called ‘hot water drilling’ to drill 3 holes over 2 km deep into the ice. Scientific instruments were lowered into the bore holes including sensors to determine how ‘slippery’ the sediment was underneath the ice. By determining the slipperiness of the sediment, the team can predict how the flow of the ice stream will be affected by ongoing environmental change. Will it speed up? By how much? How much more ice will flow into the Weddell Sea? These predictions can then be used to create models to estimate the rate at which sea levels will rise in the future.

Arctic Exploitation

The rich natural resources of the Arctic and the scattered indigenous groups who live there have meant that for centuries the region has been seen by outsiders as a fruitful ‘wilderness’ to be claimed by the most intrepid.
In 1576 the English explorer Martin Frobisher went north to look for a fabled trade route known as the North West Passage. He did not find it, but he did discover rocks which he thought contained gold. Frobisher believed that he had a colonial right to claim whatever he found in the Arctic, with no regard for the indigenous groups who had lived there for thousands of years. As a result, in 1578, he took 400 men to quarry 1,100 tons of rock from several mines. Frobisher had actually mined iron pyrite (also known as ‘fool’s gold’) which was worth only a fraction of the gold of his dreams.
The Inuit communities lived sustainably in their environment, taking only what they needed from it. In contrast, Frobisher and successive waves of outsiders exploited this land and its natural resources. This assumed ‘ownership’ of the Arctic by outside powers is echoed today by the behaviour of energy companies prospecting new gas and oil fields. Now that the Arctic is again becoming a place of economic interest, as melting sea ice makes it more accessible, will history repeat itself?

Expedition Research

Polar exploration in the 19th and 20th centuries is often linked to personal glory – historic heroes carrying out daring feats of bravery and claiming new territories, often fuelled by patriotism. These stories certainly have their place in the narrative of the past, but that is only a part of these expeditions. Scientific research was undertaken on most historic expeditions. The data and samples which the explorers recorded and collected can provide a valuable baseline for modern research and our understanding of how the global environment is changing.
Many polar expeditions recorded meteorological data in the form of ships’ logs and undertook first-hand research into areas as broad as air and ocean temperatures, geomagnetic conditions and geology. Modern researchers have studied datasets from John Ross’s Arctic expedition aboard Victory (1829-1833) and fossils collected from Captain Scott’s British Antarctic Expedition aboard Terra Nova (1910-1913) were used to support the hypothesis of the ancient global supercontinent, Pangea.
The changes that have occurred since these expeditions, both to the global environment and to scientific equipment, would have been incomprehensible at the time. Nevertheless, as a result of their systematic approach to observation and methodical collection of data and specimens, the explorers of the past are providing invaluable scientific knowledge to the researchers of today.

United by Nature, Guided by Science

Across the world, many different groups are finding their voices and working in their own distinct ways to combat the causes, and study the effects, of climate change.
In Alaska, Gwich’in communities have been instrumental in pushing back against plans to extract oil and gas from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is home to the culturally important Porcupine caribou herd (one of the largest migratory caribou herds in North America). Although the federal government is still seeking to go ahead with these extractions, the UN has highlighted indigenous sovereignty as an important cornerstone in attempting to address climate change. The Gwich’in and other indigenous groups have spent thousands of years cultivating powerful relationships with their localities. The specialist knowledge of their environments built up over time could aid understanding of our changing climate.
Up until the 1960s, female scientists were largely excluded from undertaking research in the Antarctic. Today around 55% of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists members are female, and women hold leading and influential positions, such as Professor Dame Jane Francis, Director of the British Antarctic Survey. The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), set up in 1958 to facilitate international collaboration in Antarctic science, is also committed to promoting diversity in this field. In 2016 SCAR supported a ‘wikibomb’, to write the online profiles of over 100 female researchers and there are now more female Antarctic researchers than males on Wikipedia.
Climate change is a global issue and boundary-crossing cooperation is our best tool to slow its effects.

Climate Voices

Greta Thunberg was only 15 when she began the series of strikes which led to her international recognition. Greta chose to strike outside her school to raise awareness of climate issues and demand that the Swedish Government commit to meeting the emissions targets laid out in the 2015 Paris Agreement. The idea took off and soon she was part of a group which founded the ‘Fridays For Future’ initiative. The idea – to take strike action every Friday until change is made – struck a chord with young people worldwide.
A little over a year later, Greta has gone from striking on her own outside her school, to being the figurehead of an international movement. The Global Climate Strike from the 20th-27th September 2019 saw 7.6 million people worldwide strike to demand action on climate change. The movement has expanded to include millions of scientists, businesses, celebrities and adults from a wide variety of backgrounds joining young people on the streets.
Greta is not the only young person campaigning for change. Xiye Bastida is a Mexican activist bringing indigenous perspectives to her conversations about climate. Nadia Nazar is an Indian American activist who uses art to communicate on climate issues. Autumn Peltier, has for years been speaking up about water quality in Canadian indigenous communities. All these young people have found their voices in combating environmental crises and the changing climate.

Acknowledgments

This exhibition was developed as part of a co-curation project with twelve teenagers from around the UK who visited the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) and Selwyn College for a week in August 2019. Their hard work and dedication provided the framework for the exhibition, while their passion and drive were a source of inspiration for every member of SPRI who had the pleasure of working with them. Thank you: Alice, Charlotte, Erin, JoJo, Lera, Maddie, Molly, Morgan, Nancy, Naomi, Nicolas and Sophie.
The Institute especially wishes to thank Dr Matt Wise and Selwyn College for hosting the co-curation team and for their project development work. Thanks, too, to Downing College and Dr Michael Bravo, the University of Cambridge Admissions and Environment and Energy teams. We also thank the researchers who worked with the team: at SPRI – Henry Anderson-Elliott, Dr Ragnhild Freng Dale, Rebecca Dell, Dr Frazer Christie, Samuel Cook, Sasha Montelli, Morgan Seag and at the British Antarctic Survey, Hilary Blagbrough, Professor Melody Clark, Dr Peter Davis, Laura Gerrish, Dr Huw Griffiths, Louise Ireland, Dr Robert Mulvaney, Dr Stephen Roberts and Professor David Vaughan. Thanks also to Dr Chandrika Nath and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust and Whippet Coaches. Finally, for their help in putting on the exhibition, our thanks go to: Paul Anker, C. Balhatchet, Beach-o-matic, Cat Cooper, Chloe Cupid, Vicky Gardener, S. Holmes, T. Kingsnorth, Laura Kissel, Dr Katrin Linse, J. Marsden, Weronika Murray and Robert Nicholls.

 

Walking on Thin Ice: co-operation in the face of a changing climate

December 9th, 2019

On the 30th November we were delighted to welcome back our twelve teenage co-curators to celebrate the launch of their exhibition ‘Walking on Thin Ice: co-operation in the face of a changing climate’.

After a week of incredibly hard work in August this year, the then year 12 students had provided our museum team with a detailed framework for their exhibition. Since then, a lot has happened – the student’s ideas have been made into a reality, and the students themselves have moved into year 13 and completed their university applications. Let’s have a catch up.

Welcoming back the student curators

The exhibition is all about climate change – current research, stories of empowerment and hope for the future. The co-curators were adamant that this should not be an exhibition to upset people, but to educate them in up-to-date scientific facts, and encourage them that co-operation is the way forward. The way they wanted this information to be presented is often striking, and there are a number of new features which have not been seen before in our temporary gallery space.

Exhibition display

A large floor sticker can be found in front of the Institute reception desk. A map of the Antarctic, it shows scientific bases located across the continent, as well as the animals which live on and around it. Small flocks of penguins bump up against McMurdo station, while the seas are filled with whales and fish. Bringing a youthful feel to this part of the exhibition, this map has already been a hit with some of our youngest visitors – allowing them to stand on the Antarctic and perhaps imagine themselves as the polar explorers of the future.

Antarctic floor sticker

The inclusion of a ‘voting wall’, with thought-provoking questions set to change over the course of the exhibition, was high on the co-curators’ priority list. With counters to make your views known, it has already sparked conversations within the Institute. Keep an eye on our social media channels for the results.

Voting wall

There is also information about the youth strikes, a topic which was very close to the hearts of our young co-curators. The ‘collage wall’ featuring posters and images from youth strikes in the UK and Inuvik in Northern Canada certainly brings home that this is a global issue, being addressed by a global community. The wall itself has already been incredibly well documented as the backdrop to hundreds of selfies using the hashtag #ThinIceExhibition.

Climate protest wall

Alongside these unusual exhibition features, there is a fantastic selection of objects from the museum’s collection, chosen by the co-curators, and a lot of information about our changing climate. From information about the historic explorers and the data they collected hundreds of years ago, to cutting-edge information about the unprecedented changes we are now recording in atmospheric carbon levels, there is something for everyone to see, read, do and enjoy.

While this has been a fantastic project to bring to life – taking the co-curation team’s ideas and making them a reality – the real highlight was seeing them all again at our launch event. This group of teenagers began the process feeling unsure as to whether Cambridge might be for them, and they all left saying that they felt as if they’d never been away. With university applications for this term now in full swing, we wish them all the best of luck with their further studies, and hope that they know they are welcome back any time!
If you’d like to come and see ‘Walking on Thin Ice’, to vote on the voting wall, stand on the floor sticker and maybe even take a selfie in front of the collage wall, it will be running until the end of March 2020.

A Special Visitor – Part Two. Willy’s Diary

December 9th, 2019

This is the second part of a 2 part blog post. Read part one here.

From the 13th – 20th October we were absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to invite Willy Topkok, an Iñupiaq man and experienced artist, to visit us here at the Scott Polar ResearchInstitute for a week. It was an exciting, interesting and hugely fun experience for everyone involved so we thought we’d share a post of everything Willy got up to during his stay.

Monday 14th October
Monday was Willy’s first full day in Cambridge. After a quick hello to everyone in the Museum and Education & Outreach teams, Willy viewed our current temporary exhibition “Tikigaq:Point Hope, Life on Alaska’s North Slope” sharing his own stories of his Alaskan heritage throughout, followed by a tour of our Polar Library with Librarian Peter Lund.
Next up was lunch with members of the Museum and Library team where, still adjusting to the temperature change from the desert-like temperatures of Arizona (where he currently lives) to a far cooler Cambridge, the first thing Willy ordered was a hot tea!
After re-fuelling, it was time for Willy to have a private tour of the Polar Museum and a behind-the-scenes look in our stores at more of the Alaskan objects we have in our collection.

Willy holding a boot from our Alaskan collection

Later in the day, Willy joined everyone at SPRI for a special afternoon tea break in the temporary gallery of the Polar Museum where he met staff and students alike – all of whom were very pleased to meet him.

Tuesday 15th October
Even after a busy first day, Willy was just as eager to find out what was next in store for him during his visit. To start off his second day, Willy was accompanied by Collections Assistant Mia Surridge for some sight seeing in Cambridge, with a visit to Kings College and a stop at the famous Corpus Clock too. He was thoroughly impressed with the architecture and hearing all about the traditional Carol’s from Kings Christmas Eve service – but mostly he said he just couldn’t wait to show all the pictures to everyone at home!

Willy standing by the Corpus Clock

After working up quite the appetite from touring the streets of Cambridge, Willy then stopped for some much-needed lunch at the University Centre with Mia and Rosie Amos, Education and Outreach Assistant, before heading back to SPRI to give a talk to PHaSS (The Polar Humanities and Social Sciences Workshop) where he displayed his bowdrill and beading work which they were so fascinated by that Willy ended upextending his talk further.
A speedy tea break was had and then it was time for Willy to begin his second talk of the day, this time to a group of volunteers from The Polar Museum front of house team. Much like with PHaSS, there were laughs and gasps from all in the audience (followed by lots of questions) as Willy, dressed in his traditional clothing, demonstrated his amazing storytelling skills.

Willy giving his talk to our volunteersTo round off his day, a certainly well-deserved dinner was had by Willy with the company of Education and Outreach Assistant, Naomi Boneham. After some great food and a good old chat, he was ready to head to get some rest before his next busy day.

Wednesday 16th October
On Wednesday, Willy was accompanied to London for the day by Collections Project Cataloguer Henrietta Hammant, catching the train (or as Willy called it a ‘trolley’) bright and early from Cambridge station. First stop was the British Museum where they had a look at the North American and Asia galleries as well as the Ancient Greek collection – ever-eager to capture every possible moment of his trip, Willy found much joy in not only seeing the displays first hand but making sure he got plenty of photos to show his friends and family back at home too!

Willy standing outside the British Museum

Up next was a quick trip on the tube to Green Park where Willy and Henrietta had a scenic walk to Buckingham Palace. Willy was not only amazed by the palace itself but delighted to find out the Queen was actually at home! Of course, not wanting to waste a second of their day Willy and Henrietta then set off for a walk through St James’ park to get to Westminster Abbey and then to the Houses of Parliament before crossing the river to see the London Eye. It was certainly a day packed full of London must-sees and landmarks and both Henrietta and Willy agreed it was a successful trip indeed!

Willy standing outside Buckingham Palace

Thursday 17th October
After a morning of free time followed by lunch with Henrietta, Willy set off to visit the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology where, after a viewing of their Star Carr exhibition, he met Senior Curator of Anthropology, Dr Anita Herle and Liz Walsh, a PhD student who did her fieldwork on Alaska’s North Slope. Following tea it was then time to head up to the photographic collection to meet Manager of the Photographic Collections, Dr Jocelyne Dudding who shared some fantastic historic images from both Siberia and Alaska, he was even allowed to take some copies home as they featured people who were from his ancestral homelands.
Willy later enjoyed dinner with Liz Walsh where they both had a lovely time talking about Northern Alaska, with perhaps the highlight of all being that Willy was able to speak in a little Iñupiaq to her.

Friday 18th October
Willy started off his morning back in our Polar Library and much to his delight, whilst browsing through some of the books in our collection, he saw the familiar names of both friends and relatives as well as pictures of their artworks featured on the pages. Next, he took some time to have a look at The Polar Museum himself as, being so busy earlier in the week with activities, he hadn’t yet had chance to properly enjoy our collections in his own time!
Later in the day, Willy was due to give a talk in the temporary gallery as part of our Festival of Ideas events at The Polar Museum. Attending visitors received a private insight into the “Tikigaq: Point Hope, Life on Alaska’s North Slope” exhibition. Willy couldn’t have been happier to talk to the many intrigued visitors more personally after his talk.

Willy with a visitor at The Polar Museum

The day didn’t end there though, as Willy then attended both dinner at the University Centre and an Intelligence Seminar at Corpus Christi about ‘KGB “illegal” operations in England’ with SPRI Research Associate Bryan Lintott. Both Willy and Bryan had an enjoyable evening which rounded off Willy’s penultimate day in Cambridge.

Saturday 20th October
On his final day, Willy kindly came along to The Polar Museum’s Family Day where guests could see demonstrations of his skilled beadwork first hand and hear about his love of the Inupiat way of life whilst Willy himself was thrilled at the fact he got to meet people from all over the world – in fact we’re almost certain he spoke to every single one of the 944 visitors we had on the day!
Then before we knew it, and much to everyone’s sadness, it was time to say our goodbyes to Willy, though not without having a quick group photo beforehand of course…

Willy with Polar Museum staff

As a final treat, Henrietta took Willy for a slap-up last supper before he returned to his hotel ready for an early morning flight home to Arizona, after what was an incredibly special and memorable trip.