Scott Polar Research InstituteDuring 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.
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, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and George Frederick Wyatt on the bridge of the ‘Terra Nova’
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 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.
Portrait of Gusdiana
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.
