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Picture a group of thirty rugged men of many sorts and disciplines and from many
different countries, gathered together with their two leaders for the first time,
in the tiny coastal village of Nome, Alaska. It was July of 1913. They had no
inkling of a world war starting the next year. They simply looked ahead to exploration
and research in the icy wilderness of Canada's Arctic for the next three years.
Seventeen of those men would not return home. Most of the scientists, after working
and living alongside the people of the north, returned almost four years later,
scarcely informed about the war, and carrying with them thousands of artifacts,
crates of specimens, photos, film and sound recordings; scientific data and knowledge
which has been used in Arctic science ever since. Later the others returned, having
carried the Canadian flag to 80° north, and having claimed three new islands
for Canada.
Much of the story of this first major Canadian scientific expedition
to the Arctic is yet untold. Though fourteen volumes
of scientific data were published, and books have been written on the most
tragic or adventuresome parts of the Expedition, much of the fascinating story
has remained buried in Expedition diaries until now. Through this virtual exhibition
you can explore first-hand the rugged lands and meet the people of the Canadian
Arctic.
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