Guide to the Bowdoin College Scientific Expedition to Labrador Collection, 1891-1982, (bulk 1891-1892)
No restrictions.
Bowdoin College Scientific Expedition to Labrador Collection, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine.
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In 1891 Bowdoin College organized a scientific expedition to Labrador under the leadership of Professor Leslie A. Lee. Sailing on board the schooner Julia A. Decker out of Rockland, Maine, were twenty-five members, including eighteen Bowdoin students and alumni. The members of the expedition mapped and photographed prehistoric Eskimo settlements, collected fish specimens, doubling the number of previously known species, and discovered plants previously assumed to have never existed in the area.
The expedition may be best known, however, for the discovery of Bowdoin Canyon and the Grand Falls of the Hamilton River by four Bowdoin students. Austin Cary (Bowdoin 1887), Dennis M. Cole (Bowdoin 1888), Warren R. Smith (Bowdoin 1890), and Ernest B. Young (Bowdoin 1892) volunteered to explore the interior of Labrador by canoeing up the Hamilton River for three-hundred miles. Shortly after starting out, however, Smith and Young were forced to abandon their efforts due to injuries. Nevertheless, Cary and Cole continued, ultimately discovering and naming Bowdoin Canon [canyon]. Due to the loss of their canoe, they were forced to walk most of the three hundred miles on their return trip back to the expedition settlement, barely escaping with their lives.
For more information on the 1891 Labrador Scientific Expedition, see John C. Parker Papers, and also Leslie A. Lee Papers.
Contains first-hand accounts by several members of the expedition, including Professor Leslie A. Lee's trip log and his observation notes on the Eskimo village of Hopedale, as well as the diaries and journals of several students. Also includes addresses, such as a typescript of Austin Cary's speech before the American Geological Society in 1892, as well as official reports concerning the flora and fauna observed on the expedition by its members and scholars, as well as newspaper clippings from 1891 and afterwards reporting on the trip and its members.
Includes a log, a journal, two diaries, and notes from the 1891 Expedition. These accounts range from brief daily records of the expedition's progress to detailed observations of the environment and native peoples, and descriptions of events. Also included are photocopies and transcripts of notes found in the Churchill Falls bottle left by the Bowdoin expedition to record visitors to the falls. The bottle was retrieved and preserved in 1960 and is now kept by the Labrador Heritage Society of Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
Arranged alphabetically by author.
No restrictions.
Baxter, Rupert, "Bowdoin Scientific Expedition..." notes, June 28, 1891 [typescript photocopy]
Hastings, John Mason, Bowdoin Scientific Expedition, journal, June 26-September 23, 1891
Lee, Leslie A, "Bowdoin College Scientific Expedition to Labrador," log, June 27-July 16, 1891
Lee, Leslie A, observations on the Inuit village of Hopedale, Labrador, August 14, 1891
[Simonton, Fred James], "Diary of a Member of the Expedition," June -September, 1891
Smith, Warren R, diary, July-August 1891 [with accompanying typescript]
Notes written by visitors to Churchill Falls, found in the Churchill Falls Bottle, written 1891-1960 [photocopies]
Includes later writings about the Bowdoin Expedition of 1891 both by participants and scholars. Published articles, mostly written by participants, discuss the flora, birds, fishes, geography, and geology of Labrador. More recent writings are historical accounts of the expedition and biographies.
Arranged alphabetically by author.
No restrictions.
Bowdoin Alumnus, "Labrador Adventure," Winter 1978 [photocopy]
Cary, Austin, "Exploration on Grand River, Labrador," [in American Geographical Society]
Cary, Austin, "Geological Facts Noted..." [in American Journal of Science], November 1891
Cary, Austin, "Lecture Before American Geographical Society..." January 4, 1892 [typescript]
Cary, Austin, "Lecture Before American Geographical Society..." January 4, 1892 [typescript photocopy]
Century Magazine, "The Grand Falls of Labrador," Vol.44, No.5, 1892 Sep [photocopy]
Fernald, M.L. and J.D. Sornborger, "Some Recent Additions to the Labrador Flora," July 1899
Jackson, Laura, "Rupert H. Baxter" [in Them Days], June 1982
Kendall, William Converse, "The Fishes of Labrador" [in Portland Society of Natural History], 1909
Kendall, William Converse, "The Fishes of Labrador" [typescript]
Moulton, James, "The Discovery of Bowdoin Canyon," April 22, 1966, Chapel Talk (also February 16, 1959) [conservation typescript photocopy]
Norton, Arthur H, "Birds of the Bowdoin College Expedition..." [in Portland Society of Natural History], May 20, 1901
Peary MacMillan Arctic Museum, 1891 expedition images, [printed list with thumbnail pictures]
Includes comprehensive newspaper clippings about the Bowdoin Expedition of 1891.
No restrictions.
Newsclippings from the Leslie A. Lee papers, #1 [photocopies]
Newsclippings from the Leslie A. Lee papers, #2 [photocopies]
Newsclippings [photocopies]
Newsclippings [photocopies]