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Frederick Albert Cook

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Karen Stuart

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

1991

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2001

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms001011

Latest revision: 2006 August

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Names:

Subjects:

Occupations:

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Processing History:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

Microfilm:

Preferred Citation:

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Organization of the Papers

Container List

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Names:

Subjects:

Occupations:

Administrative Information

Provenance:

The papers of Frederick Albert Cook, physician, polar explorer, and author, were given to the Library of Congress in 1989 by the estate of his granddaughter, Janet Cook Vetter. One item was given by the Frederick A. Cook Society in 1997.

Processing History:

The Cook papers are described in Library of Congress Acquisitions: Manuscript Division, 1989, pp. 28-29, and in Library of Congress Information Bulletin, vol. 49, no. 10 (May 7, 1990). The finding aid was revised in 2006.

Transfers:

Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Photographs haven been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division. Sound recordings and a video recording have been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the Frederick Albert Cook Papers.

Copyright Status:

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Frederick Albert Cook is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Microfilm:

A microfilm edition of these papers is available on twenty-five reels. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan.

Preferred Citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or reel number, Frederick Albert Cook Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Frederick Albert Cook (1865-1940) span the years 1881-1977 with the bulk dated during the years 1891-1940. They provide a documentary record of the explorer's various expeditions, the rush of popular attention surrounding his controversial claim of discovering the North Pole, his efforts to establish the validity of his claim in light of the world's recognition of Robert E. Peary as the discoverer, and his observations and reflections drawn from those experiences. Helen Cook Vetter's endeavor to carry forward her father's quest for vindication is represented in a small grouping of her correspondence and subject files. In addition to the records of Cook's disputed expeditions to Mount McKinley (1906) and the North Pole (1907-1909), there is much of interest in materials relating to his 1891-1892 and 1901 Arctic trips in the company of Peary and Matthew Henson and to his participation, with Roald Amundsen, in the 1897-1899 Belgian Antarctic Expedition.

Cook's diaries record both scientific data and his general observations during expeditions to destinations inside the Arctic and Antarctic circles, to Alaska's Mount McKinley, and once around the world. The diary entries typically note his party's daily progress and position, accompanied by short narrative passages. The 1906 Mount McKinley diary also includes sketches of newly observed natural features. The tissue-paper sheets on which Cook performed the "reduction calculations" determining his position en route to the North Pole, the published ephemerides on which those calculations were based, and a copy of the note deposited at the pole in a metal tube are also included.

The reaction to Cook's announcement of his discovery of the North Pole may be seen through his correspondence. The New York Times and Herald, Harper Brothers, Hampton's and Cosmopolitan magazines, and other publishers cabled seeking to negotiate newspaper, article, and book rights to Cook's story. Promoters offered lecture tours and product endorsements. Cook also received messages from fellow explorers including Roald Amundsen, Samuel J. Entrikin, and Anthony Fiala, and from the general public. William F. Cody ("Buffalo Bill") wired his congratulations, and children wrote to inquire whether Cook had seen Santa Claus while at the pole. Few, if any, letters from detractors are to be found among the papers. Lecture appearances and the publication of a memoir, My Attainment of the Pole (1911), helped to sustain the public's interest in the controversy while, for the rest of his life, Cook collected affidavits and sought hearings before various official and scientific bodies in an effort to clear his name. He also filed suit (Cook v. Mirsky) against the Encyclopaedia Britannica and the authors and publishers of To the North and How Peary Reached the Pole in response to published statements disparaging his accomplishments.

There is little documentation of the period immediately following Cook's 1915-1916 round-the-world tour. He engaged in geological exploration in Wyoming and Texas, founded an oil company, and was subsequently indicted for mail fraud in connection with his promotion of the company. Information about Cook's activities is mostly to be found among his legal and financial papers, particularly in transcripts of testimony given in United States v. Cook (1923).

Conversely, the period of Cook's incarceration in Leavenworth Prison is relatively well documented. He edited the Leavenworth New Era (later named New Era), a prison publication, writing many short pieces which he reworked in later compositions. Cook's writings include both discursive memoirs ("Hell is a Cold Place") and more straightforward narratives of his polar experiences; proposals for the economic exploitation of polar regions; ethnographic studies of the native peoples of Africa, Greenland, Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego; medical theories on diet and nutrition, the effects of cold, and the treatment of drug addiction; and essays on prison reform. Finally, the collection includes Cook's annotated copies of his own published works and assorted other books relating to the polar controversy.

Helen Cook Vetter gained custody of her father's papers upon his death, resulting in the intermingling of a few of her papers with his. These items include letters of condolence received upon Cook's death and Vetter's later correspondence with her father's associates, especially Lilian E. Kiel. In addition, Vetter marked texts and made additional notes for subject files pertaining to her own study of her father's life and career.

Correspondents include: Roald Amundsen, James Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald, J. E. Bernier, Stanley Boriss, Cyril Clemens, Marie Fidell Hunt Cook, Samuel J. Entrikin, Anthony Fiala, Rudolph Franke, Alfred S. Franklin, Andrew A. Freeman, John W. Goodsell, Ruth Hunt Cook Hamilton, T. Everett Harré, J. Gordon Hayes, Lilian E. Kie, Milton M. Lory, William E. Mears, Adah Murphy, Eugene A. Murphy, Russell T. Neville, Otto Nordenskjold, Ben L. Reitman, S. M. Riis, Ernest Christian Rost, John W. Ruskin, Winfield Scott Schley, Ralph Shainwald-von Ahlefeldt, William E. Shea, F. P. Thompson, Harry Whitney, and Henry Wellington Wack.

Organization of the Papers

The collection is arranged in six series:

• Diaries, 1893-1930
• Correspondence, 1891-1940, n.d.
• Writings, 1891-1953, n.d.
• Miscellany, 1889-1944, n.d.
• Helen Cook Vetter File, 1940-1977, n.d.
• Oversize, 1881-1914

Container List