Joseph M. and Bertha Courtright Campbell photograph collection


Descriptive Summary
Title: Joseph M. and Bertha Courtright Campbell photograph collection
Creator: Unknown
Inclusive Dates: 1850-1929
Language(s): English
Extent: 0.5 Linear Feet 1 document box
Collection Number: ms2663
Repository: Hargrett Library

Collection Description

Historical Note

Robert Edwin Peary was a U.S. Arctic explorer usually credited with leading the first expedition to reach the North Pole (1909). Peary entered the U.S. Navy in 1881 and pursued a naval career until his retirement, with leaves of absence granted for Arctic exploration. In 1886, with his black American associate Matthew Henson, he traveled inland from Disko Bay over the Greenland ice sheet for 100 miles, reaching a point 7,500 feet above sea level. In 1891 Peary returned to Greenland with seven companions, including his wife and Frederick A. Cook, who in 1909 would claim to have reached the North Pole before Peary. On this expedition Peary sledged 1,300 miles to northeastern Greenland, discovered Independence Fjord, and found evidence of Greenland's being an island. He aslo studied the "Arctic Highlanders," an isolated Eskimo tribe who helped him greatly on later expeditions. Robert Edwin Peary - Encyclopedia Birtannica Online http://www.britannica.com (Retrived May 5, 2009)

Dr. Thomas Dedrick was a surgeon with the Peary Arctic expedition in 1898-1902 and lived for a year with the Eskimos in Etah, Greenland. New York Times - September 3, 1909 http://www.nytimes.com (Retrieved July 27, 2009)

Scope and Content

The collection consists of unidentified photographs of people related to Joseph M. and Bertha Courtright Campbell who lived in Hackettstown, New Jersey in the early 1900s. Most of the images are cabinet cards, but there are also 7 cartes de visite and 16 tintypes, as well as other sizes of photographs. Of the few identified images are included a boudoir card photograph (5 1/4" x 8 1/2") of the United States Naval Hospital and a cabinet card photograph of a Dr. Dedrick who accompanied Robert E. Peary on his 1898-1902 Polar expedition.