I’m Eddie, and for the last few months I’ve been working on cataloguing the archives’ material related to the Arctic whaler, explorer and scientist William Scoresby Junior (1789-1857). At the archives, we have three boxes of material donated by Scoresby following his death. These boxes include early versions of prints published in his books ‘An Account of the Arctic Regions’ (1820) and ‘Journal of a Voyage to the Northern Whale Fishery’ (1823), as well as maps and scientific diagrams.
Although I only started volunteering at the archives this year, I first worked with material from the Scoresby Papers collection when conducting research for my history degree in 2023. I’ve always been fascinated by the history of exploration, especially the exploration of the polar regions, so when it came time to choose my dissertation topic, Scoresby was a no-brainer. After approaching the archives with an initial enquiry, I was overjoyed to discover just how friendly and helpful the volunteers here were! I had an amazing week looking at the Scoresby collection, guided by the then-Scoresby Curator, Fiona Barnard. I even discovered the spooky coincidence that Scoresby and I share a birthday! My dissertation, titled ‘One Of ‘Us Arctic Men’- The Impact of William Scoresby Junior (1789-1857) on British Arctic Exploration in the Early Nineteenth Century’, explored Scoresby’s efforts to explore the Arctic from 1817 to 1823 (a copy has recently been accessioned into the archives!).
My positive experience at the archives inspired me to study an MA in museum studies. Following my MA and an internship working with Captain Scott’s collections at the Natural History Museum, I reached out to Whitby Museum and arranged to start volunteering. I began by cataloguing the archives’ ‘Green Boxes’ on Scoresby, but I had my heart set on cataloguing the three boxes of Scoresby material hidden away at the back of the archive store room. Eventually, after a discussion with the museum’s Scoresby curator, Phil Richards, my wish was granted!
The three boxes contain a variety of materials, dating from throughout Scoresby’s life. So far, I’ve catalogued diagrams relating to magnetic and optical experiments, maps of the polar regions, documents relating to Scoresby’s time as a vicar in Bradford, and hand-drawn charts of the eastern coast of Greenland. My favourite objects I’ve catalogued include a map of Britain and Spitsbergen drawn by Scoresby in 1806, at the age of 15 (WHIT/B1/B1.5/1/6/9) and a map of John Ross and William Edward Parry’s Arctic expedition from 1818, signed by John Ross and containing the infamous ‘Croker Mountains’ mirage which ended the expedition early (WHIT/B1/B1.5/1/14/10).
By far the strangest thing I’ve catalogued is a folder titled ‘Patterns of Whales’, containing several pieces of paper cut into the shape of pieces of whales (fins, tails, jaws, etc.). The folder (WHIT/B1/B1.5/1/13) lacks any other context or information, besides a signature from ‘Rev. W. Scoresby’ on one of the tail fins. This narrows their construction down to between 1839 and 1847, but following this, the trail runs cold. All I can imagine is that the whale pieces were used for an especially unusual sermon by Scoresby, who must have been an especially eccentric vicar.
If anyone’s interested in learning more about Scoresby, I’d recommend visiting the museum’s explorer’s wing, then following this up with a visit to the archive to read some biographies about Whitby’s best Arctic explorer (apologies to fans of Captain Cook’s third voyage!). By special request we can arrange for individuals to access the Scoresby Archive – please email [email protected]
By Eddie Jenkins BA History (Aberystwyth University) & MA Museum Studies (University of Leicester)