The Race for the Pole!

Throughout the 19th century and into the 20th, the North Pole was a place of imagination and fantasy. Who knew what would be there? An open polar sea? A huge magnetic mountain? An endless wasteland? A place of banishment (remember Frankenstein)? Lots of people wanted to find out, and the race was on. Even when it was "discovered" in 1909, nothing was really settled. The ensuing arguments between Frederick Cook and Robert Peary went on for decades.

We recently purchased a huge collection of Arctic ephemera that shows the incredible popularity of the North. Among the playbills, advertising trade cards, sheet music, photographs, and puzzles, there was a simple game called The Race for the Pole from 1905. Three colored balls had to weave up an obstacle laden hill to reach the North Pole--each ball represented a different country. Which would win? Little nails representing ice pack blocked the way, but eventually, with enough tilting and twirling, an intrepid explorer might make it.

To see it, ask for the Arctic Ephemera collection, MSS-288, Box 8.