Collection Summary
Frederick Albert Cook
Papers 1881-1977
(bulk 1891-1940)
1881-1977
(bulk 1891-1940)
MSS79763
Cook, Frederick Albert, 1865-1940
6000 items
23 containers plus 2 oversize
10 linear feet
50 microfilm reels
English
Collection material in English
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
Physician, explorer, and author. Correspondence, manuscript and printed copies of books and essays, diaries, financial and legal papers, genealogical notes, certificates, maps, and other papers relating primarily to Cook's expeditions to the Arctic (1891-1892 and 1901) with Robert E. Peary and Matthew Alexander Henson, to the Antarctic with Roald Amundsen's Belgian Antarctic Expedition (1897-1899), to Mt. McKinley (1906), to the North Pole (1907-1909), and around the world (1915-1916); and to the controversy surrounding Cook's claim that he discovered the North Pole.
Selected Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
People
Amundsen, Roald, 1872-1928--Correspondence.
Bennett, James Gordon, 1841-1918--Correspondence.
Bernier, J. E., 1852-1934--Correspondence.
Boriss, Stanley--Correspondence.
Buffalo Bill, 1846-1917--Correspondence.
Clemens, Cyril, 1902-1999--Correspondence.
Cook, Frederick Albert, 1865-1940--Trials, litigation, etc.
Cook, Frederick Albert, 1865-1940.
Cook, Marie Fidell Hunt--Correspondence.
Entrikin, Samuel J.--Correspondence.
Fiala, Anthony, 1869-1950--Correspondence.
Franke, Rudolph--Correspondence.
Franklin, Alfred S.--Correspondence.
Freeman, Andrew A., 1900- --Correspondence.
Goodsell, John W., 1873-1949--Correspondence.
Hamilton, Ruth Hunt Cook--Correspondence.
Harré, T. Everett (Thomas Everett), 1884-1948--Correspondence.
Hayes, J. Gordon (James Gordon), 1877-1936--Correspondence.
Henson, Matthew Alexander, 1866-1955.
Kiel, Lilian E.--Correspondence.
Levin, Hugo--Correspondence.
Lory, Milton M.--Correspondence.
Mears, William E.--Correspondence.
Murphy, Adah--Correspondence.
Murphy, Eugene A.--Correspondence.
Neville, Russell T.--Correspondence.
Nordenskjöld, Otto, 1869-1928--Correspondence.
Peary, Robert E. (Robert Edwin), 1856-1920.
Reitman, Ben L. (Ben Lewis), 1879-1942--Correspondence.
Riis, S. M. (Sergius Martin), 1883- --Correspondence.
Rost, Ernest Christian, 1867-1940--Correspondence.
Ruskin, John W.--Correspondence.
Schley, Winfield Scott, 1839-1911--Correspondence.
Shea, William E.--Correspondence.
Thompson, F. P. (Frank P.)--Correspondence.
Vetter, Helen Cook. Helen Cook Vetter papers. 1910-1977.
Wack, Henry Wellington, 1869-1954--Correspondence.
Whitney, Harry, 1873-1936--Correspondence.
Organizations
Petroleum Producers Association.
United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas--Periodicals.
Subjects
Cold--Physiological effect.
Diet.
Drug abuse--Treatment.
Ethnology--Africa.
Ethnology--Greenland.
Ethnology--Patagonia (Argentina and Chile)
Ethnology--Tierra del Fuego (Argentina and Chile)
Prison reformers.
Voyages around the world.
Places
Antarctica--Discovery and exploration.
Arctic regions--Discovery and exploration.
Denali, Mount (Alaska)--Discovery and exploration.
North Pole--Discovery and exploration.
Titles
Leavenworth new era.
Occupations
Authors.
Explorers.
Physicians.
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 were arranged and described in 1991; the finding aid was revised in 2006.
Additional Guides
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).
Transfers
Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Photographs have 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.).
Access and Restrictions
The papers of Frederick Albert Cook are open to research.
Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to
visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to
retrieve these items for research use.
Microfilm
A microfilm edition of these papers is available on twenty-five reels. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division concerning
availability for purchase or interlibrary loan. To promote preservation of the
originals, researchers are required to consult the microfilm edition as
available.
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
Date
Event
1865, June 10
Born,
Hortonville, Sullivan County, N.Y.
1885
1886
Student,
College of Physicians and Surgeons,
New York, N.Y.
1889
Married
Libby Forbes
(died 1890)
1890
Graduated (M.D.)
University Medical College,
New York, N.Y.
1891
1892
Surgeon and ethnologist,
North Greenland
expedition led by
Robert E. Peary
1893
Led
Greenland
expedition aboard the Zeta
1897
1899
Surgeon and ethnologist, Belgian
Antarctic
expedition led by
Adrien de Gerlache,
aboard the Belgica
1900
Published
Through the First Antarctic Night
(New York: Doubleday & McClure Co. xxiv, 478 pp.)
1901
Surgeon,
Robert E. Peary's
Greenland
expedition aboard the
Erik
1902
Married
Marie Fidell Hunt
(divorced 1923)
1906
Claimed attainment of the summit of
Mount McKinley, Alaska
1907, July 3
Sailed from
Gloucester, Mass.,
for
Greenland
aboard the John R. Bradley in preparation for polar expedition
1908
Published
To the Top of the Continent
(New York: Doubleday, Page & Co. xxi, 321 pp.)
1908, Apr. 21
Claimed discovery of the
North Pole
1909, Sept. 1
Telegram from
Lerwick, Shetland Islands,
announcing Cook's claim
1909, Sept. 6
Robert E. Peary's
counterclaim message received
1911
Published
My Attainment of the Pole
(New York: Polar Publishing Co. xx, 640 pp.)
1915
1916
Led round-the-world expedition, focusing on anthropological study in
Borneo
1917
Conducted geological exploration in
Wyoming
1923
Convicted of mail fraud in connection with
Petroleum Producers' Association
stock issue
1925
1930
Inmate,
United States Penitentiary
in
Leavenworth, Kans.
; editor of prison newspaper,
Leavenworth New Era
(later called
New Era
)
1940, Aug. 5
Died,
New Rochelle, N.Y.
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](diar) 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.](corr) 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](writ) 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
](cook) 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](diar)
-
[Correspondence, 1891-1940](corr)
-
[Writings, 1891-1953](writ)
-
[Miscellany, 1889-1944](misc)
-
[Helen Cook Vetter File, 1910-1977](cook)
-
[Oversize, 1881-1914](over)
Catalog Record: [https://lccn.loc.gov/mm89079763]
Container List
Box
Reel
Contents
1
1
Diaries, 1893-1930
1893-1930
Records of data and general observations pertaining to various expeditions; lists of supplies; and outlines and/or drafts for subsequent writings.
Arranged chronologically.
1
1
19 Aug.-4 Oct. 1893
17 July-20 Sept. 1906
15 Oct.-11 Dec. 1907
25 May [1907]-1909
3 July 1907-17 Feb. 1908
19 Feb. 1908-4 Sept. 1909
17 Aug. 1908-17 June 1909
1 Sept. 1908-18 June 1909
[circa 1908-1909]
8 June-12 Dec. 1915
9 Mar.-5 Aug. 1930
2-5
2-5
Correspondence, 1891-1940
1891-1940
Predominantly letters received.
Arranged chronologically.
2
2
1891-1894
1894
1902-1908
1909
A-M
(8 folders)
3
3
N-Z
(5 folders)
1910-1916
1921-1929
(4 folders)
4
4
1930-1935
(6 folders)
1936
(1 folder)
5
5
(1 folder)
1937-1940, undated
(5 folders)
6-19
6-20
Writings, 1891-1953
1891-1953
Manuscript and typescript drafts and printed copies of books and essays; association books (published works by Cook and others, annotated by Cook); and film and radio scripts.
Arranged by type of writing and alphabetically therein by title.
6
6
Article file
"Advertising--Man Versus Nature," undated
"Africana," 1927-1931
"The Afterglow (Indians of Central New York)," 1927
"America's Unconquered Mountain," 1904
"Amphibian Progenitors of Man (Wild Men and Wild Women)," undated
The Apartment Owner
, 1931-1933
"The Arctic Regions as a Summer Resort," 1894
"The Ark," 1931
Autobiographical notes, undated
"Brim of the Unknown," undated
"Cellular Therapy," 1930
"Century Club," 1930
"The Coldest Spot on Earth," 1933
"The Conquest of Mount McKinley," 1907
"Conspiracy & Plot," 1939
"Crime is a State of Mind," undated
"The Eclipse of 1909 at Upernavik," undated
"Edge of the Beyond," 1929
"Edge of the Unknown," undated
"Experiences with a Camera in the Antarctic," 1938
"Factors in the Destruction of Primitive Man," 1904
"Feeling Perception," 1929
7
7
"Frontiers of a New Horizon," 1925-1930
(3 folders)
Greenland Expedition, 1891-1892
"The Greenlanders," 1895
"The Half was Never Told--Polar Delusion," 1930
"Hell is a Cold Place," undated
(1 folder)
8
8
(3 folders)
9
9
"In the Penguin World," 1929
"The Indomitable Pathfinder, Amundsen," undated
"Influence of Cold," 1925-1929
Leavenworth New Era
[
See
New Era
](new9)
"Man--The Poor Fish," 1928
"Medical Observations Among the Esquimaux," 1894
"Memoirs of Polar Adventure," undated
"The Most Northern Tribe on Earth," 1893
New Era
, 1925-1930 (articles organized by title)
A-H
(8 folders)
10
10
I-Z
(12 folders)
Untitled
(2 folders)
11
11
(1 folder)
"The North Pole at Last," 1909
"On the Mystery of Andrée's Death," 1930
"Opianna," 1927-1931
(2 folders)
"Other Worlds to Conquer," 1925-1930
(2 folders)
"Out of the Jungle," undated
(2 folders)
12
12
(1 folder)
"Outward Extension of the Mind," undated
"Peeps into the Beyond," undated
(3 folders)
"The People of the Farthest North," 1902
"Pigmiana," undated
"Plans for Dr. Cook's Proposed Antarctic Expedition and Story of the Eskimos and Dogs," circa 1894
"Post-thumous," 1935
"Present Status," circa 1932-1934
13
13
"Primitive Intellectuals," undated
"The Prince of Liars," 1925
"Retrospect of the Polar Controversy," 1935
Return from the Pole
("At the End of North"), 1930-1935; 1950
(3 folders)
"Ripley's Believe it or Not," 1935
"Round Mt. McKinley," 1904
"Some Physical Effects of Arctic Cold, Darkness, and Light," 1897
"Tahkoo: Wild People and Wild Animals," undated
"Test of Fidelity in an Explorer's Work," 1936
"The War of the Ice World," 1916
14
14
"With Wild Man of Farthest North," undated
Untitled, undated
(4 folders)
Association books
Cook, Frederick A.
Through the First Antarctic Night, 1898-1899
(New York: Doubleday & McClure Co., 1900. xxiv, 478 pp.)
15
15
To the Top of the Continent
(New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1908. xxi, 321 pp.) (3 copies)
16
16
My Attainment of the Pole
(New York: The Polar Publishing Co., 1911. xx, 640 pp.)
(2 copies)
17
17-18
(1 copy
My Attainment of the Pole
(Press Edition. New York and London: Mitchell Kennerley, 1913. xx, 610 pp.) (4 copies)
18
19
Return from the Pole
(London: Burke, 1953. 254 pp.)
Wo Norden Süden Ist
(Hamburg: Hoffman und Campe Verlag, 1953. 268 pp.)
Hayes, J. Gordon.
Robert Edwin Peary: A Record of His Explorations, 1886-1909
(London: Grant Richards & Humphrey Toulmin, 1929. xv, 299 pp.)
Henson, Matthew A.
A Negro Explorer at the North Pole
(New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1912. xx, 200 pp.)
Hobbs, William Herbert.
Peary
(New York: Macmillan, 1936. xv, 502 pp.)
The Individualist
[Vol. 27], January 1931.
Levin, W. Henry.
The Great North Pole Fraud
(London: The C. W. Daniel Co., Ltd., 1935. vii, 192 pp.)
19
20
Morris, Charles, ed.
Finding the North Pole
([Philadelphia]: W. E. Scull, 1909. xii, 448 pp.)
Scripts
"Battling Round the World in War Time," circa 1915-1916
(2 folders)
Radio, 1936-1940, undated
Speeches, 1909-1936, undated
19-21
20-22
Miscellany, 1889-1944
1889-1944
Address lists, genealogical notes, legal and financial papers, maps, polar calculations and ephemerides, press clippings, printed ephemera, and subject files.
Grouped by subseries and arranged alphabetically.
19
20
Address books and lists, undated
(3 folders)
20
21
Affidavits
Franke, Rudolph, 1935
Harré, T. Everett, 1944
Kiel, Lilian E., 1910-1912
Badge, Motor Racing Association, 15-16 Oct. 1909
Clippings, 1889, 1893-1940, undated
(3 folders)
Diplomas and certificates [
See Oversize
](dipov1)
Explorers Club Yearbook
, 1906
Genealogical notes, undated
Legal and financial papers
Cook v. Mirsky, 1935-1938
Divorce decree, 1923
Estate papers, 1937-1940
Orient Film Co., 1915
Petroleum Producers' Association, 1920-1923
Publication contract, "Peeps into the Beyond," 1936
Receipted bills, 1932-1940
Trial transcripts, United States v. Cook, 1923
(1 folder)
21
22
(2 folders)
Warrant of pardon, 1940
Maps
Bartholomew, J. G.,
Physical Chart of North Polar Regions
, 1897
Geographical Survey of Canada,
Geological Map of the Northeastern Part of the Dominion of Canada to Illustrate the Report on the Cruise of the D. G. S. Neptune to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Islands, 1906
Servoss, R. D., [North Polar Regions, 1906]
Sketch showing magnetic and geographic north poles, [1908]
National Geographic Society,
North America
, 1924
Polar calculations and ephemerides
Almanacs and ephemerides, 1908
Reductions of sextant data
30 Mar. 1908
8 Apr. 1908
14 Apr. 1908
21 Apr. 1908
Seven polar reductions, 21 Apr. 1908
Copy of note in tube, 21 Apr. 1908
Range of vision from an altitude, undated
Printed matter
Miscellany, 1902-1939, undated
(3 folders)
Advertising poster,
My Attainment of the Pole
, 1911 [
See Oversize
](adov2)
Silhouette portraits, 1932
22-23
23-25
Helen Cook Vetter File, 1910-1977
1910-1977
Letters received, clippings, and research notes pertaining to Frederick A. Cook, the
North Pole
controversy, and related literature.
Letters arranged chronologically; clippings and notes arranged alphabetically.
22
23-24
Correspondence, 1940-1977
(6 folders)
Subject file
Cook, Frederick A.
"Hell is a Cold Place," undated
My Attainment of the Pole
, undated
"Present Status," undated
Return from the Pole
, 1951
To the Top of the Continent
, undated
Miscellany, circa 1934-1950, undated
(3 folders)
23
25
Cook v. Mirsky, undated
Fiala, Anthony, undated
Franke, Rudolph, undated
Harré, T. Everett, undated
Hayes, J. Gordon,
Robert Edwin Peary
, undated
Henson, Matthew A.,
A Negro Explorer at the North Pole
, undated
Hobbs, William Herbert,
Peary
, undated
Kiel, Lilian E., undated
Lecture notes, undated
Lewin, W. Henry,
The Great North Pole Fraud
, undated
Miscellany, undated
Morris, Charles, ed.,
Finding the North Pole
, undated
Mount McKinley, Alaska, undated
Peary, Robert E.
General, undated
Holograph letters, 1910-1911
United States Senate, Committee on Constitutional Rights, 1955
OV 1-OV 2
25
Oversize, 1881-1914
1881-1914
Diplomas, certificates, and a poster advertising
My Attainment of the Pole.
Organized and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.
OV 1
25
Miscellany
Diplomas and certificates (Container 20)
American Ethnological Society, election to resident membership, 1893
Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn, N.Y., P.S. 37, For faithfulness and proficiency as a pupil, 1881
Chevalier de l'Ordre de Léopold, decoration civile, 1899
City of New York, Freedom of the City, New York, N.Y., 1909 [transcription]
Det Kongelige Danske Geografiske Selskab . . . Guldmedaile, 1909
Exposition Coloniale Nationale, Marseilles, diplôme commémoratif, 1906
New York University, University Medical College, New York, N.Y., 1891 [1931]
Nord Cincinnati Turn-Verein, diploma, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1909
Société Royale Belge de Géographie, diplôme de médaille d'argent, 1899
United Danish Societies of Greater New York, 1909
OV 2
25
[University of Copenhagen], Copenhagen, Denmark, summos in philosophia honores, 1909
University of the City of New York, Medical Department, New York, N.Y.
Laboratory of chemistry, laboratory student in urinalysis, 1890
Laboratory of materia medica, 1890
Operative surgery, 1889
Private instruction in physical diagnosis by Charles Elihu Quimby, M.D., 1890
Westminster Kennel Club, New York, N.Y., exhibition of Eskimo dogs, 1894 (3 items)
Zetetic Society of Massachusetts, 1914
Printed matter (Container 21)
Advertising poster,
My Attainment of the Pole
, 1911