Shackleton, British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909

• MS 1614;D Correspondence about the specifications for the timber portable hut for the expedition, 1907, 3 leaves, photostat
• MS 1537/2/22/1;D Account, 1907 [Leaving Lyttelton to establishing a base camp with description of hut] 127 leaves, typescript
• MS 1537/2/16/5;D Letter regarding McMurdo Sound decision, 26 January 1908, 10 leaves
• MS 1537/3/6;BJ Diary, 9 October 1908 to 1 March 1909 [Contains loose leaves and a family photograph in the front] holograph
• MS 1537/3/11;BJ Notebook, undated [With records of figures for weights, food etc and lists of money in -s-d for Joyce, Wild, Murray, Roberts, Armitage, Mackay, and Shackleton, large number of blank pages but also contains a draft preface to Aurora Australis setting out differences between it and South Polar Times and also various drafts of a poem, Mount Erebus] holograph
• MS 1602/1-4;D Posters and promotional material to advertise dates for lecture tour, 1909-1910 [London, Germany and Switzerland]
• MS 1537/2/24/13;D Souvenir programme of the exhibition of the British Antarctic Expedition, London, 1909-1910 [Includes lists of photographs and exhibits] holograph
• MS 1537/2/24/12;D Menu, 29 June 1909 [Welcome home dinner, Princes Restaurant]
• MS 1537/2/26/13-15;D Printed programme for lecture tour, November 1909 to March 1910
• MS 1537/2/24/14;D Souvenir programme of visit to Tunbridge Wells, 4 November 1909, holograph
• MS 367/9/1-2;D Heart of the Antarctic [Loose pages from the book with a note by Hugh Robert Mill dated 11 April 1924 attached] typescript

The British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909 (led by Shackleton) sailed south in Nimrod. A shore party of 15 set up base on the Antarctic continent; they discovered nearly 500km of the Transantarctic Mountains flanking the Ross Ice Shelf. A party climbed Mount Erebus (3794 m), Ross Island. A southern party consisting of Shackleton, Jameson Adams, Eric Marshall and John Robert Francis [Frank] Wild found a route up the Beardmore Glacier and sledged to within 180km of the pole.

A second party sledged to he region of the South Magnetic pole and exploration of the area around the Ferrar Glacier was also conducted.

The collection relates to the planning of the expedition, material created during the expedition and the subsequent lecture tour and book Heart of the Antarctic

Chronological

The Institute holds several archival collections containing material relating to this expedition, see SPRI collection GB 15 British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909 for more information.