A NAME FOR HISTORY: PEARY 



A BUST OF REAR ADMIRAL ROBERT E. PEARY, ARCTIC EXPLORER, HAS 



BEEN PRESENTED TO THE MUSEUM BY MRS. MORRIS K. JESUP. 



ON THE ARRIVAL OF THE BUST FROM FLORENCE, WHERE 



IT HAS BEEN CUT IN CARRARA MARBLE, IT WILL 



OCCUPY A NICHE IN MEMORIAL HALL^ 



ON this April, 1912 marking the third anniversary of the discovery 

 of the North Pole, there is full realization in public opinion of 

 the imperishable record Peary made for himself in that attain- 

 ment. Many had striven during more than three centuries; the triumph 

 came to Peary, sailor, surveyor, civil engineer, and for twenty-three years 

 Arctic explorer. Success however rested not merely on training and ex- 

 perience but also on the character of the man. He brought to the work 

 the initiative and courage of executive power and a sufficient consciousness 

 of this power to push always ahead — and it can be added, often at great 

 personal sacrifice. It was this strength and knowledge of strength that 

 inspired confidence in all associated with him, from the Eskimo who left 

 his family to share the struggles against cold, fatigue and hunger, for a 

 goal the importance of which he could scarcely appreciate, to the keen- 

 sighted man of science or business who gave financial support to the work. 

 It was the grit of Peary that won the sixteen members of the Peary 

 Arctic Club, which had its first meeting in 1899. Such was the belief 

 in this man " of clear-eyed confidence who knew what he wanted to do and 

 intended to do it," that the support would have been the same had his 

 quest been the South Pole, or in the words of one of the members, " the moon 

 or any other place." They shared the enthusiasm of this man who "put 

 up such a splendid fight," who at one time "continued his work on crutches 

 when the freezing of his feet necessitated the suffering attendant on the 

 loss of seven toes." 



The Peary Arctic Club in the recent official recognition of Peary with 

 its medal of honor announced its work done. The Club, Peary and the 

 Museum have been an organization of forces unusual because of unanimity 

 of purpose. The late Morris K. Jesup, president of the Club, was a man 

 who stood for results; Peary's aim during the entire twenty-three years 

 was but a tremendous effort toward the realization of a vision in results; 

 and the Museum has always been a place where the example set by those 



' The other marble busts in memorial hall — the work of the same American sculptor — 

 were unveiled on Dec(!mber 29, 1900 and were the gift of th(^ late Morris K. Jesup. They 

 represent the following m(^n of sciinico: Benjamin Franklin, Alexander von Humboldt, 

 John James Audubon, John Torrey, Joseph Henry, Louis Agassiz, James Dwight Dana, 

 Spencer FuUerton Baird, Joseph Leidy and Edward Drinker Cope. 



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