GEORGE BORUP — IN MEMORIAM 157 



George Borup was the son of Lieutenant Colonel H. D. Borup, U. S. A., 

 ret'red, and was brought up by his father to have military ideas of honor, 

 uprightness and chivalry. Educated at Groton School and Yale University, 

 he was graduated with the degree of bachelor of arts from the latter institu- 

 tion in 1907. He then went into the mechanical department of the Penn- 

 sylvania Railroad at Altoona; but the yearning for tra^'el and exploration, 

 particularly in the Arctics, was strong within him and he was not content 

 till he persuaded Rear Admiral (then Commander) Peary to give him a place 

 as assistant on the north polar expedition of 1908-1909. Loyal to the last 

 degree in every spot where he was placed, young Borup was finally intrusted 

 with important commissions on the accomplishment of which Peary com- 

 mends him highly. Buoyant in his enthusiasm and boundless in energy, 

 he was the life of the ship "Roosevelt" during the long night at Cape 

 Sheridan and on the trying sledge journeys. He kept a diary which de- 

 veloped into the book, A Tenderfoot with Ptary, which gave the world in 

 vivid language the human side of an Arctic expedition as it never had been 

 given before. 



Borup returned from the North imbued with an idea of the value of 

 scientific exploration and determined to devote his life to it. He came to 

 the writer of this sketch in the fall of 1909 and said, "This Museum seems 

 to me the best place in the workl for a fellow; do you think. Sir, that if I 

 were to study and work like the dickens three or four years I could get a 

 job here?" Circumstances however were not favorable just then and he 

 went back to work in the shops at Altoona. Nevertheless nothing could 

 daunt the young man or turn him from his cherished purpose. Seeing his 

 determination, the Museum formulated a general line of work antl study 

 and he went at it: first on the United States Geological Sur\ey where he 

 spent the field season of 1910 on topography, then at Yale, where the pro- 

 fessors in the department of geology took the greatest interest in him and 

 designated the branches of study that he should pursue. Diligent applica- 

 tion pro\e(l his worth and brought out the fine quality of his mind. 



The vacation season of 1911 was spent partly in the college geological 

 camp in the mountains of Virginia and partly in work as an assistant in the 

 department of geology and invertebrate paUieontology in the Museum. In 

 the fall, Professor Gregory of Yale was so fa\()rably impressed with the 

 progress being made by the young enthusiast, that he warmly indorsed 

 him for the scientific leadershij) of an expedition to the far north to verify 

 the existence of Peary's Crocker Land and to do scientific work along many 

 lines — a great enterprise in which he was to share credit equally with 

 Donald B. ]\IacMillan, another of Rear .\dmiral Peary's trusted assistants 

 in 1908-1909. 



Now on the eve of departure, with success assured as far as adequate 

 equipment in every respect could assure it, with a brilliant career opening 



