The Jeffersonville Library Presents a Talk
Friday, October 16
The Arctic Photography of Sullivan County Explorer Dr. Frederick Cook (1865–1940)
The Frederick Cook Society has been invited to participate in the Jeff Foto Festival, which takes place throughout the streets and storefronts of Jeffersonville, New York, from October 1 through October 18. A selection of Dr. Cook’s photographs from Greenland, South America, Antarctica, the North Pole, and Alaska will be on display at the Jeffersonville Library.
On Friday, October 16, at 5:30 p.m., Frederick Cook Society Executive Director Carol Smith will present a talk exploring the broad arc of Dr. Cook’s career, as seen through his photographs.
On June 10, 2022, author Julian Sancton was interviewed by Carol Smith. His book “Madhouse at the End of the Earth. The Belgica’s journey into the Dark Antarctic Night” focuses largely on Cook’s heroism and remarkable accomplishments as a physician, ethnographer and photographer.
Dr. Frederick Cook was an American explorer who led multiple expeditions to the Arctic, and nearly always traveled with the finest custom designed Zeiss glass plate camera equipment. Hired as the physician for the Belgian Antarctic Expedition of 1897–99, he took some of the first known photographs of the southernmost continent. He also served as the expedition’s ethnographer, a role in which he took a series of extraordinary images documenting lost tribes of the Indigenous peoples of South America.
The Frederick Cook Society, which began in the 1940s as the Cook Arctic Club, has made its home at the Sullivan County Museum in Hurleyville since 1975. The Museum houses a gallery and research library dedicated to the work of Dr. Cook.
The Society was formed to defend Dr. Cook’s legacy, which was aggressively challenged in 1909 by rival explorer Admiral Robert Peary.
A native of Hortonville, New York, Dr. Frederick Cook was educated at Columbia University and New York University Medical College before going on to become one of the world’s great adventurers.
Carol’s talk will examine the roles that The New York Times, the National Geographic Society, and President Theodore Roosevelt played in shaping public opinion around the “polar controversy”. The presentation will also include some fascinating local history about the Cook family’s time in Sullivan County.
Dr. Cook was the chief photographer on all of the expeditions he was a part of, whether he was the expedition’s leader or a member of a venture led by someone else. Much of his remarkable photography has yet to be seen by the general public.
For more information visit jeffersonvilleny.com
or email carolsmith2223@gmail.com