Department News
- Bowdoin Expertise on the Plight of the Polar Bear
- Centennial of Peary's North Pole Expedition Celebrated at Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum
- Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center to Unveil Northward Over the Great Ice
- Campus Welcomes Back Museum With Year of Events, Courses
- Search for Lost Arctic Film Footage Yields Orphaned Gem
Announcements
New Exhibition at The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum
To commemorate the hundreth anniversary of Robert E. Peary's 1908-09 expediiton, the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum opened its new exhibit Northward Over the Great Ice: Robert E. Peary and the Quest for the North Pole on April 18, 2008. Through the use of hundreds of objects, rare photographs and film clips, and historic recordings, the exhibit tells some of the little-known stories behind Peary's quest to reach the North Pole, and the extraordinary efforts of the talented individuals who worked with him to attain that goal.
The Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center is named for Arctic explorers and Bowdoin College graduates Robert E. Peary (Class of 1877) and Donald B. MacMillan (Class of 1898). The museum collections include Arctic exploration gear, natural history specimens, and art and anthropological material, produced primarily by the Inuit cultures of Labrador and Greenland. The museum also has large holdings of historic and anthropological photographs and motion picture film.
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The museum consists of three galleries as well as exhibit space for photographs in the foyer. Two galleries have permanent exhibits on Arctic environments and people, and on Robert E. Peary's 1908-09 North Pole Expedition. Exhibits in the third gallery and in the foyer change on a regular basis. Through the Arctic Studies Center, research focuses on the prehistory, history, anthropology, and environment of northern peoples and Arctic exploration.