In July, 1913, Donald B. MacMillan and six other men, members of the Crocker Land Expedition, left New York for the far north. The expedition was sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, with additional support from the American Geographical Society and the University of Illinois. Its primary goal was to confirm the existence of a land that Robert E. Peary had seen in 1906, northwest of the known high Arctic islands. The team also included scientists prepared to collect a wide variety of cultural and environmental information. All did not go smoothly, however. Find out what went wrong and what went right for MacMillan and his companions through the first months of what was supposed to be a two-year expedition.

Pictured above: Foulke Fjord with Borup Lodge, 1913-1917. Hand-tinted glass lantern slide, Gift of Donald and Miriam MacMillan.