From the National Archives
Document of the Month - February 2003
A menu from a dinner held by the Royal Society of
Edinburgh in February 1897 (
GD1/585/27/9).
The Royal Society was founded in 1783 to promote
learning and, as the initial proposal for the Society says,
'useful knowledge'.
In the 19
th century, the Society particularly focused on
learning through scientific research and study, although it
has resumed a more literary role in modern times. The
peculiar delicacies on offer on this humorous menu are
understandable when one realises that the dinner was held
in honour of the Norwegian arctic explorer and scientist
Fritjof Nansen.
In 1895 Fritjof Nansen and his fellow countryman Hjalmar
Johansen, travelling on a dog sled in the Arctic Circle,
reached a latitude of 86 14' North. This was, at the time,
the furthest north ever reached by explorers and was
achieved as part of a two-year scientific mission to the
Arctic undertaken by the crew of the research vessel
Fram.
During the expedition the crew risked catastrophe by
allowing the ship to drift in the ice flows to determine
the direction of the currents. Although neither the sled
team nor the
Fram reached the North Pole, his expedition gave
the scientific world much new and valuable information
about the Arctic and made Nansen internationally
famous.
Nansen's account of the expedition,
Farthest North, was published in 1897. He went on
to further fame as a politician and with his humanitarian
work after the Great War. He was appointed as League of
Nations high commissioner for refugees in 1921 and in the
following year he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Nansen died in
1930.
The research vessel
Fram achieved even greater fame when Admundsen
used it during his successful attempt to be the first man
to reach the South Pole (1910 - 1912).
The
Fram is now used as a floating museum in
Norway.
Documents of the Month in 2003
January
A gift from a
child queen
Documents of the Month in 2002
May
Treaty of Perpetual Peace
June
Register of Sasines
July
Architectural sketch of seaside shelter
August
The shirt with a message in Hindustani
September
Letter to Charles II in 1664
October
18th century map of Africa
November
Murder in Appin 1752
December
Plight of the
orphaned bairn
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