1872
Roald Amundsen born July 16
Desk calendar, 1928
Object reference: RA 0187
Height: 9.5 cm
Length : 21.0 cm
Width: 14.0 cm
Materials: wood, metal, paper
Style / Maker: Bloc Shannon / Unis Shannon France
In the Uranienborg study is a French desk calendar on which some of Roald Amundsen’s last notes are written. It has been there on his desk since he left home for the final time on 16 June 1928. Only thirteen pages bear his notes, with the last made on 11 June, but there is also a note written on the back of the page for 9 July, apparently by Roald’s nephew, Gustav “Goggen” Amundsen.
B. 28/3
The fjord ice breaks up at 2 pm
First butterfly
White wagtail today
Has been seen in the “village” Easter Eve [Easter Saturday] — 7th
Has been seen in the “village” Easter Eve [Easter Saturday] — 7th
First hepatica
— bumblebee
— bumblebee
Excavation of basement begun
B.
B.
Byrd
Lovely warm summer day
W. sets outs Byrd’s sledges
Lovely warm summer day
W. sets outs Byrd’s sledges
The first birch comes out
Sowed vegetables
The cuckoo
The swallows are building
Hassel died 5.15 pm
Prentice. 12 noon
Jugcord N4.
Italias crew needs immediate assistance. Stop. Can get suitable plane & best possible pilot & fly there in very short time. Stop. I need $ 60,000. Will your friends finance this.
RA.
Jugcord N4.
Italias crew needs immediate assistance. Stop. Can get suitable plane & best possible pilot & fly there in very short time. Stop. I need $ 60,000. Will your friends finance this.
RA.
Photograph, unidentified woman
Object reference: RA 0679
Height: 19.3 cm
Width: 11.5 cm
Materials: glass, wood, paper
Portrait photograph in gold coloured frame. The mount is embossed with a medallion bearing a Gothic letter L.
Pictured is a young woman in a dark walking suit, with hat and muff. We still don’t know her identity or why her photograph is in Roald Amundsen’s home.
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Photograph, unidentified woman
Object reference: RA 0672
Height: 10.7 cm
Width: 7.3 cm
Materials: glass, wood, paper
Despite what appears to be a signature below this photograph, we still don’t know who this woman is or why her photograph is in Roald Amundsen’s home.
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Photograph, Benito Mussolini, signed
Object reference: RA 0662
Height: 22 cm
Width: 16 cm
Materials: glass, wood, paper
Portrait photograph of Benito Mussolini with a signed personal greeting to Roald Amundsen.
In April 1924, Amundsen was in Italy in connection with the planned expedition to cross the Arctic Ocean with two Dornier-Wal flying boats, which were being built under licence in Pisa. Amundsen met Mussolini in Milan, where he was presented with this photograph.
Amundsen and Mussolini also met in connection with the 1926 Norge expedition, but their relationship deteriorated markedly following Amundsen’s criticisms of Umberto Nobile and the other Italian crew members after the expedition.
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Bowler hat
Object reference: RA 0680
Height: 12 cm
Length: 32 cm
Width: 25.5 cm
Material: Felt
Maker / Retailer: John B. Stetson Co. / Colman’s, San Francisco
“A very Gallant Gentleman”
Object reference: RA 0010
Materials: paper, glass, wood
Lawrence Oates was one of the four Britons who reached the South Pole with Robert Falcon Scott in January 1912, only to discover that Roald Amundsen had been there before them. On the way back, everyone died. According to Scott’s diary, Oates died March 16, 1912. Supposedly, he said this to the others in the tent: “I am just going outside and may be some time.” Then he left the tent and went out into the storm, never to be seen again.
This is a reproduction of John Charles Dollman’s painting from 1913, and shows Oates as he leaves the tent. Under the motif is written “he walked willingly to his death in a blizzard, to try and save his comrades, possessed by hardships”. It used to hang in the living room at Amundsen’s home, but has been moved to the blue living room, sometime around 1928.
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Portrait photograph. Adolphus Washington Greely
Object reference: RA 0674
Height: 13.5 cm
Width: 10.5 cm
Materials: paper, glass, wood
Date: unknown
Adolphus Washington Greely (1844-1935) was an American polar explorer, best known for the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (1881-84).
We don’t know when Amundsen acquired this photograph, but we do know that he and Greely were in contact, because Amundsen’s book collection includes a signed copy of Greely’s book, “Handbook of Alaska, its resources, products and attractions” (1909). The greeting on the book’s inside cover reads, “To my friend Captain Roald Amundsen, A W Greely.”
In the private archive left by Roald Amundsen and now kept at the National Library, there are three letters and a telegram from Greely to Amundsen, written in the years 1906, 1924 and 1926.
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Photograph. Gustav “Busken” Amundsen
Object reference: RA 0670
Height: 13 cm
Width: 8,5 cm
Materials: paper, glass, wood
Framed photograph of Roald Amundsen’s brother, Gustav “Busken” Amundsen.
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Photograph. Malfred Amundsen
Object reference: RA 0671
Height: 13 cm
Width: 8.5 cm
Materials: paper, glass, wood
Framed photograph of a young Malfred Amundsen.
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Photograph. Raymond Lee Newcomb
Object reference: RA 0678
Height: 14 cm
Width: 10 cm
Materials: paper, glass, twood
Framed photograph of a man seated in a chair. Dedication: “To Capt. Roald Amundsen, with the friendship of Raymond Lee Newcomb. Nov 10/07.”
Raymond Lee Newcomb was an American scientist and one of only ten survivors from the American Jeannette expedition, officially known as the U.S. Arctic Expedition (1879-81). Led by George Washington De Long, the expedition aimed to reach the North Pole, but suffered heavy losses when their ship, the Jeannette, was crushed by the ice. Of the crew of thirty-three, twenty men died.
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