About
The Scott Polar Research Institute houses the world's most comprehensive collection dedicated to polar exploration and research. Founded in 1920 as a memorial to Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his companions who perished on the return journey from the South Pole in 1912, this remarkable museum preserves the heroic age of polar exploration while advancing contemporary polar science.
The museum's collection spans over a century of polar endeavor, from the earliest Arctic expeditions to modern Antarctic research stations. Visitors encounter original artifacts from Scott's Terra Nova expedition (1910-1913), including sledges, scientific instruments, clothing, and personal items that tell the poignant story of human endeavor in Earth's most extreme environments. The collection also features materials from other legendary expeditions including those led by Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen, and Fridtjof Nansen.
Beyond its historical treasures, the Institute maintains an outstanding fine art collection featuring polar landscapes by artists who accompanied expeditions or captured the sublime beauty of polar regions. Works include paintings, sketches, and watercolors that document both the scientific and aesthetic dimensions of polar exploration. The photographic archives contain thousands of images chronicling polar exploration from the earliest expeditions to contemporary research missions.
As both a museum and an active research institute within the University of Cambridge, the Scott Polar Research Institute bridges historical exploration with cutting-edge polar science. Researchers here study climate change, glaciology, polar ecosystems, and the social dimensions of polar regions. The museum's exhibitions incorporate this contemporary research, demonstrating how historical exploration laid foundations for today's understanding of polar environments and their critical role in global climate systems. Educational programs connect school groups and visitors with both the dramatic human stories of polar exploration and the urgent scientific questions facing polar regions today.
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Highlights
Scott's Terra Nova Expedition Artifacts
The museum's most poignant collection comprises original artifacts from Captain Scott's final expedition to Antarctica (1910-1913).
These include sledges used on the journey to the South Pole, navigation instruments, scientific equipment, and personal items belonging to Scott and his companions. Particularly moving are Scott's last letters and diary entries, written in the tent where he and his companions died on the return journey, just 11 miles from a supply depot.
These artifacts provide an intimate connection to one of exploration's most famous tragedies, revealing both the extraordinary courage and the ultimate sacrifice of the polar explorers. The collection contextualizes the expedition within its scientific mission – Scott's party collected 35 pounds of geological specimens including fossil plants that proved Antarctica had once been forested, advancing understanding of continental drift.
Polar Exploration Equipment and Technology
A comprehensive collection of polar exploration equipment demonstrates the evolution of technology used to survive and work in Earth's most extreme environments. Displays include sledges from various expeditions showing design innovations, fur and textile clothing systems that protected explorers from temperatures below -50°C, and cooking equipment adapted for use at altitude and in extreme cold.
Navigation instruments including sextants, chronometers, and early radio equipment illustrate how explorers found their way across featureless ice landscapes.
Scientific instruments used to measure temperature, ice depth, magnetic variation, and meteorological conditions reveal the research objectives that drove many expeditions. The contrast between equipment from the heroic age (1890s-1920s) and modern polar gear demonstrates how technology has transformed polar exploration, though the fundamental challenges of cold, isolation, and extreme environment remain constant.
Fine Art Collection of Polar Landscapes
The Institute houses an exceptional collection of polar art featuring paintings, watercolors, and sketches by artists who accompanied expeditions or worked in polar regions. Works by Edward Wilson (who died with Scott), Herbert Ponting (photographer on the Terra Nova expedition), and contemporary polar artists capture the sublime beauty and harsh reality of Arctic and Antarctic landscapes.
These artworks serve multiple purposes: as historical documentation of expeditions, as scientific illustration of geological and biological features, and as aesthetic expressions of human responses to extreme landscapes.
The collection includes dramatic depictions of ice formations, the aurora borealis, wildlife, and expedition camps. Many pieces were created in extraordinarily difficult conditions – artists working with frozen paints or drawing with numb fingers – adding another dimension to appreciation of these works.
The art collection demonstrates how polar regions have inspired human imagination and aesthetic expression alongside scientific curiosity.
Photographic Archives of Polar Expeditions
The museum's photographic collection contains thousands of images documenting polar exploration from the 1890s to the present day.
Herbert Ponting's photographs from Scott's Terra Nova expedition are highlights – his images of the ship frozen in ice, team members at work, and Antarctic landscapes are iconic representations of the heroic age of exploration. Frank Hurley's photographs from Shackleton's Endurance expedition (1914-1917), including dramatic images of the ship being crushed by ice, document one of history's most remarkable survival stories.
The collection extends beyond expeditions to include aerial photography showing ice sheet changes, images of research stations, and contemporary documentation of scientific work in polar regions. These photographs serve as both historical record and scientific data, with early images now used to measure glacial retreat and ice shelf changes over more than a century.
Collections
The Heroic Age of Polar Exploration
Comprehensive exhibition covering polar expeditions from 1890s to 1920s, featuring Scott, Shackleton, Amundsen, and other explorers who first reached the poles and mapped polar regions.
Living at the Poles: Indigenous Arctic Cultures
Artifacts and materials documenting Inuit and other Arctic indigenous peoples, demonstrating sophisticated adaptations to extreme environments and rich cultural traditions.
Polar Science Today
Contemporary polar research exhibition featuring current scientific work in glaciology, climate science, polar ecosystems, and ongoing monitoring of environmental change.
Art of the Arctic and Antarctic
Rotating displays from the fine art collection showing how artists have depicted polar landscapes, wildlife, and human activities from expedition era to contemporary times.
Current Exhibitions
Polar Regions in a Changing Climate
Exhibition examining accelerating changes in Arctic and Antarctic regions, including ice sheet dynamics, wildlife impacts, and implications for global climate systems.