1934 Sub-Arctic Expedition Journal is Conserved, Digitized and Prepared for Archival Storage
The 1934 historic memoirs of a sub-Arctic expedition have been conserved by Emilie van der Hoorn, Conservator of Paper. A hand-written diary and typewritten copies are held by the University of Northern British Columbia. The NBCA’s conservation treatment project was partially funded by an anonymous private foundation, and FSR is very pleased to have been chosen for this project.
In 1934, French-born American millionaire Charles Bedaux, embarked upon an expedition to cross 2,300 kilometers of unmapped northern British Columbia (BC) territory east of the Rocky Mountains, using the then newly designed Citroën halftrack vehicles. He initiated one of the most extravagantly equipped overland parties ever seen, which included a fleet of automobiles, 130 packhorses, 53 Canadian cowboys, 400 pounds of books, more than 20 tons of supplies, 2 professional surveyors, a geologist, and a film crew led by Oscar-winning Hollywood cinematographer, Floyd Crosby. A hand-written diary and typed notes survived from the expedition, created by A.H. (Al) Phipps, one of the surveying crew members. The documents record his observations about the terrain, surveying activities, and ultimately the causes for the expedition’s failure – all rare evidence of an internationally known event.