Snow Cruiser expansion collection, 1937-1939

Collection

Identifier: 031.02.05

Staff Only

Miscellaneous materials about the Snow Cruiser, primarily a 28-page photocopy of The Snow Cruiser: The Story of Its Conception and Construction and the Part it Will Play in the Expedition of the United States Antarctic Service by Alexander Schreiber, Public Relations Counsel, Research Foundation of Armour Institute of Technology (Project No. 1-89 [?]) Copyright 1939, Armour Research Foundation. Also miscellaneous news clippings. The following item was added to this collection by C. Bruck,University Archivist, 6/21/2012: A memo by Alexander Schreiber listing representatives of 15 companies (all of which were involved in the development of the vehicle) who attended a meeting concerning publicity policy about the Antarctic Snow Cruiser; Aug. 8, 1939.

Dates

Creation: 1937-1939

Creator

Armour Research Foundation (U.S.) (Organization)

Language of Materials

Records are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Available for Research

Collection Size

1 Folders

Additional Description

Biographical Note

The Snow Cruiser was a mobile research laboratory developed by Armour Research Foundation (Chicago) to be used by Adm. Richard E. Byrd on his third expedition to Antarctica in 1939. The vehicle was driven across land from Chicago where it was built to the East Coast of the United States where it was loaded onto a ship and taken to "Little America" in the Antarctic. Dr. F. Alton Wade was the vehicle's captain. When Adm. Byrd was recalled to the United States with the approach of World War II, the Snow Cruiser was left in Antarctica. In 1958, it was found "under 14 feet of ice and snow" (per a document noted in IIT Archives/Acc. No. 2000.51). Source: IIT Archives (Chicago) Please cite source when quoting this information. Please send corrections or additional information about this topic to archives@iit.edu.