Bonus Episode 2: Minik and the Meteorites
07/30/21 • 20 min
Before Robert Peary claimed to have reached the North Pole, he led several expeditions to northern Greenland. But they were more than just scouting trips. He brought back three legendary meteorites from the Arctic, which are still on display in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Peary also brought people—six Inughuit who had helped him retrieve the meteorites, including a young boy named Minik.
In this special bonus episode of The Quest for the North Pole, host Kat Long speaks with Kenn Harper, author of Minik: The New York Eskimo, about the boy’s experience with the museum, how he came to feel betrayed by those he trusted, and how his fate intertwines with the legacy of Arctic exploration.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Before Robert Peary claimed to have reached the North Pole, he led several expeditions to northern Greenland. But they were more than just scouting trips. He brought back three legendary meteorites from the Arctic, which are still on display in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Peary also brought people—six Inughuit who had helped him retrieve the meteorites, including a young boy named Minik.
In this special bonus episode of The Quest for the North Pole, host Kat Long speaks with Kenn Harper, author of Minik: The New York Eskimo, about the boy’s experience with the museum, how he came to feel betrayed by those he trusted, and how his fate intertwines with the legacy of Arctic exploration.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Bonus Episode: The Arctic’s Biggest Mystery
The demise of the Franklin Expedition remains the most compelling puzzle in Arctic exploration. Sir John Franklin was a veteran of three previous polar voyages, recognized for his bravery and resourcefulness, and admired for his grit. The British Admiralty chose him to lead what it hoped would be its last stab at finding the Northwest Passage. In 1845, two lavishly provisioned ships with 129 crew members entered Lancaster Sound, the pathway toward solving the mystery of the Passage. Then, they seemed to vanish into the Arctic labyrinth.
Not a single person survived.
What catastrophe had befallen Britain’s best-prepared polar expedition? And what tantalizing clues are still being uncovered? That’s what we’ll explore in this special bonus episode of The Quest for the North Pole.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Next Episode
Bonus Episode 3: Family Reunions
On their many attempts to reach the North Pole, Robert Peary and Matthew Henson spent a lot of time in northwest Greenland. So much time that they, like many explorers before them, formed intimate relationships with Inughuit women. Their sons from those unions, Kali Peary and Anaukaq Henson, grew up in their Arctic communities never knowing their fathers.
But in the 1980s, an ambitious Harvard neuroscientist brought Kali and Anaukaq to the United States to meet their American relatives. It was a joyous, unforgettable experience—but the family reunion also brought up some painful memories and uncomfortable questions.
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Mental Floss Presents: The Quest for the North Pole - Bonus Episode 2: Minik and the Meteorites
Transcript
The Quest for the North Pole is a production of I Heart Radio and Mental Floss. As you pass through the main entrance of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, you meet a statue of Theodore Roosevelt and enter a hall crowded with tourists and dinosaur skeletons.
Speaker 1You walk past a herd of taxi, der meat, elephants, Native American artifacts, and the New Gallery of Gems and Miner
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