Museums - Scott Polar Research Institute

Established in 1920, the Scott Polar Research Institute is the oldest international center for polar research within a university. It was founded as a memorial to Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his four companions, who died returning from the South Pole in 1912, and was envisioned as a place where polar travellers and explorers could meet, and where material of polar interest might be collected and made accessible for future research. Originally housed in the Sedgwick Museum of Geology in Cambridge, the Institute moved into its current, dedicated building at the University of Cambridge in 1934. The Institute's facilities were expanded in 1960. Nearly thirty years later the Institute laid the groundwork for its Shackleton Memorial Library, a major expansion of the Institute's existing library, archives, and map collection. Featuring a new picture library in addition to its expanded informational stores, the Shackleton Memorial Library was opened in 1998. Today, the Scott Polar Research Institute constitutes the world's most comprehensive library of polar research and historical photography of the polar regions.
In addition to its library and archives, the Institute holds a significant collection of objects from the indigenous cultures of northern Canada, Greenland, and Alaska. Comprised of over 600 objects, the collection includes clothing, hunting implements, utilitarian items, and art dating from the eighteenth century to the late twentieth century.