The "Cook Arctic Club, Inc." was established in 1940 by Ralph
Shainwald-von Ahlefeldt, Cook's friend and 1903 Mount McKinley
expedition mate, with the stated purpose of promoting the
recognition of Dr. Frederick Cook's discovery of the North Pole.
Dr. Cook was listed as the honorary president and General David
L. Brainard, a survivor of the Greely Expedition, as honorary
vice-president on the letterhead which von Ahlefeldt had
printed. Von Ahlefeldt designated himself as president, with
four vice presidents including Anthony Fiala, commander of the
second Ziegler Expedition, and life-long friend and supporter of
Dr. Cook. (Brainard later asked to have his name removed from
the stationary, stating that, "...I never approved of Dr. Cook's
claims and never sustained him in any way in his contentions
that he reached the North Pole.")
In 1940 the Club attempted to sponsor
Sir Hubert Wilkins in an airplane expedition to the
Pole and to confirm Cook's discovery of Bradley Land. Von
Ahlefeldt circulated a prospectus to a number of wealthy
financiers, but the expedition never got off the ground. This
first attempt at an organization devoted to Dr. Cook and his
discoveries was short lived, although von Ahlefeldt continued to
be an advocate for Dr. Cook. In addition, some of those listed
as officers with the original club became part of what Cook's
daughter Helene Cook Vetter called the "committee of
correspondence" of exploration mates, spouses, their children,
writers and researchers.
In late 1956 this group of correspondents formed the basis for a
revival and reorganization of a formal Cook society. Coast Guard
Rear Admiral Charles W. Thompson assumed the presidency of the "Frederick
A. Cook Society." The board of governors included
Walter Gonnason, explorer and leader of the 1956 Mt. McKinley
expedition; Andrew Freeman, author of
The Case for Dr. Cook
and scholar who interviewed Dr. Cook; Hugo Levin, long time
friend and advocate of Dr. Cook; retired Navy Captain James P.
Helm; former Explorers Club editor Wendell Phillips Dodge;
Italian geographer and Arctic explorer Silvio Zavatti; and
Helene Cook Vetter. Russell W. Gibbons was the first secretary.
This new society was both low-budget and low-profile, primarily
distributing annual mailings and circulating materials
concerning Dr. Cook. In 1965, the New York Legislature granted
the Society a resolution and a state historical marker at Cook's
Hortonville birth-site in recognition of the centennial of Dr.
Cook's birth. Additionally, they printed a commemorative booklet
on Cook's life, which they distributed to historical, geographic
and community groups.
The period from 1960 to 1975 saw a resurgence of writings about
the North Pole controversy, many giving favorable treatment to
Dr. Cook. This prompted Mrs. Vetter, Russell Gibbons, and other
society members to develop a more active society, which
eventually was reorganized, structured and incorporated in New
York State in 1975.
In 1974 the inaugural meeting of this rejuvenated Society was
held at the Sullivan County Historical Society in Hurleyville,
New York. The meeting coincided with the opening of the Cook
Room display on the second floor of the museum. Eskimo
artifacts, framed photographs, and one of Dr. Cook's antarctic
sleds formed the basis of the display. Sheldon Cook-Dorough (not
related), an Atlanta attorney and Cook scholar, donated the
reproductions for this display and in 1975 commissioned a bronze
statue of Cook for the museum.
On October 7, 1976, the Society was incorporated as a charitable
not-for-profit educational corporation in New York State "to
gain official recognition for the scientific and geographic
accomplishments of Dr. Frederick A. Cook". The first president
of the reorganized Society was Russell W. Gibbons; Admiral
Thomas had died tragically in an automobile accident in 1972.
The first of "occasional" annual newsletters was published for
its small membership.
In 1977, plans were made for a commemorative marker at the
Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo, New York, where Dr. Cook's
ashes resided in the family niche with his polar decorations and
medals. Mrs. Vetter died on July 31 prior to the dedication of
the marker and the annual meeting of the society. Janet Cook
Vetter, daughter of Helene Cook Vetter, moved into the family
home in Tequesta, Florida, and assumed responsibility for the
multitude of research materials her mother had collected in her
quest to defend her father, Dr. Frederick Cook.
Sheldon Cook-Dorough succeeded to the presidency of the Society
in 1979 and began an intensive study of the North Pole
controversy, Mount McKinley and the Texas oil mail fraud
conviction. His research in these areas resulted in extensive
research articles in the Society's newletters and the annual
journal, later renamed Polar Priorities. A primary function of
the Society was to circulate these materials to writers,
researchers, and publications such as encyclopedias. Membership
continued to grow and passed 100 members in the late 1980s. In
1985 Warren B. Cook, a New Jersey insurance executive and
grandnephew of the explorer, was elected president of the
Society.
In 1983, CBS broadcast a made-for-television movie titled, "Cook
and Peary: Race for the Pole," with Richard Chamberlain as Dr.
Cook and Rod Steiger as Admiral Peary. The Society served as a
reference source in the production of the movie. The program
stirred public interest in the "polar enigma" and groups such as
the Society for the History of Discoveries, the Arctic Circle
Club of Canada and others chose Dr. Cook and the polar
controversy as conference themes.
In 1989, Dr. Cook's granddaughter Janet Cook Vetter died. She
had continued the tradition of her mother in maintaining the
family papers and those of Dr. Cook, and was a valued Society
board member. Upon her death, Cook-Dorough coordinated the
cataloging, inventory, and transfer of much of the estate's
Frederick Cook Papers to the Library of Congress. This was done
in accordance with the will and the Trust Fund which Janet
Vetter bequeathed for the work of the Society. The remaining
papers, books, and artifacts were sent to the Sullivan County
Museum, and remained there until 1996, when the papers were
transferred to the Byrd Polar Research Center at The Ohio State
University in Columbus. The Museum still maintains the books and
artifacts in the Cook Room in Hurleyville, NY.
With support from the Vetter Trust, the Society appointed Mary
Allison Farley as full- time executive director in 1990. Ms.
Farley was formerly an archivist at the Robert Wagner Archives
at New York University. William G. Smith, former Sullivan County
Historian, succeeded Farley, and in late 1993, Russell W.
Gibbons assumed the post. The occasional newsletter became an
annual journal, Polar Priorities, and a quarterly membership
newsletter was established.
The Society continues to be active in its efforts to bring Dr.
Cook's work to public view. Activities of the group since 1993
include: two international symposiums; sponsorship of an
expedition which followed Dr. Cook's route up Mount McKinley;
and an updated reprint of his second book,
To the Top of the Continent.
In 1996 lifetime memberships in the Society exceeded more than
twenty-five of the 140 members.
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