From Woody's Couch

This blog post is part of the Frozen Friday Series, an A-Z journey of the Polar Archives.  Each week, we will feature some aspect of the history of polar exploration with a blog post written by our student authors.

‘P’ is for penguin. One penguin in particular. ‘Little Mo’, as we call him, was probably born somewhere in the Antarctic some eight or nine decades ago. He enjoys chilling at the Ohio State University Archives when he is stuffed. You see, that was a joke. ‘Little Mo’ is a stuffed (as in taxidermy) chinstrap penguin. ‘Mo’ was brought back to the United States from Antarctica at the end of the United States Antarctic Service Expedition (1939-41), but passed away in transit. Expedition member Anthony Morency then had the poor little penguin preserved and kept him as a family heirloom. ‘Little Mo’ found his way to the Polar Archives by way of Virginia Rich, daughter of Anthony Morency. Morency, who served under Admiral Richard E. Byrd on the United States Antarctic Service Expedition (1939-41), Operation Highjump (1946-47), and Operation Deep Freeze (1955-56), has a fascinating collection of artifacts housed at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program. ‘Mo’ is but one example of the unique artifacts held within the archives. This blog post will highlight some of Morency’s most unusual artifacts.

First, a cartoon. This cartoon (below) representing a portion of Task Force 68 of Operation Highjump (1946-47). The scene, playfully drawn in the fashion of a Disneyesque cartoon, depicts the supply ship Yancey of the Central Group (Task Force 68.1) of the Highjump fleet. Possibly meant to represent the mooring of the Yancey in the Bay of Whales and the unloading of supplies for the construction of Little America IV, the artist has drawn several concerned penguins and a scurrying crew of men dressed in Antarctic coats.  A scroll of text sits at the bottom of the cartoon. The text written on this scroll is a familiar sight in the Morency Collection: a tongue-in-cheek declaration commemorating the achievements of the relevant expedition (in this case Operation Highjump).

“To all ye farers of the deep” (as on the cartoon) or some variant thereof marks the beginning of several certificates found in the Morency Collection. These declarations come from fictitious governments or organizations, such as the Imperium Neptuni Regis and the Silent Occult Mysteries of the Far East. The artwork on the “documents” is not uniform. Some depict Western legends such as mermaids and King Neptune, whereas others feature Eastern-style dragons and sea serpents. Others depict contemporary images of steel ships and expedition related images, like penguins. All of these certificates (below), presumably acquired by Morency on his many voyages, feature a common theme of nautical imagery and language.

The aforementioned cartoon rests in a large, thin booklet, humorously titled Bergy Bits after the chunks of ice not quite large enough to be icebergs. Published in April of 1947, Bergy Bits contains from cover to cover photographs taken during Operation Highjump. Bergy Bits tells the story of Task Force 68 through these photographs, from photographs of the force traveling to, working in, and traveling from Antarctica. The booklet itself is lighthearted and nostalgic, often making jokes relating to the photographs it holds. Bergy Bits contains images of majestic Antarctic landscapes, fun crew antics, curious wildlife, playful sled dogs, and even a Maori Poi dance party.

The Anthony Morency Papers, despite the name, do not just hold papers. Obviously, ‘Little Mo’, is not a three dimensional model constructed of paper. The Morency collection has, for example, a stunning pair of Operation Deep Freeze sunglasses (with case), a Deep Freeze engraved lighter, a United States Antarctic Program/National Science Foundation clothing patch, and even a placemat from Covey’s Little America, a travel center named for Admiral Byrd’s bases in Antarctica.

The Anthony Morency Papers is an eclectic collection of materials that, like many other collections in the Polar Archives, contain a great number of amazing artifacts. It is well worth a trip to the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program to check out our amazing materials!

Written by John Hooton.