Accession No. PA.2025.0002: Lois Court, 2024 October
[identification of item], Arnold Court Trunk Used During United States Antarctic Service Expedition, SPEC.PA.56.0242, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program, Ohio State University
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Processed by: David Mezick, 2025 January; Finding aid written by: David Mezick, 2025 January
Arnold Court (1914-1999) was a climatologist, meteorologist, and professor who served as chief meteorologist for the United States Antarctic Service Expedition from 1939-1941. He earned his postgraduate degree from the University of Washington in 1938. From 1938-1943, Court worked as a meteorologist for the U.S. Weather Bureau. Court also served as part of the U.S. Antarctic Service during this time. He was stationed at West Base in Antarctica, which was near the Bay of Whales and the former site of the Little America base. Court helped to establish a weather station and made observations of the stratosphere. He was awarded a special congressional medal for his Antarctic service in 1943.
After returning from Antarctica, Court served in the the United States Army in Washington State and earned a Master of Science degree in 1949 from the University of Washington. He earned his doctoral degree from the University of California, Berkley in 1956. In 1962, Court became a professor of climatology at San Fernando Valley State College, which became California State University, Northridge in 1972. Court Ridge in Antarctica, which extends from the most northwest point of the Haines Mountains to the Sulzberger Ice Shelf, was named for Arnold Court.
The Arnold Court Trunk Used During United States Antarctic Service Expedition, dated circa 1939, contains a wooden storage trunk that belonged to Arnold Court when he was a meteorologist for the U.S. Antarctic Service Expedition from 1939-1941. The trunk has the words U.S. Antarctic Service and West Base stenciled its sides.