Correspondence Sent by Byrd Antarctic Expedition II Member Clarence Arthur "Art" Abele, Jr. to Fred Edwin Mathias is arranged chronologically.
Accession No. PA.2020.0005: Nancy Bohman, 2020 October
[identification of item], Correspondence Sent by Byrd Antarctic Expedition II Member Clarence Arthur "Art" Abele, Jr. to Fred Edwin Mathias, SPEC.PA.56.5032, Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center Archival Program, Ohio State University
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Processed by: Ashleigh Minor, 2020 October; Finding aid written by: Ashleigh Minor, 2020 October
Clarence Arthur "Art" Abele, Jr. (1911-1978) attended Harvard College with classmate Fred Edwin Mathias, both in the graduating class of 1933. After graduating, Abele was a member of Admiral Richard E. Byrd's Second Antarctic Expedition (BAE II) from 1934-1935. After returning to the United States he moved to New York City, and later served as a damage control officer in the United States Navy during World War II. Mathias started a career as a traveling salesman after he graduated from Harvard, and was located in Elkhart, Indiana as of 1935.
Correspondence Sent by Byrd Antarctic Expedition II Member Clarence Arthur "Art" Abele, Jr. to Fred Edwin Mathias contains a handwritten holiday card from January 1934 and a two-page handwritten letter from January 1935, accompanied by the original envelopes they were mailed in. The holiday card depicts a black and white line drawing of penguins and says "Greetings from Little America." Abele wrote a brief greeting to Mathias while at sea, the day before he arrived in Little America on the second Byrd Antarctic Expedition (BAE II), commenting on Mathias' new career as a traveling salesman, and noting when he is expected to arrive in Little America. The 1935 letter from Abele thanks Mathias for sending him a Christmas greeting from Portugal, reflects on their time at Harvard speculating what their future lives would be like, and discusses what it was like to live in Antarctica for a year, noting that they are in the process of packing up and returning home to the United States.