My Arctic Journal: a year among ice-fields and Eskimos

by Josephine Diebitsch-Peary

Wife of self-proclaimed North Pole discoverer Robert Edwin Peary, Josephine Peary was the first woman apart from the Inuit to take part in an Arctic expedition. My Arctic Journal, unavailable for nearly a century, is her memoir of the time she spent, from June of 1891 to August of 1892, accompanying her husband and his exploration party across the northernmost expanses of Greenland. Peary recounts in detail the hardships of life in the frozen North, and describes at length the customs of the Inuit natives, among whom she spent a great deal of time. She also tells of her experiences hunting near the top of the world, and gives her impressions of the other members of the expedition, who included explorers Dr. Frederick Cook and Matthew Henson. Richly illustrated and written with candor and emotion, My Arctic Journal is a unique gem of an exploration memoir.

First edition here.

Genres: Travel, History

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1893

About the author

Josephine Cecilia Diebitsch Peary (1863-1955) was an American author and arctic explorer.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am smooth-reading this book and Project Gutenberg will publish it pretty soon.

This plain and simple narrative of a year spent by a refined woman in the realm of the dreaded Frost King has been written only after persistent and urgent pressure from friends, by one who shrank from publicity, and who reluctantly yielded to the idea that her experiences might be of interest to others besides her immediate friends.--R. E. PEARY

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

7 MAY 2022 - written in diary format, this small novel told the story of Admiral and Mrs Peary, who early in their marriage, travelled to Greenland and further into the Arctic Circle. It was a joy to read her adventures - she saw up-close and in-person both a musk ox (and baby) and narwhals; she was quite a shot with a rifle; she wrote wonderfully descriptive scenes of Greenland and its seasons and colors; and, she cared deeply for husband.

Thank you, Dagny, for this great recommendation. And, Thank You, to Cheryl and to Dagny for reading Mrs Peary's Arctic Journal with me.

Project Gutenberg - https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64549

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

My Arctic Journal. 1892, by Josephine Diebitch-Peary. Mrs. Peary, the young wife of the famous Arctic explorer Robert E. Peary, accompanies her husband on a dangerous, year long expedition to explore northern Greenland. While her husband's expeditionary party treks far off into the interior, the majority of her time is spent alone at camp near a small, remote, previously undiscovered Eskimo community. Her journal, despite being flat, detached and generally poorly written, provides important, never before documented, ethnographic information, specifically the sexual practices {wife swapping, "Eskimo kissing", etc.} of the indigenous Inuit people. Although not widely known contemporarily, on a future expedition her husband fathers a child with an Inuit woman. Perhaps Josephine's fear of her husbands infidelity led her to participate in an expedition that could only promise her hardship and isolation?

[Pippa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this absolutely fascinating. Josephine was a brave woman and an interesting one, but she was very prejudiced against the 'Eskimos' (Inuit people) who she dismissed as ignorant savages. The book gives a picture of a complex and interesting woman and her difficult and lonely marriage.

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really appreciated the intro and background information. I enjoyed the first-hand account of an experience I myself will never have. But I felt it was a bit lacking, maybe in emotion or description. I also found it odd that in Mr. Peary's section of notes, he didn't refer to his wife as such, but simply "the woman". This may be evidence of him loving exploration more than anyone or anything else.

[Marina Forteza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Llegir a través d'aquests diaris les aventures de l'expedició àrtica és un privilegi i un plaer. M'ha fet sentir molt dèbil, jo probablement no hauria sobreviscut ni a la travessia que els va dur fins allà.

[Laranac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante testimonio de una pionera de la exploración así como un revelador retrato antropológico de los inuit.

[Sarada · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a free epub version, I believe from archive.org, which had some formatting issues but was mostly readable and quite enjoyable. It was nice to read a travelogue from a female perspective -- I'm not sure how many Arctic adventure and travel books there are from a female perspective, actually, so this is a great place to start. She talks more about the domestic side of the adventure, of course, since it was 1891-92, and her duties lay mainly in household concerns, but it gives a great insight into everyday life among the people of Greenland. She describes the warm cozy (and smelly) igloos and the ways in which people survived the long, dark winters, in clear and mannerly language. The modern reader may share my regret that the adventuring party shoots and kills pretty much every animal they come across, but of course, that was the only way to survive, and peoples' ideas about man's relationship with nature was a little different back then.