ADMIRAL ROBERT E. PEARY - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 03/14/1907 - HFSID 217963

ROBERT E. PEARY. TLS: "R.E. Peary", 1p, 7¼x9. New York, 1907 March 14. To Mr. Joseph K. Greene, Worcester, Mass. In full: "I have your note of the 11th, and regret very much that I cannot accept your kind invitation. I am very much rushed just at present, am obliged to take the last train that will get me in in time for my lecture engagement and to return by the first practicable train after the lecture. My throat has also been troubling me lately, and my physician's orders are that if I wish to keep my few remaining engagements, I must shut down absolutely upon all courtesies and hospitalities in the shape of dinners and the like, both before and after my lectures. I very much appreciate your kind words, and trust that I shall have the pleasure of seeing you at the lecture. With best regards to Mrs. Greene and yourself, I am, Very sincerely". Written the year before Peary would set out on the last (1908-1909) of his four attempts to reach the North Pole (he would be successful). Peary was already a popular figure on lecture circuit due to his earlier explorations to Greenland (beginning in 1886). Robert Edwin Peary (1856-1920) became a Civil Engineer in the U.S. Navy in 1881, and in that capacity explored Greenland in 1886 on the first of his seven polar expeditions. On July 17, 1908, after three unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Pole, he set out on another polar expedition. On April 6, 1909, he and a small party, including his assistant, Matthew Henson, and four Inuit, became the first to reach the North Pole. Although another American, Frederick A. Cook, had claimed to have reached the Pole five days later, Cook's claim was later refuted. In 1911, the year he retired from the Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral, Congress officially recognized Peary's achievement. Lightly creased with folds, vertical fold nicks the "P". Ink lightly spread at signature. 1-inch tear at lower left blank margin. Overall, fine condition.