ADMIRAL ROBERT E. PEARY - TYPED LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 217964

ROBERT E. PEARY. TLS: "R.E. Peary, U.S.N.", 1p, 8x10½. Philadelphia, Pa., 1892 November 2. To Professor Lewis M. Haupt, Trades League, Philada. He thanks Prof. Haupt for the "tickets to your lectures on the 4th and 11th of this month. I shall make every effort to be present, particularly at the first, on 'Ship Canals'. I have been trying hard, for two or three days since my return, to get an opportunity to call upon you...." Professor Lewis M. Haupt (1844-1937) was Professor of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He was active in many engineering surveys and construction projects including service as one of the Commissioners of the Lake Erie and Ohio River ship canal in 1892, one of three members of the Nicaragua Canal Commission in 1897 and a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission in 1899. Navy engineer and explorer Robert E. Peary's North Greenland expedition began in July 1891 aboard the Kite as it sailed from New York. Peary discovered and named Independence Bay on the northeastern coast of Greenland on July 4, 1892. The expedition returned to New York in September, less than two months before Peary wrote this letter, with valuable information in preparation for his overland assault on the North Pole. He returned to north Greenland in 1893. In 1908, after three unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Pole, Peary set out on another polar expedition. On April 6, 1909, Peary and a small party, including his assistant, Matthew Henson, became the first to reach the North Pole. Creased. Slightly soiled. Shaded at folds, ¼-inch separation at right mid-fold (all intact). Uneven right edge. Tips of lower corners missing.