This dissertation research project will examine American debates about the Arctic in the late nineteenth century. In particular, it will trace three nested debates concerning: theories of Arctic geography, the legitimacy of explorers as scientific practitioners, and the value of Arctic science and exploration. Taken together, these debates demonstrate the close and complex interactions of scientific and popular culture in the late nineteenth century, and suggest revisions to our current analysis of the "rise" of American science. Specifically, debates over the Arctic reveal that 1) Arctic explorers operated from a position "between" scientific and popular cultures, mediating the flow of knowledge and authority about the Arctic, and that 2) despite the growing cultural authority of the scientific community in the late nineteenth century, public views about science and its practitioners frequently diverged from the views of scientific elites. While most analyses of Arctic science have focused on the activities of explorers in the Arctic, this dissertation research follows explorers through the institutions and lecture halls of America, where they built support for their expeditions among the elite scientific community as well as public audiences. In tracing the shifting scientific and social positions of Arctic explorers in American culture, the research will reveal a broader struggle over scientific authority between elites and "popular scientists" in the last half of the nineteenth century.
