RAE, Dr John (1813-1893)

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0402 DJR
Held at	: Royal Geographical Society   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.rgs.org/OurWork/Collections/Collections.htm ›
Full title	: RAE, Dr John (1813-1893)
Date(s)	: 1852-1883
Level of description	: Collection level
Extent	: 1 box and 4 files
Name of creator(s)	: Rae | John | 1813-1893 | Arctic explorer

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born, 1813; studied medicine at Edinburgh, 1829; licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 1833; surgeon of the Hudson's Bay Company's ship Prince of Wales, Jun 1833; surgeon at Moose Factory, the company post on James Bay, 1834-1844; lead an expedition to complete the survey of the northern coastline of North America, 1844-1847; chief trader, 1847; joined Sir John Richardson to search for Sir John Franklin, 1848-1849; chief factor, 1850; resumed the search for Franklin at the Admiralty's request, 1851; founder's gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), 1852; Fellow of the RGS, 1853-1893; led expedition to complete the survey of the north coast of America along the west coast of the Boothia peninsula, 1853-1854 - on this expedition he was the first to hear news of Franklin's fate; retired, 1856; served on the Council of the RGS on four occasions; died, 1893.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Dr John Rae, 1852-1883, including drafts of eleven letters, 1852-1856, addressed to the Admiralty and others on Arctic exploration; letter to H W Feilden, 19 Apri 1878; six short essays on Arctic subjects including 'On certain phenomena observed on the Arctic coast', and on treatment of frostbite; nine letters to Rae from various correspondents, 1855-1883 and diary on board the screw yacht FOX on a north Atlantic voyage, Jul-Nov 1860.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

As outlined in Scope and Content.

Conditions governing access:

Accessed via the Foyle Reading Room. Free of charge for Fellows, Members and those with valid academic identification. All other users pay a charge and must bring identification in order to register on arrival.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopying at the discretion of the Archivist and subject to completion of 'application for copies' form. No reproduction or publication without permission of the RGS-IBG Archivist.

Finding aids:

Card index available in the Foyle Reading Room.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Unknown

Allied Materials

Related material:

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Prepared by an Archives volunteer using existing finding aids. Revised by Sarah Drewery.
Sources: Oxford DNB; Obit. Geog. Jnl. 1893, Vol. 2 pages 275-276.

Rules or conventions:
ISAD(G) ed.2, name authority NRA.

Date(s) of descriptions:
5 July 2001; Jul 2008