Increasing engagement: a case study of the By Endurance We Conquer – the Shackleton Project

• Main Authors: Lund, Peter, Boneham, Naomi, Hammant, Henrietta, Galloway, Corinne
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: Scott Polar Research Institute 2024
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Shackleton; Nimrod; Rowett; Antarc*; Scott Polar Research Institute
• Online Access: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/369111; https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.109054

The Scott Polar Research Institute recently completed By Endurance We Conquer: the Shackleton Project. This five year project aimed to unite the Scott Polar Research Institute's Archive, Library Museum and Picture Library in a targeted purchasing strategy designed to develop its’ collection of material relating to Sir Ernest Shackleton. Acquisitions made through the project are now displayed in the Scott Polar Research Institute’s Polar Museum and Polar Library whilst a temporary exhibition has also toured the Falkland Islands, Chile and Ireland. The project examined in detail the heritage aspects of the British National Antarctic Expedition 1901-04 (Discovery) of which Shackleton was a member and the three expeditions which Shackleton led to the Antarctic: the British Antarctic (Nimrod) Expedition (1907-09), The Imperial Trans-Antarctic (Endurance) Expedition (1914-17) and the Shackleton-Rowett (Quest) Expedition (1921-22), during which Shackleton died. Sir Ernest Shackleton’s name is associated with exemplary leadership, courage in the face of adversity and the refusal to give up. The Shackleton project has strengthened the Polar Library, Archive, Picture Library and Museum through knowledge-sharing and collaborative planning, and dramatically enhanced the public engagement through new acquisitions and interpretation. This oral presentation will focus on the wide range of education and outreach events, online films and the use of social media which were deployed to increase engagement by both researchers and the general public. The presentation will also demonstrate how the Library, Archive, Picture Library and Museum, in undertaking this project on Shackleton, have fostered the practice of interdisciplinary research. National Lottery Heritage Fund - Collecting Cultures