By Patsy Moyer

Up at the Palmer-Wirf Tacoma Dome Antique Show in Washington, I zipped past a table full of books and then had to stop and look at one – with a blue cloth cover, "The Snow Baby – A True Story with true Pictures" by Josephine Debitsch Peary. Published in 1901 by Frederick A. Stokes, New York.

I had heard about the Snowbaby book and book-nut that I am just was fascinated by the story. Conservative me passed it by at $125.00 (and later found it at half the price) and did not think about it again until someone wrote me about a small bisque doll dressed in fur as an Eskimo. So automatically I jumped on the Net to see what there was about Eskimos that were popular about the time that the Snow Baby was born and Snowbabies (small all bisque dolls with a granulated type finish) were popular.

Immediately I was caught up in the life and times of Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary, Civil Engineer Corps Officer, Arctic Explorer and Air Pioneer. Peary was born in 1856 in Cresson, PA. He earned a degree in civil engineering in 1877 and obtained a commission in the civil Engineer corps in 1881. He was stationed in Key West, Florida to inspect a new iron pier being built. He didn’t like the way it was being made, and devised his own methods and implemented them. Unfortunately he had a spell of yellow fever and when he returned to work, no progress had been made, so he cancelled the contract.

He also worked surveying in the jungle for Aniceto Menocal. However, in 1886, he took a six months leave of absence and sailed aboard a steam whaler bound for Greenland. Together with a Danish friend, Peary took a three-week hike across the Greenland icecap and this adventure sparked his interest in Arctic exploration. He continued however with his jungle isthmian canal project as assistant to Menocal. Here he met a young black man, Matthew Henson who would later accompany him on his Arctic expeditions.

In 1888, Peary married Josephine Diebitsch, the daughter of Herman Henry Diebitsch of Prussia and Magdelena August Schmidt of Saxony. Her dad taught at the Simithsonian Institute in Washington, D. C. She met Peary while attending dance school and they married on August 11th, 1888 and this year he served as a civil engineer at the New York Navy Shipyard. While at the shipyard, Peary started planning another trip to Greenland. In ‘1891, Peary took an 18-month leave of absence from the Navy and he and Josephine and a party of six left for Greenland in June.

The next year, 1892, Peary carried out a 1,300 mile sledging trip to the northern tip of Greenland, demonstrating that Greenland was indeed an island. In 1893, Peary and a pregnant Josephine went again to Greenland. Peary hoped to explore the land north of Greenland and possibly reach the North Pole. There is a photograph of Josephine from this period showing her in a hooded fur parka with a sling harness holding her rifle on her back. Josephine was active in the group learning to hunt reindeer and other animals for food. She cooked for the party and made special dinners for the crew far away from their families. Her letters to her husband in the Arctic were full of love and affection and show her unconditional support for him. During the first Greenland expedition, Josephine wrote My Arctic Journal and it was published in 1893. Their first, child, Marie Ahnighito, a girl, was born in Greenland and became known world wide as the Snow Baby – the first white child born that far north. Her middle name honored the Eskimo woman who made Marie her first fur clothing. Josephine returned home with the new baby and Peary had to turn back after only traveling 120 miles on that expedition. He ended the summer in Greenland and returned home in 1894. Peary again made trips to Greenland in 1896 and 1897. He departed New York in 1898, while the Spanish American war broke out; he headed again for the Arctic in July of that year. His ship was caught in the ice in August and Peary suffered frostbite on his feet and lost eight toes. Josephine traveled to be with him when she heard the news. Peary stayed in the Arctic until 1902 and Josephine traveled again to visit and then he returned to Navy duties.

Peary was strongly supported by President Theodore Roosevelt and this eased the way for Peary to leave his Navy duties and also get supplies for his trips. In 1908, Peary set off for another trek to find the North Pole. Matt Henson - the black man who started his naval career as a cabin boy at age 12, accompanied him. For over 18 years, Henson would accompany Peary on his explorations. Peary thought Henson was indispensable on these trips and they were good friends. Sometime during their travels Clintonesque rumors arose of Peary and Henson fathering Indian children, while the faithful Josephine remained at home writing The Snow Baby in 1901 and Children of the North in 1903. In 1903 Josephine gave birth to a son, Robert E. Peary, Jr.

In 1909, Peary, Henson and seven other explorers set off with 17 Eskimos, 19 sledges and 133 dogs set off for the North Pole. A supporting party turned back, but on April 6, 1909 Peary, Henson, four Eskimos and 40 dogs made it the North Pole where they placed the American flag. The Pearys then spent their summers on Eagle Island and winters in Portland, Maine. There was some controversy if Peary actually reached the pole, and another explorer, Cook, disputed his findings. Peary became interested in aircraft and their military use as well as in exploration and urged the creation of a Department of Aeronautics. In 1917, he was diagnosed with pernicious anemia and died in 1920 and was buried in Arlington Cemetery. Josephine was a charter member of the National Geographic Society and died in 1955.

Their daughter, Marie was 16 years old when Peary reached the North Pole in 1909. She was a debutante in 1914 and took a secretarial course in 1916. She married Edward Stafford, a Washington attorney in 1917 and they had two sons. Marie went to the Arctic to erect a monument for her dad in 1932. Marie took part in the Danish American Commission and was awarded the Liberation Medal by the Danes. In 1950, she was awarded the Henry B. Bryant medal for her contributions to geographical information. In 1955, her mother and husband died and Marie moved in Bowdoin, Maine and in 1967 married William Kuhne and she lived in Bowdoin until her death in 1978. She wrote five books and many articles during her lifetime.

During this same 1880s-1890s, others were also trying to reach the North Pole and one of them was the Norwegian Fridtjof Nansen of Oslo. While still in college in 1882, Nansen took part on a sealer ship, the Viking that took him to the Arctic. He was so impressed by the harsh beauty that he planned a trip to ski across Greenland and in 1887-1888 with five companions did just that. Nansen believed that a ship caught in the ice of the Polar Sea would be moved with the ice and he hoped to cross the pole in such a ship. In 1893, he set out aboard the Fram and although the ship went on a northwestern course did not go far enough north to reach the pole. He set out with a team on foot, but was forced by the extreme conditions to turn back. Nansen returned home and wrote about the Fram expedition. His exploits brought him worldwide attention and there were some dolls dressed in furs to take advantage of his celebrity. Nansen later did oceanographic expeditions and wrote about those. He went on to work for Norway as a diplomat and in the League of Nations until his death in 1930.

We are fortunate to find one photo published in Peary’s book of The Snow Baby aboard ship holding a doll when a boat load of Eskimos appeared. The Eskimo dolls are described as rag dolls dressed like an Eskimo girl with long fur stockings, with the fur side next to the leg, and over those tanned sealskin boots, short sealskin trousers with the fur on the outside and trimmed down the front with bands of colored leather. The body was covered with a woolen blouse, lined with down. The bottom of the blouse was trimmed with ribbon. They used seaweed to make the hair tied up in a top know with ribbon. The Snow Baby also received one that was almost as tall as her.

The doll dressed in furs was a reaction to the international interest sparked by explorers like Peary and Nansen. Of interest to collector, also, are the miniature all-bisque figures covered with small granules with painted features and usually stiff figures with no moving joints. They are often portrayed as action figures frozen in time as sitting, standing, sledding and other poses. Usually one to three inches tall, they are charming collectibles. Colemans report they were made circa 1901 - 1930 by such firms as Bahr & Proschild, Hertwig, C.F. Kling, Kley & Hahn (all of these factories except Hertwig were in the Ohrdruf area) and probably other manufacturers of dolls. They were covered with bits of ground porcelain to give them a snowy look. The interest in these figures was revived in 1928 with Byrd’s exploration of the South Pole. Butler Bros. imported Snow Babies and advertised a 2 1/2-inch size for
80 cents a dozen wholesale.

They were called "Alaska Tots" in the 1914 Marshall Field catalog – a one and three-quarter inch size sold for 90 cents for a dozen. The same catalog features a bisque jointed "Esquimau" doll 9 inches tall with glass eyes, colored fur hat and suit. These came boxed by the dozen and sold for $4.00 per dozen. An 8-inch bisque doll with Eskimo suit bearing the name "Nansen" in gold letters has been reported.

These Eskimo explorer and Snowbaby dolls are an interesting niche collectible together with a book like The Snow Baby and particularly with the connection to Peary and Nansen and the era of exploration of the North and South Poles.

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