Background note
One of Philadelphia's most recognized geographers at the turn of the twentieth century, Henry Grier Bryant was an explorer,
traveler, and writer known for an avid interest in the arctic. His financial independence enabled Bryant to devote his life
to expanding geographic knowledge, as an officer of the Geographic Society of Philadelphia and Alpine Club of America, and
as an explorer and traveler to Labrador, Greenland, the Canadian Rockies, South America, and southern and southeast Asia.
Bryant was born in Allegheny, Pa., on November 7, 1859, the fourth child of Walter Bryant and Ellen Adams (Henderson) Bryant.
A self-made man, his father had earned a fortune as a wholesale leather merchant and timber operator before selling his holdings
in western Pennsylvania in 1864 and moving to Philadelphia. After prepping at Phillips Exeter Academy, Henry attended university
at Princeton, receiving both his BA (1883) and MA (1886) before studying law at the University of Pennsylvania.
Although Bryant began along the standard path to a career in 1889, working as secretary of the Edison Electric Co., he was
soon derailed by the prospect of big game hunting, travel, and exploration. Subsisting on a substantial bequest from his
father and careful management of his investments, Bryant was inspired by a newspaper article to organize and fund an expedition
to map and explore the Grand Falls of Labrador, which were known only by reports from missionaries, traders, and local Indians.
Publishing his results in Century Magazine, including geographic information about the Hamilton River and an attempt at an ethnography of the coastal Inuit and interior
Indians, Bryant also made an extensive collection of Indian artifacts.
Upon his return to the states in May 1891, Bryant was asked by Angelo Heilprin of the Academy of Natural Sciences to become
a founding member of the Geographical Club of Philadelphia, which was renamed in 1894 as the Geographic Society of Philadelphia.
Through his new connections, he began what was to become a long association with the arctic explorer Robert Peary in 1891,
enlisting as second in command aboard the Kite during the Relief Expedition organized by the Geographic Society in 1892, meeting up with Peary in Greenland after his expedition
to the ice cap. Two years later, he lead the Peary Auxiliary Expedition aboard the steamer Falcon, which resupplied Peary and which engaged in its own physical geographic research.
Perhaps Bryant's most arduous expedition, however, may have been his failed attempt to scale the summit of Mount St. Elias
in Alaska in 1897. Although he did not succeed in reaching the peak, Bryant's floral and entomological collections were donated
to the collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. His other major expeditions included a three month
return to Labrador in 1912, several mountaineering and mapping trips to the Canadian Rockies, and some extended tours of the
Canadian Rockies, South America, Java, and Indochina, usually working in mountaineering. He is credited with climbing many
of the major peaks in Europe, Popocataptel in Mexico, Mauna Loa in Hawaii, Pidurutalagala in Ceylon, and Mt. Nantai in Japan.
Bryant approached most of journeys with an interest in expanding scientific and geographic knowledge. Beginning in 1899,
he conducted an extensive series of experiments to test the course and speed of circum-polar currents at minimal risk to the
safety of investigators, setting loose a bevy of "drift-casks" and monitoring where they drifted. Of the 35 casks released
between 1899 and 1901, six were recovered, indicating a strong westward current.
Bryant's enthusiasm and impressive organizational skills were critical to the success of number of organizations. In addition
to being elected president of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia 14 times, he was a founded of the Alpine Club of America
in 1902, serving as its treasurer, president, and member of the board at various points, was a founding member and president
of the American Association of Geographers, and was a delegate to the International Geographical Congresses of 1895, 1899,
1904, 1908, and 1928. In recognition of his accomplishments, he was elected a member of the Royal Geographical Society, the
Geographical and Anthropological Society of Stockholm, and the American Philosophical Society (1898). The Geographical Society
of Philadelphia established a medal in honor of the "munificent benefactor" in 1935 for distinguished service in geography,
and a chair in geography was named for him at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton.
Described by his friends as modest and retiring, Bryant maintained an active life in a number of social and civic clubs, including
the Contemporary Club, the Art Club of Philadelphia, the University Club, and the Corinthian Yacht Club. He died of a "general
breakdown" at his apartment at 1830 S. Rittenhouse Square. He never married.
Scope and content
The Bryant Letterbooks include an important slice of outgoing correspondence from the geographer and explorer, Henry G. Bryant,
documenting his interest in geography and exploration. The four volumes consist of letterpress copies of outgoing correspondence
(1884-1890, 1899-1902, 1902-1903, and 1913-1918) concerning personal and financial matters as well as business conducted as
an officer of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia and Alpine Club of America. The collection also includes three folders
of correspondence addressed to Bryant, 1886-1911, mostly pertaining to the Alpine Club.
Although the bulk of the correspondence consists of fairly routine correspondence relating to the activities of the Geographical
Society of Philadelphia and Alpine Club, including discussions of arrangements for meetings, speakers, and guests, a number
of important letters are mixed in. These include an interesting series of letters describing and making diplomatic arrangements
for assistance with the drift cask experiments, correspondence with explorers and geographers seeking financial support (including
I. C. Russell, Frederick Cook, and Robert Peary), and some correspondence relating to exploration, per se. Among the more
important letters in the collection is one written to his old friend, Robert Peary, on January 15, 1903, offering advice (and
possibly financial support) on the best route to the pole:
To come to the point, let me say: I consider the chances for reaching the pole by the Smith Sound route to be less promising
than by any other route. I am brought to this belief by a study of the long record of failure by successive government and
private expeditions extending over a hundred years. This opinion was arrived at, as a definite conclusion only after learning
the result of your own unexampled campaigns in this region and when in spite of experience, courage and enthusiasm your well
laid plans were repeatedly thwarted by those physical conditions which baffle the bravest efforts of man. This is not the
place to enumerate those difficulties and the delineation of the Ellesmere Land and North Greenland coast lines by your own
expeditions leave no geographical work of primary importance to be done in this region and make success depend solely on the
happy outcome of a dash to the Pole. As I am unable to convince myself that there is a fair and reasonable chance of success
in the proposed plan, I do not feel justified in contributing in the manner suggested. I do not wish to go on record as saying
the Pole is an impossibility by the Smith Sound route; but it seems to me the chances of failure are too great to warrant
further endeavor on the old lines. My humble opinion is, that the great prize will more likely be won (1) by the man who
is willing to repeat the drift of the Fram -- starting from a more westerly point of entrance into the ice or (2) by forcing
a strong ship into the ice, in a f[av]orable season, north of Spitzbergen where Parry made such a record in 1827, and where
Swerdrup found open water to 85 in the Fram in 1896.
If you, or your friends of the Peary Arctic Club ever desire pecuniary aid to carry out an attack on these lines I will pledge
myself to pay $2000 in annual instalments of $1000. You may rest assured also of my sympathetic interest in your plans, as
at present outlined and at present I propose to keep my convictions to myself in regard to the Smith Sound route.
Bryant's personal correspondence is somewhat scattered and provides only occasional insights. A few letters give glimpses
into his devotion to Princeton, his interest in temperance, his desire to perform active service during the First World War,
his finances, and his attitudes toward a manly life.
Administrative information
Restrictions
None.
Provenance
Acquired from Carmen Valentino, December 1984 (accn. no. 1984-898ms).
Preferred citation
Cite as: Henry G. (Henry Grier) Bryant Letterbooks, American Philosophical Society.
Processing information
Recatalogued by rsc, 2003.
Additional information
Related material
The APS also houses the records of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia (Ms. Coll. 93), of which Bryant served as president,
and which contains several works by and about him. Other material pertaining to arctic exploration in the 19th century is
located in the papers of Elisha Kent Kane, Isaac Hayes, and William Parker Foulke.
The Department of Special Collections at Bryn Mawr College Library houses the Josephine Bull Collection on Polar Exploration,
which includes important correspondence of Bryant's that complements the correspondence in the APS letterbooks.
References
Bryant, Henry G. (Henry Grier), A journey to the Grand Falls of Labrador (Philadelphia, n.a.). Call no.: 917 Pam. No. 4.
Bryant, Henry G. (Henry Grier), Notes on an early American arctic expedition (London: Royal Geographic Society, 1909). Call no.: 917 Pam. No. 5.
Bryant, Henry G. (Henry Grier), "Notes on the most northern Eskimos" 1895. Call no.: 572 Pam., vol. 5, no. 7.
Bryant, Henry G. (Henry Grier), The land of the golden dragon (Philadelphia: Geographic Society of Philadelphia, 1919). Call no.: 915.9 B84.
Bryant, Henry G. (Henry Grier), The Peary Auxiliary Expedition of 1894 (Philadelphia: Geographic Society of Philadelphia, 1895). Call no.: 919.8 B84.
Bryant, Henry G. (Henry Grier), The record of the United States in geography 1889-1913 (Rome, 1914). Call no.: 910.9 B84.
Williams, Frankn E., "Henry Grier Bryant, "Annals of the American Association of Geographers 23 (1933): 247.
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