ML137971
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Subject 1: (Interview). Subtitle: James E. Henson Sr. Timecode In: 00:00:32. Timecode out: 00:09:09. Notes: Henson and Peary; North Pole expedition. Subject 2: (Interview). Subtitle: Allen Counter. Timecode In: 00:12:51. Timecode out: 00:28:16. Notes: Henson and Peary; North Pole expedition. Subject 3: (Environmental Recording). Subtitle: Matthew Henson Reception. Timecode In: 00:28:52. Timecode out: 00:38:43. Notes: Henson and Peary; North Pole expedition. Subject 4: (Environmental Recording). Subtitle: James E. Henson Sr, Harte Peary Stafford. Timecode In: 00:39:27. Timecode out: 00:47:23. Notes: Henson and Peary; North Pole expedition. Subject 5: (Environmental Recording). Subtitle: Tent reception ambi. Timecode In: 00:47:37. Timecode out: 00:51:45. Notes: Henson and Peary; North Pole expedition. Equipment Notes: Stereo=1; Split track. Radio Expeditions September 21, 1998 Henson/Smith Interview 00:00:29 Ambi: Lots of background noises: Thunder and raining and peoples voices. Most voices are unintelligible but thunder is prevalent throughout the recording. DS 00:01:38 Identify yourself.00:01:40 JH 00:01:41 James E. Henson senior. I like to be referred to as Jim. DS 00:01:47 And your connection with Matthew Henson.00:01:48 JH 00:01:49 I'm a great nephew of Matthew Henson. My grandfather, Bailey Henson and Matthew Henson were half brothers. DS 00:01:57 In your talk you talked about Perry being an equal opportunity explorer. Say that again. 00:02:08 JH 00:02:09 Perry was an equal opportunity explorer. He gave Uncle Matthew an equal opportunity to show what he could do before the law required people to be nondiscriminatory in their hiring practices. DS 00:02:26 Matthew Henson was the right hand man and co-discoverer of Perry and the North Pole. Tell me how did Perry regard him.00:02:43 JH 00:02:47 From my reading, I think Perry had a great deal of respect for Matthew Henson's abilities and his skills. I think, from what I have read, Adm. Perry was a very goal oriented person and his main focus was on achieving his objectives. So, I don't think that he was very personable, a participatory manager so to speak. I think he was more of an authoritarian but given the drive that he had and his great ambition to reach the North Pole, I think that he was very determined to reach his goal, and his relationship with Matthew Henson was a part of that. I think Matthew Henson was a means to help him achieve his goal. DS 00:03:39 How did he help that? 00:03:40 JH 00:03:41 Well, he helped in a number of ways. You take the one concept of survival. When other explorers had tried to reach the North Pole. Approximately 800 people have died, had died, trying to reach the North Pole. The Inuit people became very valuable to Perry's expedition because they knew how to survive in the hostile climate. Uncle Matthew, because he was looked upon by the Inuits like he was a brother because he was a darker shade, he learned their language, he spoke it fluently, he earned their respect. They went places because he was with the expedition that they wouldn't have gone because it was contrary to their culture to go out on the ice, for example, when they had no reason. They thought there weren't any animals out there, and things like that. At any rate, on the survival, he learned how to survive, he helped, he saved Perry's life a couple of times, once by shooting a musk ox that was bearing down on Perry and Perry's gun jammed. Matthew had one bullet. He fired that bullet and killed the musk ox. So he saved his life a couple of times. Matter of fact, his first aid was very crucial in Perry's treatment when he eventually had to have eight toes amputated. So, in terms of the dog sledges, he built sledges that were really stronger than the Inuit sledges. And it was a part, I guess, of being an ... (Notes truncated)
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Archival information
- Cataloged
- 27 Oct 2008 - Ben Brotman
- Digitized
- 24 Oct 2008 - Ben Brotman
- Edited
- 27 Oct 2008 - Ben Brotman