The Annotated Map. At last!
As many of you know, we first heard of maps annotated by John Rae when an Admiralty chart came up at auction in April 2024. Annoyed by the attribution of the surveying of Victoria Island to Captain Collinson, Rae had marked on the chart the surveys he himself had completed in 1851. His complaints about the lack of acknowledgement of his work began at the time of the publication of the chart in 1855 and continued until the 1890s.
Despite heroic efforts from the Society’s members to raise funds, our bid was unsuccessful and the chart was purchased by a private collector. But during the correspondence that followed it transpired there was different map, extensively annotated by Rae. This one is in the Rauner Collection at Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA and had been shown to Professor Astrid Ogilvie on her visit to the college in 2018. We were alerted to its existence by Professor Richard Nelmes for whom Professor Ogilvie had procured a copy for his work on crystallography.
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Road to the Arctic Fund
Our fundraising drive to raise £150k to construct a crucial access road to Hall of Clestrain that will allow access for the heavy machinery needed to restore the building is well under way. Through kind donations from members and local businesses and fundraising efforts of many we have now raised £74,915. Find our more about this plan and how you can help us.
Help us Save Hall of Clestrain
John Rae’s childhood home Hall of Clestrain is in dire need of rescue. The Society is working hard to raise funds to save this Grade A-listed villa of architectural significance. Find out how you can help us.
The John Rae Society is proud to share that our President, Andrew Appleby, was recently interviewed by Cerys Matthews on BBC Radio 6 Music, one of the UK’s most listened-to digital radio programmes. The feature sparked an outpouring of interest in John Rae’s story and his pioneering contributions to Arctic exploration. You can relisten on BBC Sounds on the link below.
We were thrilled to welcome both Dr. Rosalind Rawnsley and Prof. Wendell McConnaha to Orkney recently. Wendell and Rosalind each gave wonderful talks to our members and visitors in person and online, which can now be viewed retrospectively on our Youtube channel below. We pass our enormous thanks to them both and hope to welcome them back to Orkney soon.