Photos: Inside the Explorers Club

News
By published

Explorer Peter Freuchen

Above the fireplace is a portrait of member Peter Freuchen

(Image credit: Clara Moskowitz/LiveScience)

Above the fireplace is a portrait of member Peter Freuchen, a Danish explorer who became stranded in a blizzard on Baffin Island in 1923 and suffered severe frostbite and gangrene on his left foot. To make it back to civilization alive, Freuchen was forced to knock off the toes of his foot with a hammer. Doctors later amputated Freuchen's left leg, but the intrepid explorer continued to explore Greenland and the Arctic.

Explorers Club Records

The Explorers Club keeps detailed records of its members' journeys and discoveries

(Image credit: Clara Moskowitz/LiveScience)

The Explorers Club keeps detailed records of its members' journeys and discoveries, and the headquarters building houses more than 10,000 books on topics related to exploration.

Trophy Room

just a few of the many heads, tusks and bodies dotting the Explorers Club "Trophy Room"

(Image credit: Clara Moskowitz/LiveScience)

These taxidermied specimens are just a few of the many heads, tusks and bodies dotting the Explorers Club "Trophy Room," which houses many of the club's prized artifacts.

A few famous members

Photos of Explorers Club members

(Image credit: Clara Moskowitz/LiveScience)

Photos of Explorers Club members include Robert Peary, co-discoverer of the North Pole and the Club’s third president; Roald Amundsen, co-discover of the South Pole; Sir Ernest Shackleton, who famously rescued his stranded crew in Antarctica; President Theodore Roosevelt, who led two expeditions (to East Africa in 1908 and to the interior of Brazil in 1913, respectively); Matthew Henson, co-discoverer of the North Pole and the Club's first African-American member; Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, the first to summit the world’s highest mountain, Mt. Everest; Astronauts John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Sally Ride; legendary pilot Chuck Yeager; oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle; and primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall.

Whale Penis

a preserved sperm whale penis

(Image credit: Clara Moskowitz/LiveScience)

One of the Explorers Club's rarest artifacts is a preserved sperm whale penis, proudly displayed in the Trophy Room at its headquarters.

Clara Moskowitz
Clara Moskowitz
Clara has a bachelor's degree in astronomy and physics from Wesleyan University, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has written for both Space.com and Live Science.