Oviatt Library.
"At the time of the Little America expedition, the poles were kind of what space is now ‹ a vast unknown," said university archivist Tony Gardner, curator of the exhibit. "Polar exploration was extremely dangerous, and the explorers took everything with them to survive. They went in these fragile wooden sailing ships that traveled through seas of ice.
"Like going into space is now, it was a time of adventure, excitement, discovery, and also danger," Gardner said. "The expeditions served as an inspiration for generations, but they also took many lives."
The library exhibit will feature artifacts from Court's trip with Byrd to the Antarctic on the 1939-1941 Little America expedition as well as papers, books and other paraphernalia he collected over the years on polar exploration.
Court taught at CSUN for 22 years. The author of some 165 publications, Court was best known for his work in climatology, especially wind analysis, methods for the presentation of weather data and the history of climatology. After he died in 1999, his family donated his collection to the university.
The library will pay tribute to his memory with a special reception at 6 p.m. on March 12. That evening Peter Brueggeman, director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library, will give a presentation on diving under the Antarctic ice.
Brueggeman took part in two Antarctic underwater photography expeditions in 1997 and 1999 sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The expeditions were featured in a recent PBS nature show entitled "Under Antarctic Ice." Brueggeman's presentation March 12 will include color photographs from the diving expeditions.
The exhibit is located in the Exhibition Gallery in the west wing of the second floor of Oviatt Library. The library is in the center of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.
For information about the exhibit, call the library at (818) 677-2638.
California State University, Northridge has more than 32,000 full- and part-time students and offers 59 bachelor's and 41 master's degrees as well as 28 education credential programs. Founded in 1958, it is the only four-year university in the San Fernando Valley and the fourth largest in the 23-campus CSU system. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges recently said CSUN "stands as a model to other public urban institutions of higher education."
