{"id":887,"date":"2017-10-03T14:55:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-03T12:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/?page_id=887"},"modified":"2026-04-29T11:16:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T09:16:56","slug":"archives-and-collections","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/npolar.no\/en\/archives-and-collections\/","title":{"rendered":"Archives and collections"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The library holds a collection of more than 15,000 book volumes, focusing on the polar areas.<\/p>\n

A major part of the collection consists of documents about Arctic and Antarctic expeditions and the exploration history of these regions. The second main focus is on modern scientific literature that pertains to the polar areas.<\/p>\n

The Norwegian Polar Institute Library is open to the public and you are welcome to visit and use the collections.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n

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The Norwegian Polar Institute’s photo library consists of a total of 100,000 photographs (approximately 60,000 photos from the polar regions) dating 140 years back from 1872 and up to today. A range of interesting historical pictures may be found, as well as depictions of polar landscapes, wildlife and field work.<\/p>\n

The Norwegian Polar Institute’s photo library<\/a><\/p>\n

Search photos<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n

Polar map archive<\/h3>\n

The archice holds old maps from Norges Svalbard- og Ishavs-unders\u00f8kelse around the time of the naming of Svalbard as well as maps from Greenland and early Antarctic maps.<\/p>\n

Search maps<\/a><\/p>\n

Original maps<\/h3>\n

A collection of original maps, mostly Dutch from the 16th century. The library has had good-quality facsimile versions of five maps from the collection reproduced. These can be purchased from the library for NOK 100 each, or NOK 400 for the whole set.<\/p>\n

Overview of Norwegian Polar Institute historical maps<\/a><\/p>\n

Ice limit archive<\/h3>\n

This archive contains large parts of the basic data for the report, ACSYS Historical Ice Chart Archive (1553-2002)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Overview of the Norwegian Polar Institute historical ice limit archive <\/a>(PDF, 0,6MB)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n

This collection consists of nearly 800 letters, newspaper cuttings, manuscripts and other material connected with Umberto Nobile.<\/p>\n

The Dane Ove Hermansen (1933\u2013) corresponded for many years with Nobile and other people connected with the disastrous crash of Nobile\u2019s airship Italia<\/em> in 1928. In 2004, Hermansen donated the entire collection to the Polar Museum in Troms\u00f8 and the Norwegian Polar Institute. It is now kept in the Polar Institute library.<\/p>\n

Catalogue of Ove Hermansen\u2019s Nobile collection<\/a> (norsk, PDF, 0.1MB)<\/p>\n