My Dissertation

As I am very priviledged to be running the South west image bank Archive for one day a week from September to December this year I have made the decision to take a 3 month 'study break' during that time whereby I will cease work on my Dissertation. I have chosen to do this as alongside my one day a week at SWiB I will also continue to work my 2 jobs, continue with my other University modules and revise for my January exams and therefore I cannot possibly remain eyeball deep in dissertation research. Therefore I have decided to begin my dissertation research now with a view to getting as much done as possible before  September in order to give me that time off and I aim resume work on it early on in 2013 following my January exams ready for final submission in early June 2013.



In connection with this there will now be a regular if not weekly update on this site concerning dissertation progress. This week I have begun the background reading into my dissertation topic, I am hoping to produce a 12,000 word document concerning the 1910 - 1913 Terra Nova expedition on which my great great grandfather accompanied Robert Falcon Scott to the South Pole. I have chosen this topic as I am lucky enough to have a family who have been hugely involved in the preservation and celebration of the involvement of my great great grandfather in this historic event and have to hand many thought provoking and beautiful historical sources and artefacts including my great great grandfathers offical journal from the Terra Nova as well as his own personnal journal, newpaper clippings charting the progress of the expedition, Skis used on the expedition (currently residing in the Plymouth Museum) and less helpful to my dissertation but incredible all the same a stuffed emporer penguin (currently residing in Edinburgh museum)

The Dissertation begins... Background Reading

The first piece of background reading I am currently engrossed in is the Journal of Robert Falcon Scott from the Expedition enititled Scotts last Expedition which has been forwarded by his son and generously loaned to me from my Gran and her vast collection of Scott related literature which I hope to take great advantage of throughout the coming months! I was very excited to see my great great grandfathers name, Frederick Parsons, on the list of expedition members page, it was almost as if I didnt expect it!

In the book he is listed as a petty officer and had indeed enjoyed a long career in the Navy. I am looking forward to next reading  his journal and am hoping to conduct some interviews with my granparents and great uncle about thier memories of him, I will then aim to transcribe these interviews into relevents oral evidence for my dissertation a technique which I honed during my second
year at Plymouth University when my research peice on the Blitz in Plymout (again interviewing my gran) was awarded best in the module winning me a £50 book token and more importantly the publication of my transcript on the Plymouth and West Devon record office archival database. You can view this project: http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/archivescatalogue?record=0&cid=v5lysm55rbkcak55gfhdom55&criteria=3807 if you are interested.

I was slightly concerned that this reading would be tedious and boring but actually it has been really really interesting and thought provoking. I am currently at chapter 9, April 1911; the Scott team have been carrying out short expeditions to various points around the original landing site on various geological, biological and photographic errands. It does strike me at this point that the expedition to the Pole itself, which we now know to have been a disaster, is already descending into bad fortune as various incidents have led to loss of half of the ponies and a considerable number of the dogs which were intended to act as transport for both people an equiptment. At this point I am left asking the question: Was Scott woefully unprepared or was he just struck by a round of particularly damaging bad luck which resulted in the catastrophic demise of his treasured expedition?

"The reactions of the human spirit in extreme adversity can strike our imagination vividly. Sometimes, one example moves a whole generation of people, and the story becomes history, to be handed down to generations who were not even born when the events took place. This happened to the story of my fathers last Antartic expedition on which he and four of his companions reached the South Pole in January 1912, but died of hunger and cold on the way back."
                                                       - Sir Peter Scott, Robert Falcon Scotts son.