Antarctica : The Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition ( BAE II ), 1933-35. An inherited archive of documents, articles and photographs connected specifically to the Radio Operator appointed to the Expedition, John Dyer. The material includes a larger format portrait photograph of Dyer with his autograph on paper, two letters with the original 'Little America' logo - one from the camp itself and one written on board a transit vessel ( SS. Jacob Ruppert ) - both referring to technical radio transmissions for the bases camp, printed Radiogram messages, two photos of the radio equipment, two contemporary New York Herald features about the expedition and a coloured 'authorised' map of the expedition. See condition report for further information about provenance. CONDITION REPORT: The second Byrd Antarctic Expedition, known as BAE II, took place between 1933 and 1935. My father and John Dyer (JD), were very good friends at the time. My father graduated near the top of his class at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a degree in Electrical Engineering, and perhaps meet and became friends with JD at that time.
When the second Byrd Antarctic Expedition took place, CAH was building the business known as the Harvey Radio Company in the Boston, MA area, later to team up with Mr. John Wells to create the highly successful CAH-Wells Electronics, based in Southbridge, MA.
Both CAH and JD were avid ham radio operators. When JD was chosen to be a radioman on this expedition, he would regularly communicate with CAH regarding some of the equipment he probably brought with him to the task at hand, equipment presumably built by CAH.
The material presented here contains a photograph of John Dyer, a piece of paper autographed by Mr. Dyer, numerous telegrams and written material sent to my father by Mr. Dyer, newspaper articles about Mr. Dyer and his efforts, and an illustrated map of the Antarctic where the expedition was based.