These slides, from the collection of Jack and Beverly Wilgus, were part of a set of specially-made slides prepared for a lanternist in the late nineteenth century. Most were taken from illustrations in books, and several are from amatuer sketches made by Dr. Emil Bessels, the surgeon on C.F. Hall's Polaris expedition, and quite possibly the man who poisoned Hall with arsenic.
 
 
 
 
 

Tookoolito, Hall's translator, standing beside Hall's Grave -- From a sketch by Dr. Bessels

Image courtesy Jack and Beverly Wilgus
 
 

"Joe" Ebierbing, Hall's guide

Image courtesy Jack and Beverly Wilgus
 
 

The ice breaking up around the Polaris -- another sketch by Bessels

Image courtesy Jack and Beverly Wilgus