British polar exploration in the nineteenth century was a close-knit community, held together by professional endeavor and personal connection. Lasting from 1818 to 1859, this era was characterized by its close association with the Admiralty and the government, the beginnings of the use of steam power and industrial technology in exploration, and the introduction of the concepts of the British-conquered Arctic and Antarctic into the popular imagination, laying the foundation for decades of imperial myth-making and exploratory endeavor to come.  Legendary figures such as Sir John Franklin still dominate discussions of this era, but polar exploration was a national pastime, broadly involving people of all classes in its planning, participation, and popular reception, from artists to lords to politicians to outspoken critics. Performing social network analysis on information collected via archival research, I plan to produce a set of interactive data visualizations cataloging the historical participants in Victorian polar exploration, illuminating unexpected correlations, and allowing for easy viewing of the myriad nodes and edges of the wider community.  This public humanities project will draw on my scholarly interests in communities of affinity and participatory cultures in order to encourage continued interest in the lesser-studied aspects of polar history. Presenting this information digitally in accessible visual form will, I hope, prompt new inquiries into the lesser-known relationships and figures who make up the underlying layers of the Victorian polar milieu.

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