ABINGTON, Pa. — A decade of research spanning two generations of Penn State Abington students concluded last week when they unveiled a historical marker dedicated to a legendary Philadelphia-born Arctic explorer.
The students, along with P.J. Capelotti, professor of anthropology at the Abington campus, and other dignitaries gathered at the tomb of Elisha Kent Kane in the city's historic Laurel Hill Cemetery. The surgeon's accomplishments earned him international fame in the mid-19th century, and he is considered the most influential of the American explorers of the Arctic.
“Kane was a brilliant writer, great explorer and respected scientist,” said Capelotti. “If you look at mid-19th century maps, the North Pole was every bit as blank as the back side of the moon was before 1968.”
The marker developed from a seminar course, The American Way to the Pole, taught by Capelotti. The students searched for the final resting places of three Pennsylvania-born Arctic explorers — Kane, Edwin de Haven, and Isaac Israel Hayes — and the birthplace of another, Robert Peary.
The hunt for Hayes’ grave began in 2006 with Abington student Kevin Drew (history, 2006), but without success. Seven years later, Janet Stock (psychological and social sciences, 2013) developed a lead and found Hayes buried in the Oakland Friends Burial Ground in the Philadelphia suburb of West Goshen.