Raymond Lee Newcomb (December 31, 1849 – June 28, 1918) was an American naturalist, taxidermist, artist, and astronomer from

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

. He was part of the ''Jeannette'' expedition and edited and co-authored ''Our Lost Explorers: the narrative of the Jeannette Arctic expedition as related by the survivors''. The book incorporated material from his journal accounts of the expedition. He was to produce studies and bring home specimens from the ill-fated Arctic expedition.

Biography

He and the other survivors were welcomed back to the United States after their Arctic expedition. In 1882, he gave a presentation to the Essex Institute. In 1883, he was scheduled to give a lecture on the expedition at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial g ...

with

stereopticon A stereopticon is a slide projector or relatively powerful "magic lantern", which has two lenses, usually one above the other, and has mainly been used to project photographic images. These devices date back to the mid 19th century, and were a popu ...

images for illustration. A Congressional Set from 1884 catalogs various documents related to the expedition including statements by Newcomb. Newcomb's work included taxidermy to preserve specimens. After his return from the Arctic expedition, he served as Salem's health officer. In 1893, he became secretary of the Salem Camera Club. In 1895, he wrote an article about photography and the expedition for '' Anthony's Photographic Bulletin''. Edward Ellsberg wrote about Newcomb and the expedition in ''Cruise of the Jeannette'' published in 1949.

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* * 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American photographers 19th-century American biologists 1849 births 1918 deaths American astronomers American diarists American naturalists Artists from Massachusetts Explorers of the Arctic Jeannette expedition People from Salem, Massachusetts Scientists from Massachusetts Taxidermists 19th-century American astronomers {{US-explorer-stub