Bernard Hubbard

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Bernard Hubbard, 1949

Bernard Rosecrans Hubbard (born November 24, 1888 in San Francisco , † May 28, 1962 in Santa Clara ) was an American Jesuit priest and naturalist who became famous through numerous annual expeditions in Alaska and was also known as the "Glacier priest" (Eng. Glacier Pastor ”) became known.

Life

The "Glacier priest" during a morning mass in the Aniakchak crater (1931)

Bernard Hubbard was born in San Francisco. In his youth he climbed the mountains of the region, in 1908 he joined the Jesuit order. He was nicknamed “Glacier Priest” while studying theology in Innsbruck , when he climbed and took photos of mountains in the Alps . In 1923, Hubbard was ordained a priest . At Santa Clara University he received a teaching position in 1926.

In 1927 he was the first to cross the Mendenhall Glacier and the Taku Glacier in Alaska, followed by tours of Kodiak Island the next year . In the 1930s, he mainly explored volcanoes, including several times Mount Aniakchak , both before and after its great eruption in 1931, on which he reported for the National Geographic Society. Since Hubbard was primarily a self-taught scientist , his work had little scientific influence, but became very popular. His first book was published in 1932, several documentary films were made in the late 1930s , and Hubbard attained thousands of listeners on lecture tours. In 1937, Hubbard was the highest paid lecturer in the United States. He knew how to link his persona of the “Glacier Priest” with the presented natural wonders and thereby gain funds and sponsors for further expeditions. On some trips Hubbard was accompanied by the photographer Malcolm Greany . Hubbard became particularly well known for documenting life on King Island . Although the value of his own anthropological knowledge is very doubtful, his numerous recordings are counted among the most important documents on the ethnology of independent Eskimos overall. With the locals, Hubbard erected a statue of Christ on one of the highest points on the island. He later described the blessing on October 31, 1937 as one of the happiest days of his life.

During World War II, Hubbard accompanied the American troops in Asia and Europe, where he temporarily traveled with General George S. Patton's troops . In his diary, Patton describes Hubbard's attitude as "very anti-Russian and very anti-Semitic".

Santa Clara Mission Cemetery

After the war, Hubbard toured and filmed Jesuit schools and missions around the world at the request of the Jesuit Superior General Jean Baptiste Janssens . In 1955 he suffered a stroke , the consequences of which prevented him from traveling to Alaska again until 1962. In May 1962 he suffered another stroke and died shortly afterwards in Santa Clara Hospital and was buried in the mission cemetery.

In total, Hubbard led 31 expeditions to the arctic regions of Alaska, the archives of Santa Clara University houses around 11,000 photo negatives , more than 60 kilometers of unprocessed film recordings and 50 short films of his travels.

Publications

  • Alaskan odyssey . Hale, 1952
  • Father Hubbard's report on the need for Jesuit relief and reconstruction in Europe: Dec. 1, 1945 . National Jesuit Fund, 1945
  • Cradle of the Storms . Dodd, Mead & Company, 1935
  • Mush, you malemutes! . American Press, 1932
  • A world inside a mountain: Aniakchak, the new volcano wonderland of the Alaska Peninsula, is explored . National Geographic Society, 1931

Documentaries

  • Arctic Springtime (1941)
  • Aghileen Pinnacles (1939)
  • Alaska's Silver Millions (1936)

literature

  • Caprice Murray Scarborough, Deanna M. Kingston: The Legacy of the "Glacier Priest": Bernard R. Hubbard, SJ . Santa Clara University, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, 2001
  • Katherine E. Priest: Adventures with the glacier priest: Father Bernard R. Hubbard, SJ's Alaskan persona. University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1999
  • Tom Johnson: Father Bernard Hubbard Photographs , 1920

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Raymond A. Schroth: The American Jesuits: a history . NYU Press, 2007, pp. 188ff
  2. ^ A b c Heather Norris Nicholson: Screening culture: constructing image and identity . Lexington Books, 2003, pp. 114ff
  3. ↑ Katherine E. Priest: Adventures with the glacier priest: Father Bernard R. Hubbard, SJ's Alaskan persona. University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1999, p. 4,7
  4. ↑ George Smith Patton, Martin Blumenson: Patton Papers, 1940-1945 . Da Capo Press, 1996, p. 745
  5. ^ SCU celebrates the legacy of Bernard Hubbard, SJ: Glacier Priest
  6. ↑ Alaska's Silver Millions (Part I) (1936) at archive.org
personal data
SURNAME Hubbard, Bernard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hubbard, Bernard Rosecrans (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Jesuit priest and naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH November 24, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH San Francisco
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 1962
Place of death Santa Clara