The Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society is a small museum in the town of Hammerfest, Norway The significance of the polar bear is that this animal is the town's mascot and heraldic crest.
For all its remoteness, Hammerfest has a long history as a trading port, and Isbjørnklubben as it is called in Norwegian - meaning simply Polar Bear Club - sets out to commemorate this. In the museum's single room are a variety of mementos of the early life of Hammerfest, including a profusion of stuffed animals, early Arctic hunting, traveling and camping equipment, and perhaps most interestingly, a gallery of photographs, paintings, drawings and writings of and from the town's history. The depict the town as it was in previous centuries, showing that as far back as the seventeenth century CE, this tiny town was a nexus for travelers and traders in the far north and a meeting point for the isolated people of North Norway, traders sailing up from southern Europe and hunters and traders coming west from the Arctic Ocean and Russia.
Founded in 1963 by two local businessmen, the Polar Bear Club is not particularly ancient. Primarily, it is a somewhat jokey amenity for tourists. Although entrance to the actual museum is for a nominal charge, visitors are encouraged to join the Society, which is rewarded with a membership pack, the contents of which include a certificate, a sticker, a hat, a membership card and a lapel pin. Since the only way to join is in person at the museum, this pin signifies as proof of visiting this remote place.
The normal pin depicts a small polar bear. Today, there is a special version of the pin in which the polar bear stands on an ice floe. This is only available to members who have visited the Polar Bear Club's other location in Longyearbyen on Svalbard.
Famous quotes containing the words royal, ancient, polar, bear and/or society:
“Are you there, Africa with the bulging chest and oblong thigh? Sulking Africa, wrought of iron, in the fire, Africa of the millions of royal slaves, deported Africa, drifting continent, are you there? Slowly you vanish, you withdraw into the past, into the tales of castaways, colonial museums, the works of scholars.”
—Jean Genet (1910–1986)
“Many times man lives and dies
Betweeen his two eternities,
That of race and that of soul,
And ancient Ireland knew it all.
Whether man die in his bed
Or the rifle knocks him dead,”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Professor Fate: My apologies. There’s a polar bear in our car.”
—Arthur Ross. Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon)
“On the whole, yes, I would rather be the Chief Justice of the United States, and a quieter life than that which becomes at the White House is more in keeping with the temperament, but when taken into consideration that I go into history as President, and my children and my children’s children are the better placed on account of that fact, I am inclined to think that to be President well compensates one for all the trials and criticisms he has to bear and undergo.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“American feminists have generally stressed the ways in which men and women should be equal and have therefore tried to put aside differences.... Social feminists [in Europe] ... believe that men and society at large should provide systematic support to women in recognition of their dual role as mothers and workers.”
—Sylvia Ann Hewitt (20th century)