History of the 1925 Nome Serum Run
NOTES ABOUT MY RESEARCH
Those who have perused this site, and with whom I have had direct contact (in person or by phone or e-mail) know that I have engaged in painstaking, thorough efforts to research the information posted on this site. Those with whom I have worked in the historical community know that I take great pride in accuracy, details, and correcting mistakes - when they can be documented as such. I have already said, on my home page, that I am happy to receive any contacts about what are perceived as errors on this site, and will correct them if they are documented. I never claimed to be a know-it-all, or to be the authority on the serum run, what happened before and after, and its participants.
However, I will make this crystal clear: I do not respond to condescending statements about my work. I take great pride in it and, like anyone who puts a great deal of time and effort into that work (with no remuneration in this case), I take offense at callous, holier-than-thou, petulant, patronizing and boorish attacks leveled at my work, my site, or myself. And I will give no space or creedence to such behavior or the individuals who engage in it...no matter what they claim to be their intent. If they cannot behave and approach me in a decent, courteous and mature fashion, they will not be given a forum on my guestbook or...the forum. And I've had one individual already, in the past, who joined as a member of my forum, and soon displayed such a poor and confrontational attitude, and argued with various other members - including myself (he was since permanently banned from the forum, and his hostile e-mails were blocked, resulting in subsequent harrassment which borders on the ridiculous...even though he has his own website which has serum run material on it. Strangely, his efforts at undermining this site have resulted in only a momentary and minor setback, which has had the positive result of allowing me to develop a good working relationship with the Peabody Museum of Natural History of Yale University. Amazing, isn't it?). There was also at least (so far) one woman who posted on my guestbook with the same unacceptable behavior. And I had to delete her comments and block her subsequent sarcastic e-mails.
That I have to say this is unfortunate. However, it is what it is. Sooner or later, anyone who posts a site like this will draw at least a small amount of debate, contradiction and even hostility. This is the only place where I will respond with how I feel about that. To the rest of my visitors, I am very sorry to have had to post this.
I have listed my source materials on this site in various places. I don't post ANYTHING that is "fiction" or "fantasy", created by my own wild imagination. I post material after it has been researched, and which has been posted in MORE than one source. These sites, books and places are reliable resources, and I have complete faith in them. I spent a great deal of actual time not only in the Carrie M. McLain Museum in Nome, but also in the Iditarod Trail Headquarters, actually perusing materials, transcribing original documents, and getting photocopies (or electronic copies I gladly paid for) in order to facilitate my work. I've done this kind of work before, at such places as the National Archives in Washington D.C., the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton, NJ, and other such places. I am quite familiar with the process of historical research, and where to look (and whom to talk to).
Those sources include:
BOOKS
The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic, by Gay & Laney Salisbury (© 2003 W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, NY)
The Adventures of Balto: The Untold Story of Alaska's Most Famous Iditarod Sled Dog, by Patricia Chargot (© 2006 Publication Consultants, Anchorage, AK)
The Race To Nome: Alaska's Heroic Race To Save Lives, by Kenneth A. Ungermann (© 1963 Press North America/Nulbay Associates Inc., Sunnyvale, CA)
Seppala: Alaskan Dog Driver, by Elizabeth M. Ricker (© 1930 Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, MA; reprinted © 1996 Hoflin Publishing, Inc., Wheat Ridge, CO)
Nome: "City of the Golden Beaches", quarterly issue, Vol. 11, No. 1, by Terrence Cole (© 1984 Alaska Geographic Society, Anchorage, AK)
WEBSITES
Norm Vaughn's Serum Run - this is the history page of the Serum Run site.
The Iditarod: Commemorating the 1925 Emergency Delivery of Diphtheria Serum to Nome, Alaska
Leonhard Seppala: Father of the Seppala Siberian SleddogLEONHARD SEPPALA: The musher
legend from Norway
Leonhard Seppala, All-Time Great of Alaskan Dog Drivers
The Story of Leonhard Seppala and Arthur T. WaldenTogo: The Sled-Dog Overlooked By HistoryUniversity of Washington Libraries: Digital CollectionsAlaska State Library: Alaska's Digital ArchivesMUSEUMS & ORGANIZATIONS
Carrie M. McLain Museum, Nome, AKYale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven, CTCleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland, OHCleveland Metroparks Zoo, Cleveland, OHIditarod Trail Headquarters, Wasilla, AKShelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, New York, NYPalmer Museum of History and Art, Palmer, AKHome