President: Charles Lagerbom
Charles in Dry Valleys
Charles H. Lagerbom grew up in Kansas and received his B.A. in History from Kansas State University. He received his M.A. in History and Archaeology from the University of Maine for his work on an American Revolutionary War trading post along the banks of the Penobscot River. Charles spent two field seasons working in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica in the early 1990s with a glacial geology research team from the University of Maine Quaternary Institute, now the Institute for Climate Change. He is the author of the polar biography The Fifth Man: The Life of H.R. Bowers about "Birdie" Bowers who accompanied Captain Robert Scott to the South Pole on the Terra Nova Expedition 1910-1912.
An avid reader and book collector, Charles' passion for all things polar has propelled him to amass an extensive personal polar library with over 1500 titles. He has been a guest lecturer onboard cruise ships along the Antarctic Peninsula where he lectured on the history and politics of the Antarctic. He currently serves as Membership Chair for the American Polar Society and President for the Antarctican Society. Charles has edited the first installment of an Index to The Polar Times, the journal of the American Polar Society and is at work on subsequent volumes. He also holds memberships in the New Zealand Antarctic Society, the James Caird Society, the Old Antarctic Explorer's Association - New England Chapter, and the Friends of Peary's Eagle Island. He makes his home with his wife, Jennifer, and their two young children on the coast in Belfast, Maine where he teaches history at the local high school. Most recently, he has embarked on a PhD program of study in the History Department at the University of Maine. His thesis will trace the historic, scientific and economic connections between Maine and the polar regions.