Untapped New York is excited to announce our newest tour, offering special access into The Explorers Club, a unique private club on the Upper East Side dedicated to discovery and exploration. Located inside the landmark Lowell Thomas Building, The Explorers Club was founded in 1904 and is an international, multidisciplinary, professional organization focused on the advancement of field research, scientific exploration, and to the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore.
Its members have included the world’s most notable explorers, accomplishing many firsts: first to the North Pole, first to the South Pole, first to the summit of Mount Everest, first to the deepest point in the ocean, first to the surface of the moon.
Our upcoming tours will take place on February 19th, March 12th, and April 9th at 6 PM:
The Explorers Club is a particularly unique location to visit because of its vast collections, which include rooms of taxidermy. Walk beneath a growling polar bear, or sit between giant elephant tusks, and take in the size of blue whale’s penis. Animal heads rest atop a collection of Napoleon’s maps from his Egypt expedition. In total, The Explorers Club Research Collections contain approximately 14,000 volumes (1400 of which comprise the Rare Book Collection), 550 linear feet of archives and manuscripts, 1,000 artifacts, 3,500 maps, and 500 films and videos housed throughout Club Headquarters. The Explorers Club has also been a popular film location shoot seen in television shows like Billions
Photo courtesy The Explorers Club
In the century since its founding, The Explorers Club has played a significant role as the premier meeting place for explorers and scientists worldwide who have pushed the limits of discovery and human endurance. Members of TheExplorers Club are dedicated to the club’s mission, which, at its most basic level, is to explore land, sea, air, and space.
Photo courtesy of The Explorers Club
Modern explorers are now studying in detail what the pioneers revealed in outline. Robert Peary, the Club’s third President, and Matthew Henson “discovered” the North Pole in 1909. The discovery of the South Pole by Explorers Club Member Roald Amundsen followed soon after in 1911. Club Members Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first to summit Mt. Everest in 1953, and Mariana Trench, the lowest point on Earth, was attained by our Honorary President Don Walsh and Club Fellow Jacques Piccard in 1960. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins reached the moon in 1969 carrying The Explorers Club Flag.
Join us for our next tour of The Explorers Club, led by a docent of the club!
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