The Symmes Antarctic Intelligencer

The Symmes Antarctic Intelligencer is a satirical newsletter based in McMurdo and first distributed during the summer of 1999-00 at McMurdo, Pole, and various field camps.

Though indigenous Antarctic media is rare and fleeting, small press has been a fixture in Antarctica since at least the early 1900s when Shackleton edited The South Polar Times. Later, during IGY in 1957-58 at Ellsworth Station, seismologist John Behrendt recorded the controversy surrounding the publication of a newsletter called The Daily Sandcrab.  A scathing paper called The Shadow emerged in McMurdo in the early '90s and irked Naval officers all the way up to Washington D.C.  In short, though it can be difficult to find, Antarctic small press has a long history.

Though relatively new, The Symmes Antarctic Intelligencer is probably the first paper to be outright seized by managers at South Pole Station.  Following a wave of scuttlebutt caused by the paper's distribution in McMurdo a few days previous, a package of the newsletters was intercepted in the mailroom at Pole and then confiscated, while the intended recipient was taken to Human Resources for questioning.  (It is unclear why a goofy newsletter of any stripe represents a Constitutional Emergency that demands the theft of mail, but for more information on National Science Foundation policies regarding the dreary upkeep of American freedoms in Antarctica, contact the NSF Media Representative at pwest@nsf.gov.  If you love to contact Media Representatives, but you need a conversation-starter, try these uncomfortable topics.)  

The Symmes Antarctic Intelligencer is published only very infrequently.  Past issues are available here in PDF format for ease of reprinting.  Each file is available in Kiosk-size (smaller files for kiosk connections) and Crary-size (higher resolution files for lab connections).