Collection: Flat Earth Collection

The Antarctic Treaty was signed in Washington on December 1, 1959. Twelve nations agreed that the continent below 60° south would be reserved exclusively for peaceful scientific use, with inspection rights for any signatory. The treaty does not address what is past it. It addresses access.

This collection sits at the latitudes the maps stop drawing. Operation Highjump, the U.S. Navy's 1946–47 Antarctic expedition under Admiral Byrd, generated National Archives Record Group 313. The 1972 Apollo 17 "Blue Marble" photograph, frame AS17-148-22727, is held by NASA. Richard Byrd's 1930 Little America is preserved at the Internet Archive. The designs sit between the perimeter and the photograph.

All the ice wall, the treaty, the photograph, and the route nobody is encouraged to take. Below.