Explorer, author, fur trader. Opened and operated the first Whaling and Trading Post at Point Barrow, Alaska 1889. Host to many internationally known explorers. Author of the book "Fifty Years Below Zero." Known as "The King of the Arctic."  Charles DeWitt Brower was born in New York. He first came to Alaska in 1884 with an expedition to locate coal beds in the northernmost tip of North America. Brower stayed in the area of Point Barrow, Alaska, where he engaged in whaling, trapping, and trading. He also served as as the area's post master. He and his native wife raised twenty children and were known for their hospitality among explorers, whalers, traders, and missionaries in the area. Among his friends were arctic explorers and experts Vilhjalmur Steffansson, Knud Rassmussen, George Wilkins, and Roald Amundsen. His autobiography, Fifty Years Below Zero, was published in 1942. Charles Brower died in 1945.

The collection consists of copies of Charles Brower's diary and his autobiography, The Northernmost American: An Autobiography. These are typed copies of the manuscript works.

The collection was presented to the archives by David Hickock in 1997. The diary was reproduced from microfilm at Johns Hopkins University. The autobiography was reproduced from the original typed manuscript at Dartmouth College. The archives does not own the copyright to these manuscripts.

Lodge: Century 100, Now Atlas Pythagoras #10
Residence: Point Barrow, Alaska