Boudoir card group portrait of the full Greeley Arctic Expedition party, photographed prior to their 1881 departure for Lady Franklin Bay in the Canadian Arctic. The expedition, formally known as the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition, was a United States Army Signal Corps mission led by Lieutenant Adolphus Greely. All individuals are identified by name on the mount, divided by their seated and standing positions, and include notable survivors and casualties of the ill-fated venture. Greely, Brainard, Lockwood, and others are seated front and center, with fellow officers and scientists positioned behind.

The expedition was intended to establish a meteorological observation post and to collect astronomical and polar data as part of the First International Polar Year. However, due to delayed resupply and severe Arctic conditions, only 6 of the original 25 members survived. This image, taken by photographer S.C. Reed of Newburyport, Massachusetts, is an unusually complete and formally organized pre-expedition record of the team, bearing names that would later be etched into polar history. A period ink inscription on the verso provides provenance and cites a letter from Sidney Rollins, a descendant or associate, dated 1944.