Members of the Expedition
Fifteen people attended the expedition, ranging from adults to college students to a baby. These people included a few noteworthy members, including Robert Voight, George Waite, Alonzo Pond, Dorothy Pond, and Edgar Roberts.
Alonzo Pond, Leader
Before Alonzo Pond because an internationally known anthropologist, he was a boy called Lonnie living in Janesville, Wisconsin. Born June 18th, 1894, his family attempted to convince him to take over the family store, Pond and Bailey Dry Goods, but failed as he showed a strong interest in Anthropology instead. After 3 years, he left Beloit College in 1917 to enlist in World War I. He returned to graduate with a Bachelors of Science from Beloit in 1920.
In 1921, a new school was created in Paris, and Pond enrolled. He attended the American School at the University of Paris, and studied Prehistory while travelling around France investigating Paleolithic excavations.
In 1926, Pond started as the Associate Curator of the Logan Museum, then married Dorothy Long July 20th, 1926, a mere five weeks after meeting.They went on a honeymoon in Europe and North Africa, then had their first child, Chomingwen. Pond went on to graduate with a Master’s in Anthropology in 1928 from the University of Chicago. While working for the Logan Museum, he led two expeditions to North Africa.
Unfortunately, as he was not an official professor, Pond had to be let go in 1931 due to the failing economy that accompanied the Great Depression. He worked for various organizations as an archaeologist, then spent years writing books and lecturing.
Pond finally retired in 1968, after working for 9 years for the Air Force, then 3 years of resort-development. He died December 25th, 1986 at home in Minocqua, Wisconsin.
Dorothy Pond, Directed the Camp
Dorothy Long was born August 26th, 1900 in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. She went on attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison for Economics, then married Alonzo Pond in July of 1926 in Madison, Wisconsin. She travelled the world with him, and he listed her occupation in the 1985 Beloit College Alumnae Census as “Special assistant to THE MANAGER, Curator, Explorer, or what ever [sic] job I held.” According to her obituary in The Janesville Gazette, she was “an assistant archaeologist, author, and lecturer. They worked as a team throughout their lives, going on to have two children: Rev. Chomingwen Pond and Arthur Pond. She accompanied him on all of his expeditions and ensured that the camp ran smoothly during the 1930 expedition.
Dorothy Pond died in November of 1987 in Minocqua, Wisconsin, then buried with her husband in Janesville, Wisconsin.
Robert Voight, Student and Amateur Photographer
Robert Voight, born in Chicago in 1910, attended Beloit College for Geology, graduating in 1931. While attending Beloit, he participated in Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, theatre, campus government, Turtle Mound Society, and was the Editor of the Round Table. His father, John Voight, was a Beloit Academy alum from 1905.
After Beloit, he served in the Navy during World War II, then obtained his Master’s in Anthropology, and also attend US Department of Agriculture Graduate School. He held a variety of jobs, majority as a statistician for different government departments. He retired in December 1974, but continued as a consultant on census methods in foreign countries until 1983. After 50 years of marriage, he was widowed when his wife, Vera Schanche, died. He died after a fall at home in McLean, Virginia in October 9th, 2001.
Edgar Roberts, Student
Edgar Roberts, born in Evanston, Illinois in 1912 had an eccentric career.
Before attending Beloit College, he played violin and bass fiddle while travelling the country with his band, the Edgar Drake Orchestra.
Attending Beloit in 1929, he did not graduate. When he found out that his family was struggling to pay for groceries because of his educational bills, he dropped out to work. He did not finish college until age 76, when he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Small Business Administration in 1987.
During his time away from academia, he married his wife Marjorie McGinn in 1941, was drafted into World War II, then moved with his wife to St. Louis in 1947. There, he and his brother Richard founded their successful Roberts Boys Shops Inc., which they operated until they sold it to Richard’s sons in 1971.
He died December 4th, 2002 of a stroke in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.