London ( CNN ) -- It is 100 years since British explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott set off on his ill-fated journey to be the first man to reach the South Pole . Now , for the first time , writings , photographs and items from the arduous Terra Nova expedition , which lasted from 1910 to 1913 , have been brought together for public display . `` It 's a story of immense heroism , '' said curator Kay Smith at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge , where the exhibition is taking place . Entitled `` These Rough Notes : Captain Scott 's Last Expedition , '' the exhibition includes fragile journals and letters written by the men who set out to traverse the Antarctic wastes , and features the last journal Captain Scott ever wrote , as well as his final letter to his wife . It also includes pictures taken by photographer Herbert Ponting , showing scenes of ice caves , frolicking penguins and the men relaxing at their camp , Cape Evans , in preparation for the assault ahead . `` He was one of the finest photographers of the 20th century , '' said Smith of Ponting . `` Scott realized that expeditions like this , just like today , run at a loss , so he realized that once he got to the South Pole and back , he would have to give lecture tours , and would need photographic records , '' she continued . Also included in the exhibition are items from the company 's midwinter 's day festivities in June 1911 , which they celebrated in lieu of Christmas with a big meal and a `` tree '' they decorated with little flags . On display are the paper hats they made for themselves as well as a menu one of the men fashioned in the shape of an Adelie penguin . But it is the journals , letters and notebooks that tell the story best . `` It 's a once-in-a-hundred-year opportunity to read this material and actually see the handwriting , '' said archivist at the institute , Naomi Boneham . `` A lot of it has been quoted , but actually seeing the handwriting and seeing how shaky their hands were from when the weather was so extreme , is slightly different from seeing a typed page , '' she continued . A hand-produced newspaper by the so-called `` Northern Party , '' who were trapped for months in an ice-cave during a perilous geological expedition in 1911 , are blackened with soot from the blubber-burning stove the men used in order to stay warm . The final , tortuous journey to the South Pole is also brought to life through the writings and photographs on display . `` When they set off on November 1st with the ponies , the dogs and the motor sledges , it 's all very upbeat , they 're not setting out to die , they 're setting out to reach the South Pole , hopefully to be the first but if not the first , then one of the first people to be there , '' said Boneham . But the farewell letters from the last three men standing -- Scott , Dr. Edward Adrian Wilson and Henry Robertson ( Birdie ) Bowers -- are written in the knowledge that they were dying and are , said Boneham , `` very personal . '' Heart-rending photographs of the team finding rival Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen 's tent already at the South Pole complement the written details of their arduous journey there -- and cast a shadow on their harrowing and ill-fated journey back . It is through their writing that we now know the story of Captain Lawrence Oates , one of the five men to reach the Pole , who suffered horribly from injury and frostbite on the way back and walked out into a blizzard in order to save his companions . `` It 's an incredibly poignant story to walk out into a blizzard to try to save your companions and then to have them die too , '' said Smith . `` For them to know they were dying and to sit there writing letters , it ca n't fail to make you emotionally involved , '' she continued . Scott , Wilson and Bowers died of starvation and exposure in their tent in late March 1912 . Months later , a search party found them , along with their last letters and journals . Smith believes people remain fascinated by this tale of endurance because it involves extremes : Of temperature , of effort and of emotion . But , she said , `` The story is actually much better than fiction . It 's a tremendously heroic story , and it 's real . '' Cape Evans still stands today , preserved almost exactly as Scott and his men left it a century ago . You can visit it , but , Smith said , much like then , `` It does rather depends on your wallet . ''
Show ##s celebrates centenary of Captain Scott 's expedition to the South Pole . Show ##s together artifacts , photographs and personal items from ill - considered trip . Curator describes expedition as ` ` incredibly poignant story '' of ` ` . '' Scott 's camp still stands in the Antarctic , just as he left it a century ago .