The Internet is now 0.00000000000000001% less wrong.

The other day, I was looking at the Library of Congresses' online Prints and Photographs catalog (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html), looking for some old photos, because I'm still thinking about retrofuturism things. I searched for "explorer", and found this photo by Mathew Brady (the famed Civil War photographer) labeled "Dr. J.J. Hayes, artic (sic) explorer". Googling about didn't turn up much, until I found I.I. Hayes, and realized someone had misread the handwriting on Brady's photograph.

So I sent an "ask a librarian" query on their site, and yesterday got back the following:

Thank you for your recent question for the Prints and Photographs Division of
the Library of Congress.

Further investigation in our collections and caption information reveals that
this does appear to be Isaac Israel Hayes. Other images of him in our
collections are correctly identified. A correction has been submitted to our
cataloging staff. Thank you for contacting us about this matter and for your
interest in our collections.

A minor victory to be sure, but one I'll celebrate none the less.

Next, I should have the photo added to his wikipedia entry.