tions exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition. 

 Franz Boas was the first curator of anthropology, and 

 F.J.V. Skiff the first director. Bruce called at the Museum 

 early in 1894 before taking his Eskimo show on the road 

 and, since Skiff was away, met with Boas. He offered to 

 sell the Museum an ethnographic collection from Port 

 Clarence. Boas considered the collection an excellent 

 one and recommended it be purchased for the asking 

 price, $550. The collection was acquired on October 31, 

 1894 and cataloged as accession 96. 



Meanwhile, William H. Holmes had replaced Boas 

 as curator, and on May 21, 1894, Holmes received a 

 letter from Bruce indicating that the latter expected to 

 sail from Puget Sound or San Francisco about June 10 for 

 a second trip to Alaska. He hoped to spend some time on 

 the Siberian shore before crossing the Bering Sea to 

 Kotzebue Sound and perhaps proceeding as far north as 

 Point Barrow. Bruce mentioned that he had written 

 Boas about making a collection for the Museum and pre- 

 sumed that Skiff and Boas had conferred about the mat- 

 ter. He inquired if Holmes had made up his mind about 

 what material he wanted. 



Captain Michael A. Healy 



/ 





Hoisting a reindeer aboard the Bear. 



Less than a month later, apparently receiving no 

 reply from Holmes, Bruce wrote directly to Skiff, ex- 

 panding in some detail on his proposal to collect for the 

 Museum. 



I propose chartering a sailing vessel for a four 

 month cruise, stopping first at a point on the Siberian 

 side near Bering Straits, following along the coast and 

 into the interior, spending probably, two months in that 

 territory, then, crossing over to the Alaska side and 

 spending a month there, the ship returning to San Fran- 

 cisco and I remaining in the country, leaving a point 

 near Port Clarence about the 1st of March and trading 

 up the Yukon River, and coming out near Juno [sic] 

 Alaska in the fall of 1895. 



I have examined your collection from the Arctic 

 Country very closely and find that you have nothing 

 from Siberia or the Interior of Arctic Alaska. All of this 

 territory 1 propose to cover has not, as yet, been visited 



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