with a view to making a collection and I believe I will be 

 able to secure for you such a collection that will be prised 

 [sic] by the Museum and a credit to myself. 



I will furnish you with the collection if you will 

 advance me a certain amount of money which I will 

 invest in such goods as will be best adapted to trading for 

 such articles as you want which sum shall be one third of 

 the amount I am to receive, the balance to be paid to me 

 when you receive my shipment. Or, in other words, I am 

 to receive twice the amount I pay for the same. 



I may, perhaps, be pardoned for suggesting that my 

 knowledge of the Eskimo language and a pretty good 

 knowledge of the country 1 expect to visit obtained from 

 nearly five years traveling in Alaska pretty well equips 

 me for the work. 



Bruce exaggerated his Alaskan experience and gave lit- 

 tle indication that he understood the problems of travel 

 in the interior. Nevertheless, four days later, perhaps 

 after some prodding by Skiff, Holmes informed the 

 director that he considered the opportunity provided by 

 Briice's proposed trip to be a good one and went on to 

 outline the type of material he desired: specifically, ob- 

 jects for "two museum groups, one illustrating the peo- 

 ples of Arctic Siberia and the other those of Arctic 

 North America." 



As a result of this communication, Skiff wrote to 

 Bruce with a formal proposal to retain the latter's ser- 

 vices as a collector for the Field Columbian Museum. 



Upon the recommendation of Prof. Holmes, 

 Director of the Department of Anthropology, the Ex- 

 ecutive Committee of the Board of Trustees of this 

 Museum has authorized me to enter into a contract with 

 you as follows: You are to represent the Museum in the 

 collection of certain objects, articles, and materials 

 generally illustrating the peoples of Arctic Siberia and 

 Arctic North America. For this purpose, the Museum 

 remits to you herewith exchange for the sum of Five 

 Hundred Dollars ($500), which amount you are to ex- 

 pend in the purchase of articles attractive and interest- 

 ing to the tribes of the North, and which you will em- 

 ploy in exchange for those objects, articles, and services 

 which constitute the result of your mission. Having 

 secured such ethnological collections and material, the 

 same is to be delivered into the possession of the 

 Museum, and upon the receipt, examination and 

 approval of the same by Prof. Holmes, the Museum will 

 then pay you in cash or by exchange, the further sum of 

 One Thousand Dollars ($1,000). 



Four days later Holmes himself wrote to Bruce, not- 

 ing that his approval to collect for the Museum had been 

 approved and going on to provide Bruce with detailed 

 in ructions concerning the kinds of materials he desired 

 the Ltrer to obtain. 



Two central ideas are to be kept in view: I wish to 

 set up two Ethnic Groups, one representing the Eskimo 

 of North Eastern Siberia and the other the Eskimos of 

 Northern Alaska, they are intended primarily to illus- 

 trate the peoples. I hope you will observe the people as 

 they live and act and group themselves so as to select 

 some episode that will give a somewhat comprehensive 

 idea of their appearance, character, habits, etc. 



For the Siberian Group — supposing you select the 

 one mentioned by me — there ought to be two mature 

 reindeer and one young one, a man, a woman, one 

 young girl, a young man or both, and two children. The 

 costumes of all should be perfect and each should have 

 about him such articles, utensils, weapons, playthings, 

 pets, etc. , as would be appropriate and tend to make the 

 group interesting. The episode illustrated might be the 

 departure for a journey, welcoming or saying farewell to 

 a guest; the arrival of a hunter with game — a bear, seal or 

 deer — on his sledge. We want enough of some animated 

 scene to fill a case, say 10 x 16 feet in horizontal 

 dimensions. 



The Alaskan group should represent a different 

 episode worked out in a similar way, a full team of dogs 

 being necessary to the production of a striking presenta- 

 tion of the subject discussed here. We need especially 

 photographs of groups and full figures as well as faces 

 for detail. Nothing should be missing from harness or 

 costume. Possibly a Kyak [sic] scene might be made 

 effective. 



Beside the material for these groups we want all 

 that you may be able to get to illustrate the people and 

 their arts and industries. Take such topics as the domes- 

 tic arts, firemaking, wood and ivory-carving, hunting, 

 fishing, skin dressing, basket-making, sewing, the 

 toilet, etc. Perhaps I can set up the figure of a man mak- 

 ing fire with a drill, a woman carrying her child, etc. 



Full notes or a fully elaborated article ought to be 

 furnished. Boats and sledges are always interesting. 



Bruce was unable to reach Siberia because of bad 

 weather, and, not surprisingly, he was also forced to 

 abandon his proposed trip into the interior. It is clear 

 that, having only limited experience in one location in 

 Alaska, he greatly underestimated the distances he 

 would have to travel to fulfill his original plan as well as 

 the difficulties of obtaining transportation. It is not clear 

 where Bruce spent the winter of 1894-95, but on 

 November 16, 1894, he wrote Skiff indicating his inten- 

 tion of extending his collecting activities through the 

 following summer. Presumably he expended much of the 

 summer of 1894 attempting to reach the Siberian 

 mainland. 



It was a year before Skiff heard from Bruce again, 

 but then he learned that a collection had been made for 

 the Museum primarily, if not entirely, in the Kotzebue 



