328 W. Thalbitzer 



to the ethnographical Museums in Berlin (1904, 1907 and 1912), 

 Vienna (1908), Christiania (1908), Stockholm (1908 and 1910), Lon- 

 don (1909) and Dublin (1909). Among these museums I was obliged 

 naturally to pay special attention to Stockholm's Riksmuseum owing 

 to its excellent collections from Greenland connected with the names 

 of Pfaff (North- West Greenland, inventory completed 1878), N. O. 

 Hoist (South-West Greenland, 1880), G. v. Düben (West Greenland, 

 1881) and A. E. Nordenskiöld (East and West Greenland, 1873, 1883, 

 1885, 1896). I must express my heartiest thanks to the keeper of 

 the museum, Professor C. V. Hartman, for the effective kindness 

 with which, in true comprehension of the difficulty of my research, 

 he facilitated the study of these collections during my repeated 

 visits in Stockholm. 



My thanks to the National Museum of Copenhagen cannot rise 

 to the same level of heartiness. The materials contained in this 

 museum are undoubtedly the most considerable existing, for a study 

 of the ethnography of Greenland. Only a part of them are said 

 to have been set up in cases. I was acquainted with the contents 

 of these cases, but only as a general visitor, when "Commissionen 

 for Grønlands geologiske og geografiske Undersøgelser" in 1907 

 authorised me to publish a description of the Amdrup collection 

 from East Greenland^) in its "Meddelelser om Grønland". As a 

 natural and necessary link in carrying out this purpose it seemed 

 desirable to have a new illustration and edition of G. Holm's collec- 

 tion from Ammassalik, which has lain in our National Museum 

 since 1888. I directed a request therefore in 1908 to the director of 

 the ethnographic section, Dr. Sophus Müller, that I might be per- 

 mitted to study the collections from East Greenland, and first and 

 foremost G. Holm's. In the following year I asked to be allowed 

 to photograph Holm's collection^). In the spring of 1910 I succeeded 

 at length in beginning the work of photographing, which extended 

 over 16 days. The work was carried out in front of the cases in 

 the museum, where the light conditions were not exactly good, by 

 a photographer recommended by the Director and somewhat hastily 

 owing to the short working hours of the museum. I was present. 



1) The Amdrup collection, which had been procured through the Carlsberg Fund 

 Expedition to East Greenland, was at that time still in the possession of the 

 Carlsberg Fund, though promised to the National Museum as soon as its 

 description was ended. 



-) It may be mentioned in this connection, that in 1897 alread}' there was some 

 talk of getting G. Holms collection photographed, arising out of a private 

 request from the well-known ethnographer Otis Mason of the Washington 

 National Museum, but the director of the Copenhagen Museum neglected to 

 answer. 



