24 Report of the President 



The Museum is fortunate in possessing all the wonderful 



natural history material secured by the three great expeditions 



of Peary, including his personal sledge which 



Previous reached the North Pole. Beside this will be placed 



rctic and - n t k e Arctic and Antarctic Hall, Southeast 

 Antarctic _ _ . 



Expeditions Pavilion, Section 5, the sledge which carried 



Amundsen's provisions to the South Pole. With 

 these priceless exhibits will be placed the projections of the entire 

 history of North and South Polar explorations. Groups of 

 Eskimo and of the characteristic mammals and birds of the North 

 Pole will contrast with the penguin and seal fauna of the bor- 

 ders of the relatively lifeless Antarctic Continent. The mingling 

 of human and animal groups of zoogeographical regions is a new 

 feature in the arrangement of the American Museum collections 

 which has already been tried with success in the present African 

 Ethnology Hall and will be introduced also in the South Ameri- 

 can and Australian Halls. 



The Arctic collections of the American Museum are the result 

 of a long period of Polar explorations. Through President 

 Jesup's connection with the Peary Relief Expedition of 1895 and 

 through the courtesy of the Peary Arctic Club, the Museum re- 

 ceived anthropological and zoological material gathered by Rear 

 Admiral Peary in Grant Land, Ellesmere Land and North Green- 

 land. In 1897, Captain George Comer was furnished a full list 

 of Arctic desiderata, and for a period of ten years he collected 

 for the Museum while on his extensive whaling cruises. His 

 collection represents the culture and animal life of King William 

 Land, the north coast of Hudson Bay, Melville Peninsula, Baffin 

 Land and Southampton Island. He was assisted in 1902 by Cap- 

 tain James S. Mutch, then whaling in Cumberland Gulf. Early 

 Arctic exploration was also conducted by the James M. Con- 

 stable Expedition, sent out in 1899 under Mr. A. J. Stone to the 

 Mackenzie River region. Mr. Stone not only secured fine speci- 

 mens of Arctic mammals but also obtained valuable data re- 

 specting their distribution and habits and important geographi- 

 cal information. Mr. Vilhjalmur Stefansson, accompanied by 

 Dr. R. M. Anderson, was sent out in 1908 and attracted world- 

 wide attention by his rediscovery of the blond Eskimo. The work 



