HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM 



Stefansson- 



Anderson 



Expedition. 



Mural 

 Decorations. 



Jesup," with the help of which the farthest north record was reached, 

 was received in this collection. 



The Eskimo along the shores of the Beaufort Sea and among the 

 islands oast of the mouth of the Mackenzie River are being studied by- 

 Mr. V. Stefansson and Dr. R. M. Anderson, who left on a Museum 

 expedition in the spring of 1908, to remain in the field for two or three 

 years. 



One of the prominent features of the Eskimo Hall is the mural 

 decoration, the funds for which have been generously contributed by 

 Mr. Arthur Curtiss James. The paintings on the northern end of the 

 hall, but recently completed, are the work of Mr. Frank Wilbert 

 Stokes, who, as a member of the Peary Relief Expedition of 1892 and 

 of the Peary North Greenland Expedition of 1893 and 1894, made 

 careful studies of the Eskimo people and their country. On the 

 north wall is the largest picture of the series, a continuous panorama 

 sixty feet long, on which is portrayed the artist's conception of the 

 Eskimo myth of the "Sun and the Moon." The three panels on the 

 east wall represent Eskimo life as it goes on during the Arctic night, 

 while three more on the west wall picture it during the long Arctic day. 



In 1908 the Museum sent Dr. Robert H. Lowie to the Athabascan 

 region, in the northernmost part of the province of Alberta, Canada, 

 a region which had not been investigated and which was not repre- 

 sented in the collections. Dr. Lowie secured data on the mythology 

 and prehistoric culture of the Chippewyan Indians. 



James Bay and western Labrador were visited by Mr. Alanson 

 Skinner on an expedition in 1908. This was the Museum's first ex- 

 pedition into this field. An interesting ethnological collection, num- 

 bering 149 pieces, was obtained from the Cree Indians, together with 

 much new and valuable information regarding their religious and 

 social customs. 



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