Title	Smithsonian contributions to Alaskan ethnography; the first expedition to Barrow, 1881-1883
Author	Burch, E.S., Jr.
Author Affil	Burch, E.S., Jr., 3601 Gettysburg Road, Camp Hill, PA
Source	p.89-98, ; Smithsonian at the poles, Washington, DC, May 3-4, 2007, edited by I. Krupnik, M.A. Lang and S.E. Miller. Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, Washington, DC, United States. ISBN: 978-0-9788460-1-5ý0-9788460-1- X
Publication Date	2009
Notes	In English. 59 refs. CRREL Acc. No: 63004401
Index Terms	expeditions; history; United States-- Alaska--Barrow; Alaska; Barrow Alaska; International Polar Year 1881-83; International Polar Year 2007-08; IPY 2007-08 Education, Outreach and Communication Publications; Northern Alaska; United States
Abstract	From 1881 to 1883, as part of the First International Polar Year, an expedition sponsored by the U.S. Signal Corps and the Smithsonian Institution operated a research station a short distance north of where the modern city of Barrow now stands. The 10 members of the expedition had the primary task of making an unbroken series of weather and magnetic observations over the two-year period, and the secondary task of studying the natural history of the Barrow area. "Natural history" included descriptions of native life and collections of material culture, in addition to studies of the fauna and flora. In this paper, I summarize the substantial contributions to our knowledge of North Alaskan Eskimo life made by members of the expedition, and evaluate them in the light of work that has been done since.
URL	http://hdl.handle.net/10088/6801
Publication Type	monograph
Record ID	292172