National Anthropological Archives

Maps of parts of Baffin Island collected by Franz Boas, 1883-1884

Summary

Collection ID:
NAA.MS169270
Creators:
Boas, Franz, 1858-1942
Dates:
1883-1884
Languages:
Maps are annotated in
English
,
German
, and Inuit langauges.
Physical Description:
34 Items
graphite, ink, and photomechanical; laminated
Repository:
Container:
169270

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
The collection consists of thirty-four (34) items, including thirty-two (32) maps of the Baffin Island coast drawn by unidentified Inuit informants and annotated by Franz Boas; and two (2) numbered lists of place names by Boas. Most of the maps are not identified as to the precise area they represent except by Inuit place names. Other notes on the maps include a short text in an Inuit language and some notes in German and English; most of these notes are illegible because Boas used a shorthand system of his own in writing many of them. Moreover, his handwriting is very difficult to read even when not abbreviated. Many of the maps consist of two or more sheets of paper that were glued together and contain notes and drawings on both sides.
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or National Anthropological Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The items in the collection were numbered 1-32 when cataloged by the United States National Museum (USNM). This order has been maintained when possible. Several numbers are now missing from the series, and a few items do not have numbers. Unnumbered items appear at the end of the collection.

Biographical Note

Biographical Note
Franz Boas (1858-1942) was a German-American anthropologist and pioneer of modern anthropological practice. He studied physics and geography at the universities at Heidelberg and Bonn before completing a doctoral program in physical geography at Kiel in 1881. After graduation, he joined an expedition of Baffin Island (1883-1884), which influenced his decision to focus on cultural tradition rather than biological and physical influences. In the summer of 1883 Boas traveled from Germany to Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island, aboard the sailing vessel Germania whose main objective was to evacuate the personnel of the German station of the First International Polar Year from Kingua Fjord. Over the winter of 1883–1884 Boas confined himself to Cumberland Sound and in the spring and summer of 1884, he crossed the Cumberland Peninsula and visited numerous Inuit communities along the Davis Strait coast.
In 1885, Boas emigrated to the United States, where he took an editorial position with the journal Science and started what would become his most famous ethnographic project, working among the Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw) Indians, in 1886. Boas spent three years teaching at Clark University in Massachusetts, then took an appointment at the Field Museum in Chicago in 1892. Boas then moved to New York, where he joined the American Museum of Natural History (1895-1905) and began teaching at Columbia University in 1896. For 37 years, Boas established himself as an academic and mentored numerous future influential anthropologists, including Margaret Mead, Alfred Kroeber, Edward Sapir, and Zora Neale Hurston. He also served as one of the founders of both the American Anthropological Association and the International Journal of American Linguistics.

Administration

Custodial History
The collection was donated by Franz Boas to the Bureau of American Ethnology on February 25, 1895, and subsequently transferred to the United States National Museum (USNM) through O. T. Mason on March 8, 1895 (USNM Accession Number 29,060). It was transferred from the object collections of the Department of Anthropology to the National Anthropological Archives in September 1970.
Processing Information
The collection was reprocessed in 2023. The archivist replaced the titles previously assigned to the items wih Boas' titles and captions when possible. Untitled items were assigned titles in square brackets []. The drawings were arranged in USNM number order.

Digital Content

More …

Using the Collection

Preferred Citation
Maps of parts of Baffin Island collected by Franz Boas (MS 169270), National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
Access to the collection requires an appointment.
Conditions Governing Use
Contact the repository for terms of use.

More Information

Local Numbers

Local Numbers
NAA MS 169270
USNM Accession 29060

Publication Note

Publication Note
Some of the maps were reproduced in:
Boas, Franz. Baffin-Land: Geographische Ergebnisse einer in den Jahren 1883 und 1884 ausgeführten Forschungsreise. Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1885.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Drawings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Maps Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Baffinland Inuit (Baffinland Eskimo) Cultural Context Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Baffin Island (Nunavut) Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Arctic regions Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
North America Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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