Scope and Contents

The Arctic Circle records include materials gathered by Bert and Ellen Witt for their private gallery of Inuit art The Arctic Circle. These materials include native artists information which is organized by community, reference material organized topically, slides from the gallery's annual print collections as well as photographs of scupltures and textiles displayed in the gallery. Much of the reference material used by the gallery pertains to native communities in the Nunavet Territory of Canada such as Cape Dorset and Baker Lake as well as other small communities throughout the Northwest Territiories. Additionally photographs taken by Bert and Ellen Witt's son Tony during a trip to Canada in 1973 are included in this collection.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into three series: Series 1: Papers, 1971-1980, Series 2: Reference Materials, 1967-1987, Subseries 2.1: Artists Listed by Community, 1971-1984, undated, Subseries 2.2: Reference Library, 1967-1987, undated, Series 3: Photographs, 1971-1987, Subseries 3.1: Gallery Objects, 1979-1987, Subseries 3.2: Witt Family Arctic Trip, 1973, Subseries 3.3: Other Photos, 1971, 1975

Biographical / Historical

The Arctic Circle was founded in Los Angeles in 1970 as a private art gallery devoted entirely to the exhibition and sale of scupltures and graphics by Inuit artists of the Canadian arctic. Between 1970 and the late 1980's approximately six to eight exhibitions were mounted on themes illustrative of native life in the Canadian arctic. The gallery was created and founded by Bert and Ellen Witt and run out of their home on North La Jolla Avenue in Los Angeles, California. Bert Witt, sometimes accompanied by his wife Ellen and son Tony, traveled extensively in the Canadian arctic visiting many Inuit communities and forming personal aquaintances with native artists. Through the Artic Circle, Witt supported the Arctic co-operative movement by purchasing art through co-ops in each settlement he visited or through the co-op distribution points for the Northwest Territories and Arctic Quebec.