Ethnographic Objects Associated with the Labrador Inuit Who Were Exhibited in Europe in 1880
In the summer of 1880, eight Inuit from northern Labrador agreed to travel to Europe where, in exchange for payment, they were to exhibit themselves and their culture to the public of large cities. Their recruiter, the Norwegian Johan Adrian Jacobsen, took advantage of his stay in Hebron and Nachvak Fjord to collect a series of grave artifacts, which he exhibited with the Inuit. Unfortunately, none of the Inuit returned to their native land. Smallpox wiped out all of them less than four months after their arrival on European soil. In 2014 publication of the book In the Footsteps of Abraham Ulrikab revealed that French and German museum collections contain not only the human remains of the Inuit but also a set of artifacts assembled by Jacobsen and various objects that belonged to the Inuit. This article is intended to be an update on the nature of the objects and how the European museums collected and acquired them.