The Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897–1902) was a major anthropological expedition to Siberia, Alaska, and the north west coast of Canada. The purpose of the expedition was to investigate the relationships between the peoples at each side of the Bering Strait

Bering Strait

The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...

. The expedition was sponsored by industrialist-philanthropist Morris Jesup

Morris Ketchum Jesup

Morris Ketchum Jesup , was a United States banker and philanthropist. He was the president of the American Museum of Natural History.-Biography:...

 (who was among other things the president of the American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...

), and planned and directed by Franz Boas

Franz Boas

Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...

. The participants included a number of significant figures in American and Russian anthropology, and the expedition produced a number of important ethnographies

Ethnography

Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...

, as well as valuable collections of artifacts and photographs.

Fieldwork sites

The ethnic groups studied by members of the expedition include:

• Ainu
  Ainu people
  The , also called Aynu, Aino , and in historical texts Ezo , are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin...
  
  
• Tsilhqot'in
  Tsilhqot'in
  The Tsilhqot'in are a Northern Athabaskan First Nations people that live in British Columbia, Canada...
  
   (Chilcotin, British Columbia)
• Chukchi
  Chukchi people
  The Chukchi, or Chukchee , ) are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language...
  
   (Chukchee)
• Evens
  Evens
  The Evens or Eveny are a people in Siberia and the Russian Far East. They live in some of the regions of the Magadan Oblast and Kamchatka Krai and northern parts of Sakha east of the Lena River. According to the 2002 census, there were 19,071 Evens in Russia...
  
   (Lamut)
• Evenk (Tungus)
• Haida
• Heiltsuk
  Heiltsuk
  The Heiltsuk are an Indigenous First Nations of the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, centred on the island communities of Bella Bella and Klemtu. The government of the Heiltsuk people is the Heiltsuk Nation...
  
   (Bella Bella
  Bella Bella
  Bella Bella may refer to:* Bella Bella, British Columbia, on Campbell Island, also known as Waglisla**Bella Bella Airport, airport north west of Bella Bella**Bella Bella Airport, airport east of Bella Bella...
  
  )
• Itel'men (Kamchadal)
• Kwakwaka'wakw
  Kwakwaka'wakw
  The Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous group of First Nations peoples, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining mainland and islands.Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "Those who speak Kwak'wala", describing the collective nations within the area that...
  
   (Kwakiutl)
• St'at'imc (Lillooet)
  St'at'imc
  The St'át'imc are an Interior Salish people located in the southern Coast Mountains and Fraser Canyon region of the Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia.St'át'imc culture displayed many features typical of Northwest Coast peoples: the...
  
   (British Columbia)
• Nlaka'pamux (Thompson)
  Nlaka'pamux
  The Nlaka'pamux , commonly called "the Thompson", and also Thompson River Salish, Thompson Salish, Thompson River Indians or Thompson River people) are an indigenous First Nations/Native American people of the Interior Salish language group in southern British Columbia...
  
   (British Columbia)
• Syilx (Okanagan)
  Okanagan people
  The Okanagan people, also spelled Okanogan, are a First Nations and Native American people whose traditional territory spans the U.S.-Canada boundary in Washington state and British Columbia...
  
   (British Columbia)

Official Publications

Many of the scientific results of the expedition were published in a special series, Publications of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition (New York : American Museum of Natural History, 1898-1903 [and] Leiden : E.J. Brill ; New York : G.E. Stechert, 1905–1930). The titles of these publications gives a good idea of the huge scope of the expedition:

Volume	Title	Author (links to sections below)	Year
v. 1, pt. 1	Facial paintings of the Indians of northern British Columbia	Franz Boas	1898
v. 1, pt. 2	The mythology of the Bella Coola Nuxálk Nation The Nuxalk Nation , also referred to as the Bella Coola or Bellacoola, are an Indigenous First Nation in Canada, living in the area in and around Bella Coola, British Columbia...  Indians	Franz Boas	1898
v. 1, pt. 3	Archaeology of Lytton, British Columbia	Harlan Ingersoll Smith	1899
v. 1, pt. 4	The Thompson Indians Nlaka'pamux The Nlaka'pamux , commonly called "the Thompson", and also Thompson River Salish, Thompson Salish, Thompson River Indians or Thompson River people) are an indigenous First Nations/Native American people of the Interior Salish language group in southern British Columbia...  of British Columbia	James Alexander Teit ; edited by Franz Boas	1900
v. 1, pt. 5	Basketry designs of the Salish Indians	Livingston Farrand	1900
v. 1, pt. 6	Archaeology of the Thompson River Region, British Columbia	Harlan Ingersoll Smith	1900
v. 2, pt. 1	Traditions of the Chilcotin Indians Tsilhqot'in The Tsilhqot'in are a Northern Athabaskan First Nations people that live in British Columbia, Canada...	Livingston Farrand	1900
v. 2, pt. 2	Cairns of British Columbia and Washington	Harlan Ingersoll Smith and Gerard Fowke	1901
v. 2, pt. 3	Traditions of the Quinault Indians	Livingston Farrand, assisted by W.S. Kahnweiler	1902
v. 2, pt. 4	Shell-heaps of the lower Fraser River, British Columbia	Harlan Ingersoll Smith	1903
v. 2, pt. 5	The Lillooet Indians St'at'imc The St'át'imc are an Interior Salish people located in the southern Coast Mountains and Fraser Canyon region of the Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia.St'át'imc culture displayed many features typical of Northwest Coast peoples: the...	James Alexander Teit	1906
v. 2, pt. 6	Archaeology of the Gulf of Georgia and Puget Sound	Harlan Ingersoll Smith	1907
v. 2, pt. 7	The Shuswap Secwepemc The Secwepemc , known in English as the Shuswap people, are a First Nations people residing in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Their traditional territory ranges from the eastern Chilcotin Plateau and the Cariboo Plateau southeast through the Thompson Country to Kamloops and the Shuswap...	James Alexander Teit	1909
v. 3	Kwakiutl Kwak'wala Kwak'wala is the Indigenous language spoken by the Kwakwaka'wakw. It belongs to the Wakashan language family. There are about 250 Kwak'wala speakers today, which amounts to 5% of the Kwakwaka'wakw population...  texts	Franz Boas and George Hunt	1905
v. 4	The decorative art of the Amur tribes	Berthold Laufer	1902
v. 5, pt. 1	Contributions to the ethnology of the Haida	John R. Swanton	1905
v. 5, pt. 2	The Kwakiutl Kwakwaka'wakw The Kwakwaka'wakw are an Indigenous group of First Nations peoples, numbering about 5,500, who live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining mainland and islands.Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "Those who speak Kwak'wala", describing the collective nations within the area that...  of Vancouver Island	Franz Boas	1909
v. 6	The Koryaks	Waldemar Jochelson	1908
v. 7	The Chukchee	Waldemar Bogoras	1904–1909
v. 8, pt. 1	Chukchee mythology	Waldemar Bogoras	1910
v. 8, pt. 2	Mythology of the Thompson Indians	James Alexander Teit	1912
v. 8, pt. 3	The Eskimo of Siberia	Waldemar Bogoras	1913
v. 9	The Yukaghir and Yukaghirized Tungus	Waldemar Jochelson	1926
v. 10, pt. 1	Kwakiutl Kwak'wala Kwak'wala is the Indigenous language spoken by the Kwakwaka'wakw. It belongs to the Wakashan language family. There are about 250 Kwak'wala speakers today, which amounts to 5% of the Kwakwaka'wakw population...  texts, second series	Franz Boas and George Hunt	1906
v. 10, pt. 2	Haida texts, Masset dialect	John R. Swanton	1908
v. 11	Craniology of the North Pacific Coast	Bruno Oetteking	1930
[v. 12]	Ethnographical album of the North Pacific coasts of America and Asia		1900

Other results of the expedition were published separately. Waldemar Bogoras

Vladimir Bogoraz

Vladimir Germanovich Bogoraz , best known under literary pseudonym N.A. Tan was a Russian revolutionary, writer and anthropologist, especially known for his studies of the Chukchi people in Siberia....

's grammar of Chukchi

Chukchi language

The Chukchi language is a Palaeosiberian language spoken by Chukchi people in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug...

, Koryak

Koryak language

Koryak is a Chukotko-Kamchatkan language spoken by circa 3,000 people in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in Koryak Okrug. It is mostly a language spoken by Koryaks. Its close relative, the Chukchi language, is spoken by about twice that number. The language together with Chukchi,...

 and Itelmen

Itelmen language

Itelmen, also known as Western Itelmen and formerly known as Kamchadal, is a language belonging to the Chukotko-Kamchatkan family traditionally spoken in the Kamchatka Peninsula. Fewer than a hundred native speakers, mostly elderly, in a few settlements in the southwest of Koryak Autonomous Okrug,...

 (misleadingly titled just Chukchee) was delayed by the onset of the First World War and Russian Revolution. It was eventually published (heavily edited by Boas

Franz Boas

Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...

) in the Handbook of American Indian Languages.

Franz Boas

Franz Boas

Franz Boas

Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...

, one of the pioneers of modern anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

, was the scientific director of the expedition. At the time of the expedition he was assistant curator of the American Museum's Department of Anthropology. He planned the research to address three questions:

• the origin of the early inhabitants of America
• the biological relationship between the peoples of America and the peoples of Asia
• the relationships between the cultures of the peoples of America and the peoples of Asia

Boas was an active fieldworker on the northwest coast in the American part of the expedition.

Morris Jesup

Morris Ketchum Jesup

Morris Ketchum Jesup

Morris Ketchum Jesup , was a United States banker and philanthropist. He was the president of the American Museum of Natural History.-Biography:...

, a wealthy industrialist-benefactor and director of the American Museum, originally invited contributions from the friends of the American Museum to back the expedition, but ended up assuming the entire expense of the project himself.

Fieldworkers in Russia

The Siberian fieldwork began a year later. There were three teams, one in the south and two in the north. The southern team comprised Berthold Laufer and Gerard Fowke. Bogoras and Jochelson each had a team in the north.

Berthold Laufer

Berthold Laufer

Berthold Laufer

Berthold Laufer was a German-American anthropologist and orientalist.Laufer was born in Cologne to a Jewish family. He attended the Friedrich Wilhelms Gymnasium from 1884-1893. He continued his studies in Berlin and completed his doctorate degree at the University of Leipzig in 1897...

 was an ethnologist. He worked on the Amur River and Sakhalin Island during 16 months over 1898-1899. He studied the Nivkhi, Evenk and Ainu

Ainu people

The , also called Aynu, Aino , and in historical texts Ezo , are indigenous people or groups in Japan and Russia. Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related varieties and lived in Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin...

, and published a monograph in the expedition series, The decorative art of the Amur tribes.

Waldemar Bogoras

Waldemar Bogoras

Vladimir Bogoraz

Vladimir Germanovich Bogoraz , best known under literary pseudonym N.A. Tan was a Russian revolutionary, writer and anthropologist, especially known for his studies of the Chukchi people in Siberia....

 was an exiled Russian revolutionary; ethnographic and linguistic fieldwork with the Chukchi

Chukchi people

The Chukchi, or Chukchee , ) are an indigenous people inhabiting the Chukchi Peninsula and the shores of the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea region of the Arctic Ocean within the Russian Federation. They speak the Chukchi language...

 and Siberian Yupik

Siberian Yupik

Siberian Yupiks, or Yuits, are indigenous people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far northeast of the Russian Federation and on St. Lawrence Island in Alaska. They speak Central Siberian Yupik , a Yupik language of the Eskimo–Aleut family of languages.They were also...

 peoples of the western side of the Bering Strait

Bering Strait

The Bering Strait , known to natives as Imakpik, is a sea strait between Cape Dezhnev, Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, the easternmost point of the Asian continent and Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, USA, the westernmost point of the North American continent, with latitude of about 65°40'N,...

. He was accompanied on the expedition by his wife Sofia Bogoraz, who acted as photographer.

Dina Brodsky

Dina Brodsky (aka Jochelson-Brodskaya)
ethnography and photographic record of Koryak

Koryak

Koryak may refer to:*Koryak Autonomous Okrug, a federal subject of Russia*Koryaks, a people of northeastern Siberia*Koryak language, language of the Koryaks*Koryak, the illegitimate son of Aquaman, a fictional character in DC Comics...

 and Itelmen communities (with husband Waldemar Jochelson)

George Hunt

George Hunt

George Hunt (ethnologist)

George Hunt was a Tlingit consultant to the anthropologist Franz Boas who through his contributions is considered a linguist and ethnologist in his own right...

; lots of info at http://www.abcbookworld.com/?state=view_author&author_id=7356 recorded Kwakiutl

Kwakiutl

The term Kwakiutl, historically applied to the entire Kwakwaka'wakw ethno-linguistic group of originally 28 tribes, comes from one of the Kwakwaka'wakw tribes, the Kwagu'ł or Kwagyeulth, at Fort Rupert, with whom Franz Boas did most of his anthropological work and whose Indian Act Band government...

 texts

James Teit

James Teit

James Teit

James Alexander Teit was an anthropologist and photographer who worked with Franz Boas to study Interior Salish First Nations peoples in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...

see: http://www.civilization.ca/tresors/ethno/etp0800e.html and http://www.civilization.ca/tresors/ethno/etf0200e.html

Links

• In 1988 there was an exhibition Crossroads of Continents based on the Jesup North Pacific Expedition.
• In 1997 the American Museum of Natural History held an exhibition of photography from the Jesup North Pacific Expedition titled Drawing Shadows to Stone
• More biographical information about the Jesup North Pacific Expedition members is also available from the AMNH website