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Abstract SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ALASKAN ETHNOGRAPHY: THE FIRST IPY EXPEDITION TO BARROW, 1881-1883 Ernest S. Burch, Jr. 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 ten 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.
This paper summarizes the substantial contributions to our knowledge
of North Alaskan Eskimo life made by members of the expedition and
evaluates them in the light of work that has been done since.
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