Eskimo Children

New York: American Missionary Association, 1908. Very good.. 8pp. Original pictorial wrappers, stapled. Moderate edge wear, couple of closed tears, minor soiling. Old child-like ownership pencil signatures on front wrapper and inside front wrapper. A rare publication focused on the youngsters within the Inuit community at Cape Prince of Wales in westernmost Alaska in the first decade of the 20th century. The report was written by Rev. James Cross of the American Missionary Association. Reverend Cross spent four years at the Cape Prince of Wales mission, then described as the most northernly missionary station in the world. Situated on the coast, the (truncated) indigenous peoples essentially constituted a whaling community. The text of the present work describes the life of Inuit children from birth to their teenage years, including the games they play, the ceremonies surrounding their first whale or seal catch, the methods by which children are cared for, their assignment as hunters during their teens, and more. In the final paragraph, Cross also discusses missionary activity among the children and the mission's need for donations and prayers. The text is illustrated throughout with six monotone photographs (three full page) depicting Inuit babies, a half dozen Inuit youths "sitting on the bottom of a skin boat," a young child ready for school, a trio of "Eskimo girls," and a group of Inuit children "at the schoolhouse door."

"The Diomede islands and Cape Prince of Wales were ideally located for the pursuit of the whale. The vast herds of migrating walrus usually passed through the strait between May 15 and the end of June. With seal and oogruk plentiful, the population of the comparatively small area of Bering Strait itself reflected the great wealth of natural resources. The inhabitants were known to be fearless men of the sea and ice. They also hunted polar bear when ice conditions were favorable. Their technology in material culture was unsurpassed in the Eskimo area, and elaborate ceremonies grew up around whale hunting. Their tools and art reflected plentiful raw material and a substantial amount of leisure time" - Ray.

A welcome piece of ethnography on a very remote indigenous Alaskan community. OCLC locates just three copies, at the University of Alaska, Alaska State Library, and Western Reserve Historical.
Ray, J., "Nineteenth Century Settlement and Subsistence Patters in Bering Strait," in Arctic Anthropology, Vol. 2, No. 2 (1964), p.79. (Inventory #: 5876)