Arctic Material Culture Collection

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The Scott Polar Research Institute is world-renowned for its library, archival and photographic collections. Less well known is an outstanding collection of objects made by the indigenous peoples of Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland, Sápmi in northern Europe and Siberia.

The collection of over six hundred objects includes clothing, hunting implements, domestic utensils and art dating from the eighteenth century to the 1980s. These objects attest to the skill and ingenuity of a people whose survival in the Arctic was dependent upon an extensive knowledge of the land and its resources, and the invention of effective hunting, domestic and clothing technologies. The collection also documents cultural change as access to European materials, technology and belief systems altered traditional economies and lifeways.

Further details on any item in the collection may be obtained on application to the Museum Curator. For details of public and research access please see the main Museum page of the website. For rights and images for publication, please contact the Picture Library.

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Data in this catalogue was last updated on Tuesday, 13th June 2023.