North America The North American collection at Field Museum consists of approximately 225,020 objects. The strongest collections are listed as follows: Naskapi Collection-Approximately 500 ethnographic objects were collected by William Duncan Strong among the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi of northern Labrador in 1927-1928. The collection covers nearly every area of material culture and is particularly strong in clothing and objects relating to subsistence. The collection is supplemented by a superb series of photographs made by Strong as well as his correspondence with Museum staff. This collection is supplemented by 170 objects from the related Montagnais of north central Quebec, collected by Frank G. Speck in 1927. Plains Cree Collection-This collection includes approximately 200 ethnographic objects, a portion of which was collected by Hudson's Bay Company factor Isaac Cowie for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The remainder was collected by Museum curator Stephen Simms in 1903. Both portions are strong in clothing, tools, and household equipment. The Simms collection is strengthened by extensive correspondence between Simms and George Dorsey, Chief Curator of the Museum's Department of Anthropology. Blackfoot (Blood) Collection-This collection of approximately 135 objects from the Blackfoot (Blood) reserve in southern Alberta was obtained in the field by Methodist missionary John M. Maclean for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 and by George Dorsey in 1897. Although this collection is not large, it covers most categories of material culture and is among the earliest in any museum. Eskimo Collection-In 1896 and 1897 the Museum purchased two collections of contemporary ethnographic material from Miner W. Bruce, a United States government employee and trader who lived in Alaska for a number of years beginning in 1892. The collections were made among the Inupiat Eskimos of Port Clarence and Kotzebue Sound in western Alaska. They include approximately 1,460 objects and are representative of most categories of material culture. Important for comparative purposes are the many examples of a single artifact type. The collections are supplemented by extensive correspondence between Bruce and the Museum's Department of Anthropology. Pawnee Collection-This collection of approximately 400 ethnographic objects was collected in 1901 and 1902 in Oklahoma by George Dorsey with the assistance of James Murie, a mixed-blood Pawnee. It is perhaps the best documented North American collection within the Museum. The collection is especially valuable because it is supplemented by two large collections of mythology and oral traditions, an extensive assemblage of linguistic texts, and two large unpublished manuscripts ("Ceremonies of the Pawnee" and "Skiri Pawnee Religion and Society"). Tlingit Collection-This large and varied collection of more than 1,900 objects was purchased from Lieutenant George Emmons, a naval officer and ethnographic collector, in southeast Alaska in 1902. Although varied, this collection includes a concentration of ceremonial equipment. It is supplemented by notes and correspondence from Lieutenant Emmons. Apache Collection-This is largely a representative collection of approximately 900 objects, most of which were obtained in Arizona in 1901 and 1903 by Charles Owen, a Museum curator. This material is supplemented by a large collection purchased from Fred Harvey in 1905. Other Anthropology Collections: Africa | Asia | Australia | Europe | Middle and South America | North America | Pacific | Textiles-Asia and Africa