Minik

Overview

In 1897, Arctic explorer Robert Peary, commissioned by Franz Boas, curator of the American Museum of Natural History, brought indigenous inhabitants of Greenland back from his expedition. It was a sensation. But only little Minik survived. The rest of his group died within a few months. Minik's father died of tuberculosis; his skeleton was added to the museum's anthropological collection. Minik, adopted by museum staff, remained in America for another twelve years before returning to Greenland. But there he had become a stranger. Robert Peary, on the other hand, was celebrated in America for his North Pole expeditions. Minik could not let go of his past, so he returned to the US.