Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1922-1962 (Creation)
Level of description
Manuscript Collection
Extent and medium
1 box
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Vilhjamur Stefansson was a Canadian-born explorer and ethnologist who studied the language and culture of the Inuit and Eskimo. He led several expeditions of exploration and of ethnological and archaeological investigation in the Arctic. In 1921, he went for a second time with a small party of Inuit settlers in a speculative attempt to claim Wrangel Island for Canada. In 1926, the Soviet Union ejected the survivors of Stefansson's Inuit squatters and established the settlement that survives to this day on the island. Stefansson died in 1962.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The collection consists of correspondence, diaries and documents (mainly photographs) pertaining to Stefansson's Wrangel Island expedition.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Material may be requested in person at the Fisher Library Reference Desk, or in advance using our online stack retrieval request form: https://fisher.library.utoronto.ca/stack-retrieval-request
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- English