11. Dead Bodies in Museums Part 1
The Inuits Robert Peary brought back from his 1897 expedition were treated as artifacts. What that meant post mortem. Part one of a two part series on dead bodies in museums.
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Show Notes
Image: A rendering of Minik in the New York World
When Robert Peary brought six Inuits from Greenland back from his Arctic expedition, they landed in the care of the American Museum of Natural History. Among these people were an eight year old boy named Minik and his father Qisuk.
After Qisuk became ill and died, the museum staged a fake burial and put his remains in the museum as artifacts.
This is part one of a two-part series on dead bodies in museums.
NOTES:
Give Me My Father's Body: The Life of Minik, the New York Eskimo - The work on which most of this episode is based.
Regarding the Dead: Human Remains in the British Museum - The British Museum creates guidelines for displaying dead bodies.