History of the collections

The basis of the American collections was formed in the first half of the 18th century. Most actively they were enriched in the end of the 18th – end of the 19th century. The richest acquisitions were made in the middle of the 19th century on the territory of former Russian America (Alaska, the Aleut Islands, and north of California), so they are connected with the names of many Russian seafarers, travelers and researchers. Most collections were acquired by I.G. Voznesenski who spent 1840-1845 in the Russian America. During these years he obtained over a thousand ethnographical exhibits on the culture of the Aleut, Eskimo, northern Athabaskan, Tlingit, Californian Indians and other groups of North American indigenous population. Many participants of Yu.F. Lisyanski, V.M. Golovnin, O.E. Kotsebu, F.P. Litke, L.A. Zagoskin’s expeditions also donated their ethnographical collections to the Museum. 

In the second half of the 19th century there began an exchange of collections with foreign museums: the National Museum of Copenhagen, the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. As a result of such exchange the Museum received a number of valuable collections on the Eskimos of Greenland, and Indians of the USA and Canada.

As a result, the MAE RAS became the owner of one of the richest and most interesting world collections on the ethnography of the peoples of North America. Some of the categories of objects presented here are unique and cannot be found in other museums. The most valuable collections present the culture of the indigenous population of Alaska, the Aleut Islands and California and were acquired in the first half of the 19th century. At that time Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts were still little influenced by the Europeans and preserved their original culture. The Tlingit collection of the Museum is of special interest

Scene of shaman rite among the Tlingit. I. G. Voznesenski. 1842.		Ritual headdress. USA, Russian America. The Tlingits. Late  18th - early 19th cent. Collector -  Yu. F. Lisnyanski		Tobacco box  USA, Russian America.The Eskimo.  The first third of the 19th cent. Collector - L. A. Zagoskin