Jensen Arctic Museum
Coordinates: 44°51′08″N 123°14′33″W / 44.85215°N 123.24245°W
| Jensen Arctic Museum | |
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| Established | 1985 |
| Location | Monmouth, Oregon, United States |
| Type | Arctic |
| Visitor figures | 4,000 (2006-07)[1] |
| Curator | Roben Jack Larrison[2] |
| Website | website |
The Paul H. Jensen Arctic Museum is a museum focused on the culture and environment of the Arctic in Monmouth in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located on the campus of Western Oregon University, the museum opened in 1985 with 3,000 artifacts collected by its late founder and namesake. The free museum now houses 5,000 artifacts and has exhibits on the wildlife of the Arctic along with displays that demonstrate the culture of the Inuit and Eskimo peoples of Alaska. The museum is one of only two museums focused on life in the Arctic located in the lower 48 states,[3] and the only one on the West Coast.[4] The museum is exploring plans to open a satellite location in Albany, Oregon, and perhaps close the Monmouth location.[5]
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[edit] History
Jensen Arctic Museum was founded in June 1985 by Paul Jensen with artifacts he collected from Alaska.[6] The artifacts were collected while he was a researcher and teacher over 25 years, with most items in the collection coming from gifts from native Alaskans.[6] Jensen, a then retired professor at Western Oregon, served as the curator and director of the museum until his death in 1994.[6] By 1993 the collection had grown to 3,000 artifacts[7] and the museum had 7,000 visitors annually.[8]
The museum received a donation of 1,200 sea shells in late 1993 from a local collector.[9] Later the new museum curator discovered these were of tropical origin and donated them to the Children's Television Workshop for use in an educational computer program.[9] To celebrate the ten-year anniversary in 1995, the museum held a party featuring traditional Eskimo dancers.[10][11] The museum received $5,000 in a federal grant in 1997 to allow the museum to improve its preservation of artifacts.[12]
In January 2005, the museum sponsored the Whale in Science and Culture Symposium which featured speakers from the Oregon Coast Aquarium and Oregon State University's former president John V. Byrne among others.[13] Jensen Arctic Museum began a capital campaign in 2008 to raise funds for a new building.[3] Each year the museum hosts a traditional salmon bake as a fundraiser, with 300 pounds of salmon cooked each year.[14]
[edit] Collections
Focused on the culture of the Inuit and Eskimos of Alaska, the museum houses over 5,000 artifacts[1] in a former home on the campus of Western Oregon University in Monmouth.[3][15] The city is located on the 45th parallel of latitude, the halfway point between the North Pole and the equator.[16] The building housing the museum is a Bungalow style home built in 1930.[17]
Included among the artifacts are items that demonstrate the natural environment of these native Alaskans. To showcase the environment, the museum has room dedicated to Arctic wildlife.[15] This life-sized diorama is called the Circumpolar Room and has an automated system that provides a narrative on the animals of the Arctic while lights illuminate busts of these animals.[16] Animals on display include musk ox, wolves, Arctic fox, a polar bear, brown bears, a snowy owl, and caribou.[3][15]
A main feature of the museum is a 27-foot (8.2 m) long umiak, an Inuit boat constructed of driftwood and walrus skins.[3][7] This boat was given to Jensen by those inhabiting St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, and he used the boat to circle the island during a native hunt.[3][7] Other large items include a traditional Inuit home constructed of stones, hides, whalebone, and driftwood as well as a 11-foot (3.4 m) long sled and a sod house.[7][16] There is also a table designed for children to touch items such as teeth, bones, and fur.[16]
The museum includes displays that demonstrate the daily lives of the Inuit and Eskimos, primarily the Inupiaq and Yupik Eskimos.[3][4] These includes exhibits on the clothing and art work. Artifacts include ivory carvings, parkas,[3] jackets made of seal, wolf, and bear skins,[7] a yo-yo type children’s toy, and an anchor made from a whalebone.[15] Other items include ropes, ivory from mammoth and mastodon tusks, animal bones,[18] ceremonial masks carved from wood or bone, wooden dolls, mukluks, combs carved from ivory, knives, and harpoon heads among others.[16] There is also a dog sled, kayak, snowshoes, baskets, and toys along with artwork.[17] The artwork consists of drawings on sealskins using ink, with some pieces dating to the 1930s.[17] In addition to the permanent collections, Jensen Arctic Museum also exhibits contemporary artwork from native Alaskans.[17]
[edit] Namesake
The museum is named after the founder, Paul Henry Jensen, an immigrant from Denmark,[6] who as a child in Denmark he had several classmates who were Inuit.[15] Jensen was born on August 17, 1907, in Teestrup, Denmark, and immigrated to Canada in 1925, only to return in 1927.[6] He then served seven months in the army as required by law before immigrating to the United States in 1928.[6] Jensen landed at Ellis Island in 1928 and then moved to Montana before starting college first at Spokane College in Washington State.[6] In 1935, he graduated from Midland College in Nebraska with a bachelor’s degree, followed by a doctorate in 1938 from the University of North Dakota.[6] He married Arlene Munkres and they had two sons and three daughters.[6]
After some graduate work at the University of Washington and Oregon State University, Jensen began field work in the Arctic.[6] Beginning in 1962, he worked to improve the cultural resources of the Eskimo, bringing over 3,000 people to Oregon as well establishing seven libraries in Alaskan villages.[6] In all he spent over 30 years teaching Eskimo children in Alaska.[8] In 1966, he was hired at Western Oregon State College (now Western Oregon University) as a researcher, and in 1968 became a professor at the school.[6] Jensen retired from teaching in 1979.[6] For his work with native Alaskans, he was named as an honorary member of the Alaska Council of Elders in 1984.[6] To the Eskimos he was known as Angyalik, which translates as captain of the ship.[6] The next year he founded the museum with his artifacts and served as curator and director until he died on September 26, 1994.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ a b "About us". Jensen Arctic Museum. Western Oregon University. http://www.wou.edu/president/advancement/jensen/aboutus.php. Retrieved 2009-10-03.
- ^ "http://www.wou.edu/president/advancement/jensen/building.php". Jensen Arctic Museum. Western Oregon University. http://www.wou.edu/president/advancement/jensen/building.php. Retrieved 2009-10-03.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Richard, Terry (February 17, 2008). "Take an Arctic trip to Monmouth". The Oregonian. http://www.oregonlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2008/02/arctic_museumindepencence.html. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
- ^ a b "Oregon’s arctic zone". Via (AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah). November 2005. http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/artic_museum05.asp.
- ^ Ingalls, Cathy (October 26, 2011). "Jensen Arctic Museum looks at Albany". Albany Democrat-Herald. http://democratherald.com/news/local/article_8fed7cc6-ff94-11e0-a338-001cc4c03286.html. Retrieved December 2, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Lane, Dee (September 29, 1994). "Champion of Eskimos dies in sleep at 87". The Oregonian: p. B8.
- ^ a b c d e "Get off the beaten track and find odds and ends of Oregon attractions". The Oregonian: p. B2. August 20, 1992.
- ^ a b From correspondent and wire reports (July 26, 1993). "Arctic museum at WOSC seeks volunteer guides". The Oregonian: p. B2.
- ^ a b "Sea shells from tropics slip into Arctic museum". The Oregonian: p. C11. May 4, 1995.
- ^ "Arctic museum marks 10 years". Register-Guard: pp. 7D. July 21, 1995. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SnEVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=C-sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4529,5231462&dq=jensen+arctic-museum. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
- ^ From correspondent and wire reports (July 14, 1995). "Museum at WOSC slates birthday party on July 22". The Oregonian: p. D2.
- ^ "Close-Up Today - Schools News & Update; $5,000 grant will help care for Jensen Museum artifacts". The Oregonian: p. B4. August 19, 1997.
- ^ Kahler, Jamie (January 14, 2005). "The whales are coming to Western". Western Oregon Journal. http://media.www.westernoregonjournal.com/media/storage/paper986/news/2005/01/14/Headlines/The-Whales.Are.Coming.To.Western-2908636.shtml. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
- ^ Knowlton, Stefanie (September 14, 2009). "A traditional approach". Statesman Journal.
- ^ a b c d e Riley, Erin (January 6, 1994). "A lesson in Arctic culture". The Oregonian: p. D2.
- ^ a b c d e Fencsak, Richard (May 22, 1998). "Art and Entertainment: Day Tripper; Angels and the Arctic await within day’s drive of town". The Oregonian: p. 53.
- ^ a b c d Halliday, Jan; Gail Chehak (2002). Native Peoples of the Northwest: A Traveler's Guide to Land, Art, and Culture (2 ed.). Sasquatch Books. pp. 131–132. ISBN 1570612412. http://books.google.com/?id=-NtC1C7L0J4C&pg=PA131&lpg=PA131&dq=jensen+arctic+museum&q=jensen%20arctic%20museum.
- ^ From correspondent and wire reports (June 23, 1994). "Open house marks milestone at Monmouth Arctic museum". The Oregonian: p. D2.
