The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Jacobsen, Johan Adrian

JACOBSEN, Johan Adrian Norwegian ethnologist and explorer: b. Risö, 1853. For seven years after 1867 he was member of a whaling crew on the Spitsbergen and Murman coasts. He traveled along the west coast of South America in 1876-77 and subsequently visited the Arctic regions, bringing back hundreds of ethnographical specimens. In 1881 he was engaged by the Berlin Museum für Völkerkunde to gather ethnographical and other specimens on the west coast of North America, also Korea, Japan, Siberia, the South Sea Islands, etc. He spent seven years in this work, collecting in all over 18,000 specimens. Subsequently he made collections in Germany and Norway. At the Columbian Exposition of 1893 he exhibited a marvelous ethnographical collection from 25 non-European peoples. These formed the nucleus around which has grown the Field Columbian Museum of Chicago. He has published ‘Reise an der nordwestküste Amerikas’ (1884); ‘Eventyrlige farter’ (1894); ‘Reise in der inselwelt des Banda-Meeres’ (1896).