A TRAVELLING EXHIBITION DEVELOPED BY THE CANADIAN MUSEUM OF HISTORY, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE INUIT HERITAGE TRUST
This exhibition explores the importance of Qaujimajatuqangit — Inuit traditional knowledge — which made it possible to determine the fate of the Franklin Expedition, which had set out in 1845 to complete a Northwest Passage. For generations, Inuit shared memories of meetings with sick and starving men, as well as visits to an abandoned ship locked in the ice.
These oral histories, combined with modern archaeological research, proved instrumental in the eventual location of the wrecks of Franklin’s ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.
Image:
Watercolour illustration by Inuit artist Heather Campbell of Nunatsiavut (Labrador).