The introduction of reindeer into Alaska: (Annual report on introduction of domestic reindeer into Alaska )

Washington: Government Printing Office, 1891-1906. First editions. Hard cover. Very Good. Octavo (24 cm); 15 (of 16) issues in 13 volumes. Lacks 16th issue. 18 folding maps; dozens of half-tone photos. No reports published for the years 1891-92; two reports published for the year 1894. Title varies. This is a married set, with first three reports bound in one in recent red buckram, original wraps of first issue bound in, map in pocket in rear; fourth and fifth report in half morocco over marbled paper boards, with ownership ink stamp of career diplomat Reed Paige Clark (1878-1958); all others in early 20th-century black cloth, with bookplate of Mount Holyoke College and release stamp. All volumes in very good condition.

Very rare nearly-complete set of the annual report of the reindeer experiment. After industrial whaling had decimated a traditional food source of the indigenous people of Alaska, the Government Commissioner of Education sought to alleviate mass starvation by transporting domestic reindeer from Siberia to western Alaska. Using funds raised by members of his church, Jackson began by transporting 16 reindeer in 1890, followed by nearly 200 more in 1892. He also hired Siberian herders to teach Alaskans the necessary skills. (These were replaced in short order by Scandinavian Lapp "instructors.") In 1896, Congress began to fund the project, and small herds were distributed to mission schools throughout western Alaska. The program grew in scope as the transplanted population of reindeer took root and grew. Jackson lost Government support after 1906, when investigations revealed that the Scandinavian advisors were taking profits on the program. The population of reindeer in Western Alaska reached a peak in the early 1930s of some 600,000 animals, a number that has since decreased to about 20,000. The detailed maps and many photographs document the introduction and success of the program and gives much detailed information about the daily lives of the Alaskan Eskimos at this relatively early period.