His father met Robert Peary when the explorer employed men of their band during several Arctic expeditions.

Boas had previously worked with other indigenous people from North America, interviewing them, and hoped to disprove cultural evolution theories.

In September 1897, Robert Peary brought instead six Inuit back to the museum: Aside from widower Qisuk and his son Minik, the arrivals included the shaman Atangana (ca.

Franz Boas and the museum staff, at most expecting a single person for interviews to be conducted during the winter, had not made plans for the care of the group, nor for their return.

Similar to ethnological expositions at the time, 20,000 people paid entrance to see the Inuit group there, who politely shook many visitor's hands.

They staged a fake burial for Minik's benefit: filling a coffin with stones for weight, and placing a stuffed "body" covered with a cloth on top.

[2] The staff sent Qisuk's body to William Wallace's estate, chief curator and superintendent of buildings at the Natural Museum.

[1] The seven year old Minik, still impressed by the sights of America, was not returned home but instead was adopted by the same William Wallace who had prepared his father for exposition.

[1] In 1901, William Wallace fell on hard times after the curator was fired from the Natural Museum of History over a case of financial irregularities and accusations of impropriety.

The museum director, Hermon Carey Bumpus, evaded their requests as well as tried to avoid investigation of the Inuit exhibits in general.

[2] Franz Boas, by now teaching at Columbia University, admitted the deception a decade previously, but remained largely uninterested in the matter.

"[5] By that time, Minik had forgotten Inuktun, his first language, and much of Inuit culture and skills; his life in Greenland was difficult.

[1] He eventually acted as a guide and translator for visitors, playing a key role in the Crocker Land Expedition of 1913–1917.

Convinced that the remains of Qisuk and the three adult Inuit should be returned to Greenland, he tried to persuade the Museum of Natural History to do this, as well as working through the "red tape" of the US and Canadian governments.