Waldemar Jochelson collection, 1899-1979 (bulk 1899-1942)

Waldemar Jochelson was an ethnographer and anthropologist, specializing in the Koryaks and Yukaghir of Siberia and the Aleuts and Kamchadals of Alaska. During the years 1901 to 1903, he was a leader in the Jesup North Pacific Expedition directed by Franz Boas. From 1923 to 1928, after returning to the U.S. from work in Russia, Jochelson was associated with the American Museum of Natural History. Jochelson was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, and graduated from a Russian gymnasium. His work for revolutionary organizations led to his imprisonment, then exile to Siberia in 1888. Jochelson spent ten years studying the languages and ethnology of the native peoples, remaining in Siberia after his term of exile expired, in order to continue his work. He was a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and an associate curator at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnology in St. Peterburg, 1912-1922, and published numerous works on anthropology, ethnology and languages.

Dina Jochelson Brodskaya, 1863-1941, was a medical scholar who worked with her husband, Waldemar Jochelson, in Siberia. Brodsky handled all of the anthropometric (physical measurements) and medical work, and most of the photography during the field work conducted by her husband. She used some of her anthropological measurements for her doctoral dissertation at the University of Zurich and also wrote of the women of northeastern Siberia. Franz Boas was the editor for much of her published work.