Canadian explorer and ethnologist (1879–1962) best known for his expeditions to the Arctic and for his studies of the native peoples there. TLS signed “V. Stefansson,” one page, 8.5 x 11, personal letterhead, December 4, 1933. Stefansson writes Rev. W. Appleton Lawrence of Grace Church in Providence, Rhode Island. In part: “In a way I did expect just the forthright position taken by your letter…but still I don’t want you to do what you propose. Please drop any thought, certainly of public apology even if your journal was somewhat in the wrong, and don’t undertake a too rigorous private investigation. It strikes me as at least possible that Dr. Burke’s original and no doubt quite accurate statement passed through one or two well-intentioned minds on its way to yours and got a little colored by each until the result was what you published…in spite of some non-canonical views, I am both in sympathy with the spirit of many of your missionaries (especially such men as Stuck and Burke) and deeply grateful to your Church, your hospital at Fort Yukon, and its staff.” Intersecting horizontal and vertical folds, wrinkling, and faint show-through from four spots of residue on the reverse, otherwise fine condition.
Not a religious man himself, the self-proclaimed agnostic had spent many years studying religion along side anthropology and opted to actively pursue the latter. Since his 1908 expedition to Alaska, he had developed a keen interest in the Inuit people, and even discovered the ‘blond Eskimo,’ a previously unknown race. Sometime in 1933, Lawrence had drafted a journal publication that seemingly did not match the original author’s sentiments: “It strikes me as at least possible that Dr. Burke’s original and no doubt quite accurate statement passed through one or two well-intentioned minds on its way to yours and got a little colored by each until the result was what you published.” Stefansson expressed that although he did not share the same religious beliefs as Lawrence, he nonetheless sincerely appreciated the efforts of the missionaries of Grace Church and all of the help the organization had provided to the Inuit people: “in spite of some non-canonical views, I am both in sympathy with the spirit of many of your missionaries (especially such men as Stuck and Burke) and deeply grateful to your Church, your hospital at Fort Yukon, and its staff.” A humble response from an explorer who sought spirituality and enlightenment through the study of isolated cultures and unknown arctic tundra. RRAuction COA.
