Description

To create light and heat, seal blubber, softened through pounding, is put in the lamp reservoir as fuel. A wick of chopped moss - often mixed with the fluff of Arctic willow or cotton grass - is moistened with oil and spread out along the front edge of the lamp. When lit, a lamp trimmer is used to create a long, continuous flame fed by the reservoir of fat.

In 1910, the Canadian Northern Railway commissioned Robert J. Flaherty (1884 – 1951) to search for iron ore deposits along the northeast coast of Hudson's Bay. Flaherty visited the Arctic over several years during which he collected a wide range of Inuit artifacts. He became interested in filming Inuit life and his popular 1922 silent film, Nanook of the North, garnered him acclaim as a documentary film pioneer.