Johan Adrian Jacobsen, who came to Alaska to collect "rare specimens" for Berlin's Royal Ethnological Museum, arrived at St. Michael in spring 1882, the year after Nelson left. During his travels on the Yukon River, he repeatedly complained that "Mr. Nielsen" had already collected everything, leaving little of value. In spite of such laments, Jacobsen amassed a remarkable collection of more than 7,000 objects in the nine months he spent traveling in Alaska, particularly along the lower and middle Yukon River.
Some masks that Jacobsen obtained from Yup'ik villages had a place of honor in the museum's North American hall. The bulk of his collection, however, rested in obscurity for more than 50 years in the museum's research branch in Dahlem. This quiet existence was not to last.
