Tavastehus gymnasiums Alaska-samlingar -Tavastehus gymnasiums Alaska-samlingar: Den Furuhjelmska donationen av etnografiska föremål 1863

The Furuhjelm ethnographic collection of 1863 in the Tavastehus Gymnasium.This article is about a collection of Alaskan ethnographic objects that were donated to the Swedish Gymnasium in Tavastehus (Hämeenlinna), Finland. Enoch Hjalmar Furuhjelm was hired as a mining engineer by the Russian American company and he was stationed in Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula between 1854-1862. He was in charge of a coal mining operation in English Bay and during his time in Alaska he collected  a number of ethnographic objects. Upon his return to Finland, the steamship he was traveling with, the "Golden Gate", was destroyed in a fire shorty after it left San Fransico. Hjalmar escaped with his life, and it was believed that all of his collections were destroyed as result of the shipwreck. In 2010 a small collection of Aglegmiut, Dena´ina, Alutiiq, Unangan and Chugach artifacts were rediscovered in Hämeenlinna by Marcus Lepola. These artifacts were discovered to be part of a donation made by Enoch Hjalmar Furuhjelm to the Swedish Gymnasium in 1863.