TROMSØ. At the end of the 19th Century and beginning of the 20th Century so called “primitive peoples” where shown at exhibitions in zoological gardens, circuses and amusement parks for “civilized” audiences in Europe and North America.

One of these exhibits was young Sami woman Margrethe Kreutz from Undersåker in Sweden, close to the Norwegian border. She and her husband and children, together with 23 other Sami people, were engaged to show themselves and their reindeers at an exhibition in Paris 1888, the year before the World’s Fair and opening of the Eiffel tower. After returning to Norway the family set out to the World Fair in Chicago in 1893. Margrethe returned to Norway where she died in 1922, at the age of 58.

Until 30/9 an exhibition about Margrethe is shown at the Tromsø Museum. The exhibition is based on research done by Catherine Baglo for her doctoral thesis on Sami participation in these exhibitions.
Info: Tromsø Museum

Paris 1888. Margrethe on the far left, her husband Anders on the far right. Photo Roland Bonaparte /Musee du Quai Branly