ABSTRACT The article examines the history of phonographic recordings from the Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897–1902), a venture that shaped the methods of Siberian and Arctic anthropology for decades. The authors—a historical anthropologist, a curator, and an Indigenous Sakha scholar—trace how audio recordings made during the expedition have moved through time and been reinterpreted as technologies and ways of knowing have evolved. They focus on the contexts in which these recordings were created, archived, and later listened to. These acts sometimes occurred simultaneously, but were often separated by decades. By examining these layers together, the authors show how Indigenous voices were positioned in pre‐modern times by scholars and archivists, while the phonograph—then a cutting‐edge technology—contributed over time to the “othering” of the recorded material. Building on these overlapping perspectives, the authors argue that each stage of engagement with the recordings introduced new meanings. These evolving interpretations have reshaped not only the history of anthropological thought but also how Indigenous communities and their histories are understood.
Arzyutov et al. (Mon,) studied this question.