In September 1897, the Arctic explorer Robert E. Peary sailed into New York harbor aboard the Hope with six Greenland Eskimos to be studied at the American Museum of Natural History at the request of the anthropologist Franz Boas. Among the Eskimos were Minik, 6 or 7 years old, a merry boy with a mischievous expression, and his widowed father, Qisuk.

The next day 20,000 people visited the Hope, paying Peary 25 cents to see the Eskimos, who were still in their Arctic furs. Eventually they were taken to the museum, where visitors were also allowed to view them. They lived in the basement, where Minik seemed happiest playing amid the familiar objects in the Arctic exhibit.