Miriam MacMillan

Throughout her expeditions, MacMillan created thousands of photographs, audio recordings of Inuktitut songs, and films of Umiak sailors. She later organized these and Inuit art to curate the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum.

• Name — Miriam Norton Look MacMillan • Born — June 13, 1905 • Died — August 18, 1987 • Partner — Donald Baxter MacMillan

On June 13, 1905, Miriam Norton Look was born in Clinton, Massachusetts. Her parents were Amy G. Wood Look and Moses Jerome Look, a civil engineer who built dams. Her grandfather was a sea captain. As a child, her parents were often visited by their friend Donald MacMillan, whom she called "Uncle Dan." Donald MacMillan would visit her family between Arctic expeditions, bringing Miriam Norton Look a gift of "a beaded craft, an ivory figurine, or some other token of his adventures in the North." They corresponded via letters. Look's father, a hobbyist sailor, owned a 25-foot motorboat, the Sea Dog. As a teenager, he gifted Look her own boat. Look writes, "A smaller and much slower [25-foot] motorboat which he bought for me I promptly christened the Sea Pup, and the rowboat which tagged on behind, the Poodle." As a teenager, she sailed her boat the Sea Pup throughout the islands of Maine. While sailing the Sea Pup, she once recognized Donald MacMillan's 88-foot Bowdoin schooner, which had dropped anchor near Bustins Island. She piloted the boat and asked MacMillan if he needed a ride; he accepted her offer, as he stated he had a dinner date that evening. However, the boat ran out of gas minutes later, and Donald MacMillan was a half-hour late to his dinner date. Nevertheless, Donald MacMillan was purportedly impressed with Look's "expert control" of the motorboat. On March 18, 1935, at the age of 29, Miriam Norton Look married Donald Baxter MacMillan; he was 61 years old.

In 1967, she became an honorary curator of the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum. Circa 1970 to 1980, she collected and catalogued the thousands of photographs, slides, and Inuit art she had collected, which included wire recordings of Inuktitut language and songs. These are housed in the library of Bowdoin College. She also was central in the restoration of the Bowdoin schooner. In 1980, MacMillan received the honorary Doctor of Science degree from Bowdoin College. The following year, she became a member of The Explorers Club. On August 18, 1987, Miriam died and was buried in Provincetown, Massachusetts. • Illustration — MacMillan travelled on nine Arctic voyages in the Bowdoin schooner, and later worked towards its restoration

• Green Seas and White Ice (1948), historical account of her travels • Etuk, the Eskimo Hunter (1950), children's fiction book inspired by Inuit culture • Kudla and His Polar Bear (1953), children's fiction book inspired by Inuit culture