Constructing Cultures documents a 1997 conference in New York at the American Museum of Natural History celebrating the centenary of the Jesup North Pacific Expedition (1897-1903) - an ambitious, multidisciplinary international expedition investigating the relationship of cultures surrounding the North Pacific rim in Russia, Canada, and Alaska. The expedition was a landmark in the development of comparative ethnology and the founding of cultural anthropology. Directed by Franz Boas, who is often credited with being the "father" of American cultural anthropology, it produced a series of monographs that still serve as classic studies of the peoples and cultures of this “crossroads” region. This volume was created to memorialize and interpret the Jesup Expedition legacy.