Anauta: the only Eskimo woman on the American platform

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The Only Eskimo Woman on the American Platform
ANAUTA was born and grew to womanhood on the northern tip of Baffin Island, about 400 miles from the North Pole.  She was raised as a nomadic Eskimo — hunting, trapping, singing, laughing, chewing skins for boot making; living the life of a male Eskimo.  For her name ANAUTA (given to her at birth) was the name of a young man, son of a dear friend of the family, who that same night had been swept to his death off an ice-pan.  And thus was an Eskimo custom fulfilled; giving to the first baby born the name of the departed spirit so it would not be lost in space.

She became especially proficient in shooting seal, deer, and polar bear; driving dog sleds, building snow houses, preparing frost-cooked lean meat, and making beautiful garments from the skins, including chewing the skin for their warm water-proof boots.

Her inherent kindness impelled ANAUTA and her husband to go to the rescue of a young Scotch couple who had come to live in the far north, but who were absolutely ignorant of the methods used in order to be happy and comfortable there.  Then, adopting the baby of the young Scotch mother, who had died shortly after the baby's birth; seeing her husband and the baby's father perish when their canoe capsized, she was persuaded by the captain of a small trading vessel (which visited their shores once each year) to bring the baby, along with her own two little girls, to St. Johns, Newfoundland, where it could be raised by its grandmother.

At this port, by the sale of furs (which fortunately ANAUTA had brought with her) she came into possession (for the first time) of a considerable sum of money, which she, being nomadic, used to see-the-sights of a new world. Many months of travel with her two little girls throughout Canada and the United States were brim-full of excitement as she gradually learned the Engish language, became educated, naturalized and learned the good and the bad in our American Way of Life,—an achievement surpassed by very few in American history. Any small portion of this amazing life, as presented by ANAUTA, gives an audience a narrative of breath-taking interest — full of thought and opening a new Philosophy of Life.



Eskimo Speaker Amuses Chautauqua Audience
Chautauqua, New York, July 27, 1943.

(Where more noted people have spoken than at any other spot in America.)

Clad in what she called her Seventy Below Outfit, a petite Eskimo woman held her Chautauqua audience captivated Friday evening in the Amphitheater.  Waves of laughter swept over her appreciative listeners.

Anauta is her real name.  She is a native of Baffin Land and author of Land of the Good Shadows.  She came to our country unable to speak English and not acquainted with any of the complexities of the life we lead.  Hearing her tell of the struggle which she made to become acclimated, the audience was delighted with her stories of incidents related to this struggle.

She told many amusing stories which provoked hilarious response from her audience and gave them an insight into the good humor that is characteristic of the Eskimo.  Her stories were expressed in quaint and unexpected statements.  She made clear to her listeners that the Eskimo is a firm believer in the idea that this day is a complete thing.  Whatever the Eskimo does, whether it be to spread kindness or to have fun and enjoy himself he does it today, not waiting for the time to come when he must be kind and happy.

Anauta opened up a source of information about a little-known people and was so convincing that she narrowly escaped being besieged by individuals from her audience who were eager to know more.  It was with difficulty that she finally broke away from the admiring crowd.



Some of the Appellations Given to Her by Enthusiastic Committees:

ANAUTA — Of the AURORA BOREALIS.
ANAUTA — The White Seal of the Frozen Wastes
ANAUTA — From the Land of the GOOD SHADOWS
ANAUTA — The HUMORIST, From Baffin-Land
ANAUTA — A Brilliant Star of the Northern Lights






ANAUTA
A Few of the Places Where Anauta Has Appeared

ILLINOIS:

Chicago (20)
Amboy (7)
Batavia
Belvidere
Bloomington (3)
DeKalb
Dixon (3)
Elgin (4)
Evanston (6)
Freeport (2)
Geneva (3)
Joliet (7)
Kenilworth (4)
Morrison (4)
Oak Park
Ottawa (6)
Pekin (2)
Peoria
Polo (2)
Princeton
Rockford (2)
Springfield
Wilmette (4)
Winnetka (12)
Woodstock (4)



INDIANA:

Indianapolis (72)
Anderson (7)
Angola
Auburn
Bedford (5)
Bloomington (2)
Bluffton (6)
Brookville
Cambridge City (2)
Clinton (2)
Columbus (4)
Danville (2)
South Bend (6)
Decatur (2)
Dunkirk
East Chicago
Elkhart
Elwood (2)
Frankfort (3)
Franklin (3)
Greencastle (5)
Greenfield (4)
Greensburg (7)
Hammond (5)
Fort Wayne (5)
Hartford City (4)
Huntington (2)
Jeffersonville (7)
Kokomo (7)
Lebanon (4)
Ligonier (6)
Logansport (4)
Marion (4)
Martinsville (7)
Muncie (2)
New Albany (6)
Terre Haute (3)
New Castle (5)
Noblesville (7)
N. Manchester (2)
Peru (4)
Plymouth
Portland (2)
Princeton
Rensselear
Richmond (4)
Rochester
Rushville (2)
Seymour
Shelbyville (4)
Sullivan (2)
Tipton (8)
Valparaiso (2)
Vincennes (3)
Wabash (7)
Warsaw (4)
Whiting (4)
Winamac (2)
Winona Lake (2)
Zionsville (8)



NEW ENGLAND:

Boston (6)
Belmont (2)
Beverly
Brockton
Concord (3)
Fall River
Gloucester (2)
Hartford
Haverhill
Lexington
Lowell
Malden (2)
Milton (2)
Needham (2)
Newport
Newton (2)
Palmer
Salem
Springfield (4)
Swampscott
Waltham
Westfield
West Newton
Woburn



OHIO:

Cincinnati (7)
Cleveland (2)
Columbus (7)
Akron (3)
Athens (4)
Cedar Point
Celina
Chillicothe
Dayton (2)
Defiance
Elyria
Findlay
Lakeside (3)
Lima (2)
(Forum & H. S.)
Marietta
Marion (2)
Oxford (2)
Toledo
Wapakoneta
Washington C. H.
Wilmington
Youngstown



PENNSYLVANIA:

Edinboro (College)
Grove City (College)
Slippery Rock (2)
(College and H. S.)
Sharon (Forum)




COLORADO: Denver (2)
KENTUCKY: Louisville
GEORGIA: Atlanta (2)
OKLAHOMA: Poteau
MICHIGAN: Kalamazoo (2) — Dowagiac (3)
MINNESOTA: Minneapolis
NEW YORK: Buffalo (3) — Chautauqua
WISCONSIN: Beloit





WEEKLY NEWS OF THE GREATER BUFFALO ADVERTISING CLUB
A Beautiful Woman Is a Jewel; A Good Woman Is a Treasure; 
An Eskimo Woman Might Well Be Called An Ecstatician
THE FAIR SEX WAS MADE TO KEEP MAN'S OPTICS
BRIGHT; BEHOLD FROM BAFFINLAND A BRILLIANT
STAR OF THE NORTHERN LIGHTS


ANAUTA (AH-NOW-TA)
The Only Eskimo Woman on the American Platform.  A Spontaneous, Natural and Humorous Story of Habits and Traits Utterly Different From Any We Know



The Life of An Eskimo Woman
A Unique, Gripping, Educative and Altogether Fascinating Four-Star Feature She
Comments by D. J. DeMunn


ANAUTA Endurance is the prerogative of woman, enabling the gentlest to suffer what would cause terror to manhood.




IT MATTERS more what's in a woman's face than what's on it and it is interesting to hope that the debutantes and matrons of Baffinland never heard of Helen Rubenstein, or Lady Esther, the cosmeticians, we wonder.

Gossips have a keen sense of rumor, whispered President Hoddick in a polite effort to create small talk between courses.  At which Anauta laughed in her unfailing humor and assured Alvin that it isn't true that Eskimo ladies prefer Jack Jacobs' Breeze-E toed Paris sandals to Stretch-E-Z fur-lined boots.

Dressing like an unmade bed to combat 70 degrees below comfort, said she warmly, is more fun than risking six months' hospitalization on the hogan floor from an attack of goose-pimples.  Whereupon Al decided that spontaneous Baffinland humor beats a Buffalo wisecrack a (s)mile.

Anauta, pronounced Ah-now-ta, accent the now, is her real name, not a phony.  She was born 400 miles from the North Pole; raised as a boy; driving dogsleds, shooting seal, polarbear, fox and deer.  Never tasted fruit or vegetables until a grown woman with two children.  Following the death of her husband in a capsized canoe, Anauta came to Newfoundland with her children.

In Anauta's land of birth there is no dishonesty, no stealing, no rackets, no contagious diseases, no bad teeth, no bald heads, no toupes, no razor blades for the simple reason that the men have no whiskers.

Anauta is about as different from the Eskimo of Alaska as a seal-skin coat is from Dorothy Lamour's sarong.  Her people do not eat blubber, but live entirely on lean meat—frost-cooked, no fire.  She could challenge and very likely defeat any Ad Club trapshooter in accuracy with the rifle knocking down quail, pheasant or ducks from a blind or a canoe.

A lovely, charming manner, gracious and saturated with deep sincerity, Anauta is a must hear on your May schedule of stop, look and listen.  Our guest is a natural humorist, especially when describing her mistakes in adjusting herself to the American way of life.  Bought railroad tickets when she didn't know where she was going; encloses currency in a letter; trusts everyone; can't understand the sign in her favorite restaurant, Not Responsible for Overcoats or Umbrellas.

Chewed the skins herself from which her 70-Below Zero Outfit is made.  Worked as a common laborer in an Indianapolis Battery Factory; answers questions until you are red in the face with embarrassment over the mistaken ideas you had concerning Eskimo life.

Anauta is now an American citizen; her children grown and participating in American life, probably buying War Savings Stamps and Bonds to protect their adopted country for the good of all peoples.  Those who hear this unique personality from the land of the Good Shadows may well say, women are the poetry of the world in the same sense as the stars are the poetry of heaven.






THE BOSTON POST
May 19, 1942
HAS SIMPLE WAY TO HALT DIVORCE!  Eskimo woman would have parents pick bridegrooms.
Several hundred club women listened intently when ANAUTA, a full blooded Eskimo woman, disclosed a radical solution of putting divorce lawyers out of business, yesterday at the opening of the 50th annual spring convention of the Massachusetts State Federation of Women's Clubs, at the New Ocean House, Swampscott.





BUFFALO EVENING NEWS
Monday, November 16, 1942
REAL WARMTH IMPOSSIBLE AS WE DRESS!  ANAUTA, Eskimo, says modern styles unsuited to cold.
I think it is crazy to expect that the girls are going to be warm the way they dress, declared ANAUTA, formerly a Nomadic Eskimo, today upon her arrival in town for a speaking engagement in the Town Club.  In my country (Baffin Island) our girls wear deerskin stockings, sealskin boots, deerskin undergarments and top clothes.





COLUMBUS EVENING DISPATCH
Columbus, Ohio, Wednesday, January 15, 1941
ESKIMO WOMAN WOULD MISS RADIOS IF SHE WENT HOME!  Clocks also confusing to native of Baffin-Land, now making lecture tour.
A tiny little woman, scarcely five feet tall and weighing under a hundred pounds, looked wistfully out of a window at the Neil House, and remarked with conviction in her soft voice that she'd like to go back to her native Baffin Island, 400 miles from the North Pole.  She was to make two public appearances and a radio talk in Columbus Wednesday, speaking before the Kiwanis Club at noon, and before Humboldt Lodge of Masons at the Masonic Temple in the evening.





ATHENS DAILY MESSENGER
Athens, Ohio, Friday, February 28, 1941
YOU HURRY TOO MUCH, says Eskimo, talking to American women.
CIVILIZATION NOT AN UNMIXED BLESSING—ANAUTA.
While completely American in appearance, her loyalty and love are still with her people.  She will never teach them the ways of civilization, for Eskimos are happier, she feels, left to live their lives of hard, dangerous work; devoid of luxuries, peaceful and free.





CINCINNATI TIMES-STAR
Cincinnati, Ohio, Saturday, October 25, 1941
ESKIMOS PUZZLED HOW SO-CALLED CIVILIZED PERSONS CAN SLAY EACH OTHER DURING WAR!  That is message brought before teachers by native woman, clad in gay costume.
ANAUTA, a little Eskimo woman, gayly clad in her native costume, made the declaration before the meeting of the Southwestern Ohio Teachers' Association in Masonic Temple, Saturday.





CHILLICOTHE NEWS - ADVERTISER
Chillicothe, Ohio, Wednesday, December 17, 1941
Lions Family Night in keeping with the season.  ANAUTA, Eskimo woman, brings message from Baffin Land.
ANAUTA, the speaker, best ever presented at any meeting of the club.





CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM
Elyria, Ohio, Wednesday, October 8, 1941
LOCAL AUDIENCE HEARS ESKIMO WOMAN!
An Eskimo woman who finds it more difficult to keep warm during winter in the United States than it was in her native Baffinland, told her story and the story of her people to an Elyria audience at the First Congregational Church last night.  The speaker's name is ANAUTA, and she appeared as the first speaker on the Y. W. C. A. Lecture-Series for this year.





THE KALAMAZOO GAZETTE
Kalamazoo, Michigan, Friday, July 9, 1943
TELLS AMAZING STORY OF LIFE ON BAFFIN ISLE!  ANAUTA reveals Eskimos live on uncooked meat, tenderized by cold.
An audience which filled Central High School Auditorium, listened with rapt attention for an hour and a half Thursday evening to hear a slender little woman, clad in a suit of deer and seal skin, tell the amazing story of life in Baffin Land.  She was ANAUTA, the only Eskimo woman on the American lecture platform, and she appeared under the sponsorship of the summer session of Western Michigan College, in one of the series of feature entertainments being presented for students and the town-people.  In language simple and direct and with words so vivid, she painted an indelible mental picture on the minds of her entire audience.  She told the fascinating story of her people and related some of the romantic details of her own personal experiences.





SUMMER SESSION
WESTERN MICHIGAN COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Kalamazoo, Michigan

July 12, 1943

Mr. Will J. McEwen
113 West Fourth Street
Marion, Indiana

Dear Mr. McEwen:

 Our audience was completely captivated by Anauta and I am so glad you called her to my attention.  The enclosed clipping from the Kalamazoo Gazette expresses the reactions of all who heard her.  We had an audience of over 2000 students and townspeople; they listened with rapt attention; they asked questions from the audience during the question period.  They came backstage in great numbers and we had to ask them to leave in order that the building might be closed for the night.  We make no charge for the summer session entertainments and so we were not concerned with box office receipts.  We invite townspeople as well as our students as a public relations feature.  We are, therefore, particularly pleased when we can present a lecturer who is received with such enthusiasm.

I have already recommended Anauta to the Michigan Education Association Committee for their regional meetings and to Mary Ensfield for the County Institute.  I shall be glad to recommend her to anyone for any occasion.

Sincerely yours,
Elmer H. Wilds
Director of Summer Session



Sharon, Pa., Dec. 6, 1941

My Dear Mr. McEwen:

ANAUTA appeared on the SHENANGO VALLEY EDCATIONAL FORUM (Sharon, Pa.) Wednesday, Nov. 26, 1941.  Let me assure you that we were very happy to entertain ANAUTA in our home.  So far as her lecture is concerned, it was very much of a success.  She won her audience in the first five minutes of her talk.  She held them closer than any other speaker we have had in the five years of our existence.  Her simplicity, her wit, and her interesting story, made them sit on the edge of their seats eager to hear more.  We had over a thousand present that evening; and I heard many comments after, that it was the most enjoyable thing they had ever heard.

Wm. R. Pool, Treas.



AUSTIN NORTH-END WOMAN'S CLUB
Chicago, Ill., Jan. 13, 1943

Dear Mr. McEwen:

I just couldn't let a day pass without telling you how much our club members and guests enjoyed ANAUTA.  Many said it was the best program we've ever had.  She talked much longer than our speakers usually do, and the time just flew.  She was so liberal in answering questions, too.  After the meeting was adjourned for a social hour and refreshments, she was surrounded for the rest of the night answering questions.

You are very lucky to have such a speaker on your list, and, from what she says of you, she is lucky to have you for a manager.  I do hope to hear her again.  My husband and I took her to the hotel after the performance because it was so very late and cold, and she told us much more during that drive.  She seems to have unlimited material at her tongue's tip.  Thanking you again.

Very sincerely yours,
Juliet Downing
Program Chairman



120 N. Main St., Findlay, Ohio

November 12, 1941

Will J. McEwen.

Dear Mr. McEwen:

Thank you for telling us about ANAUTA, and for insisting that we bring her to Findlay.  I doubt if we have had a program in the last five years that was as interesting to everybody as was Anauta's story.  She has a delicious sense of humor and such a delightful delivery.  After she had talked for over an hour, our Rotarians and Rotary Anns asked questions and listened to her for almost another hour.

WE LIKED HER.

Very truly yours,
Francis K. Godwin
(Program Chairman)



On May 11, 1940, Vilhjalmur Stefansson said: You have in ANAUTA a speaker who will please and profit the better type of American Lecture Audiences.



The Manager's Statement
To My Friends — The Committees:

I present ANAUTA to you as a personality of most unusual attainments, a speaker who has never failed to create enthusiasm among her audiences in every case—in every part of the United States.  After forty years of promoting outstanding personalities such as: Russell Conwell, Glenn Frank, Dr. Frank Gunsaulus, Ex-President Wm. H. Taft, Prince William of Sweden, Winston Churchill, Irvin Cobb, Kermit Roosevelt, S. Parkes Cadman, Robt. M. LaFollette.  Will Durant, Richard Halliburton, Sir Hubert Wilkins, Burton Holmes, Roy Chapman Andrews, Maurice Hindus, et al., I can sincerely say: that I have never met a more interesting personality than 'ANAUTA'.

And so I offer you ANAUTA, feeling that your audiences will receive great benefit as well as entertainment of the highest type, and that you, personally, will learn to love her for her faithfulness, sincerity, cheerfulness, and her absolute loyalty to committees, in always making her dates, if it is humanly possible.

WILL J. McEWEN.

ANAUTA is the heroine of the celebrated book LAND OF THE GOOD SHADOWS, the Foreword of which was penned by the late Sir Wilfred Grenfell just three days before he passed away on Oct. 9, 1940.

On Nov. 17, 1941, Melvin Ross, the Boston Lecture Manager, said: 'ANAUTA' is one of the finest personalities that I have ever met or ever hope to meet—a lovely charming manner, gracious, and saturated with a deep sincerity that is seldom found in anyone.

Management: WILL J. McEWEN - Phone 2859 - 113 West Fourth Street, Marion, Indiana