The Qaanaaq Museum occupies a small wooden house in the centre of town that once belonged to Knud Rasmussen, the founder of the original Thule trading station and the explorer most responsible for putting the Inughuit on the map of Western anthropology. The collection is modest but personal: harpoons, sled gear, kayak fragments, family photographs of Rasmussen and Peter Freuchen, and old Inughuit drum songs recorded on wax cylinders.
The museum is run by volunteers and opens irregularly — usually on request or in summer when cruise ships call. Ask at the town office or the Hotel Qaanaaq. The building itself is worth a look: low-slung, painted red, with a view down to the sea ice and the row of working dog teams chained on the beach below.