From Warsaw via London to Siberia
In this paper the life and education of Maria Czaplicka, both in the Kingdom of Poland and Great Britain is presented. The new friends and the ambition of an explorer led her to Siberia, where she spent a year with interdisciplinary expedition. In the organization of that enterprise experienced scholars, Bronisław Piłsudski and Leo Sternberg also helped.During her research, Czaplicka collected some exhibits for Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, sometimes risking her life in dangerous regions of Siberia. She met some Siberian shamans, and also studied local dialects. Czaplicka wanted to get to know the Siberians and their lives, to describe them later as well as possible.
After returning to Britain, she published her experiences and impressions in popular science book, My Siberian Year. But the following years became more and more difficult: Czaplicka had some serious financial and personal problems. As a result, she committed suicide in 1921.