During the 1970s and 80s, Carpenter assembled what has become one of the largest and finest collections of Paleo-Eskimo art in the world. Previously little known, it has been featured in several exhibitions curated by Carpenter. The collection of nearly 600 objects is currently housed at the Menil Collection, Houston, where it was recently exhibited in Microcosmos: Details from the Carpenter Collection of Arctic Art.  Carpenter’s collection of Old Bering Sea art also featured prominently in his exhibition Upside Down, at the Musée du quai Branly, 2008, and the Menil Collection, 2011.