Gut skin coat with fur edging. According to Ronald W. Senungetuk, "This is a gut anorak for a child. Made of fish skin, seals throat skin trim with black trim I cant identify." Gut; trimmed with front gores, U-shaped trim at waistline following lower design of fur trimmed edge. Worn in kayak.
Donor:
Alaska Commercial Company, Benjamin Bristol, and Older University Collections
Collection place:
Alaska
Verbatim coll. place:
Alaska
Culture or time period:
Alaskan Eskimo
Collector:
unknown
Collection date:
October 1986
Materials:
Fur (hair material), Sealskin, and Skin (collagenous material) (fish)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Coats (garments)
Function:
2.1 Daily Garb
Accession date:
1904
Context of use:
Fish skin coat without any fur trim, most likely worn as a base layer since it is thin, plain, and meant to be tight fitting as skin shirts usually are. 2-6728 is very similar except that it is made with a bit of seal skin in addition to fish skin. Native Alaskans are often touted for their ability to brave the cold, though traditional materials and clothing have given way to nonnative garb, skin coats were extremely warm and more water resistant than cloth. Making these clothes requires lots of skill, it is traditionally something that women do with an ulu, carefully separating blubber and meat from the skin and making sure not to rip any holes. The skin is scraped, washed, and then hung out to dry until stiff and then sewn with sinew.
Department:
Native US and Canada (except California)
Dimensions:
length 92.5 centimeters and width 93 centimeters
Comment:
cf. 2-6682 Arctic Clothing of North America-Alaska, Canada, Greenland, J.C.H. King Hatt, Gudmund, and Kirsten Taylor. "Arctic Skin Clothing in Eurasia and America an Ethnographic Study." Arctic Anthropology 5, no. 2 (1969): 3-132.