(a) Umiak: rawhide cover (torn in several places), red painted wood frame with seats. (b, c) 2 oars: made of wood with red painted geometric design, sinew and rawhide lashings.
Donor:
Phoebe Apperson Hearst
Collection place:
Northwest Bering Sea, Alaska
Verbatim coll. place:
Northwest Bering Sea
Culture or time period:
Alaskan Eskimo
Collector:
Charles L. Hall
Collection date:
ca. 1895
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Models (concepts) and Umiaks
Accession date:
August 12, 1902
Context of use:
Fundamentally, umiaks were used for carrying up to four tons of cargo and passengers for long distances but also employed by some Eskimos in whaling and in walrus hunting. Women are often quite involved in the navigation and occasionally pilot depending on the region (typically more common in Quebec), however this is mostly for travel as women are usually not on board for whaling or sea mammal hunting. They also stitch the skin over the frame. Sometimes umiaks are dubbed “family boats,” as they were primarily used for transportation, though they previously were used in war and of course hunting.
Native name and meaning: umiak or baidara--woman boat, family boat. References: cf. Chapelle, p. 175. cf. Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. Edited by Warren L. D’Azevedo, David Damas, June Helm, Robert F. Heizer, Alfonso Ortiz, Wilcomb E. Washburn, Wayne Suttles, Ives Goddard, Deward E. Walker, Raymond J. DeMallie, Raymond D. Fogelson, Douglas H. Ubelaker, and Garrick A. Bailey. Vol. 5. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1984. Arima, B. "Y. 1963. Report on an Eskimo umiak built at Ivuyivik, PQ, in the summer of 1960." National Museum of Canada, Bulletin No. 189 (Ottawa).