Salmon skin boots with cloth trim at calf and sealskin (erignathus barbatus) sole that has been treated with seal oil. The shoes are tied together with string, there is also a drawstring on each boot around the upper part. Native name: uguruliks.
Donor:
Phoebe Apperson Hearst
Collection place:
Lower Yukon, Yukon, Yukon-Koyukuk Borough
Verbatim coll. place:
Alaska; Lower Yukon
Culture or time period:
Alaskan Eskimo
Collector:
Charles L. Hall
Collection date:
unknown
Materials:
Colorant (material) (blue, for felt), Felt (textile), Sealskin (erignathus barbatus), and Skin (collagenous material) (salmon)
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Shoes (footwear)
Accession date:
August 12, 1902
Context of use:
The drawstring at the calf that helps keep snow out of the boot. These are made of skin and are largely water-resistant, sometimes they can become soaked, so when traveling many people often bring an extra pair. They seemed to outlast ready-made, nonnative cloth boots for quite some time since they were much more well-suited to the cold and icy terrain. Sealskin (erignathus barbatus) comprises the sole and it is treated with seal oil while the less common fish skin make the rest of the boot. There is a cloth trim in place of what usually is a fur trim. Usually boots are accompanied with long caribou skin socks called aleksie.
Department:
Native US and Canada (except California)
Comment:
cf. Nelson, Richard K. Alaskan Eskimo exploitation of the sea ice environment. WISCONSIN UNIV-MADISON DEPT OF ANTHROPOLOGY, 1966. Hatt, Gudmund, and Kirsten Taylor. "Arctic Skin Clothing in Eurasia and America an Ethnographic Study." Arctic Anthropology 5, no. 2 (1969): 3-132.