Gut Parka Made Of Seal Intestines
date: label: Accession Date
content: 14 Jun 1943
label: Collection Date
content: 1891 to 1898
name: label: Collector
content: Joseph Stanley-Brown
label: Donor Name
content: Mrs. Joseph Stanley-Brown
notes: label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on this artifact http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=706, retrieved 5-8-2014: Women sewed feather-light but strong waterproof parkas from the intestines of sea lions, harbor seals, fur seals, whales, and grizzly bears. The intestines were cleaned and dried, split open to make strips, then sewn together with sinew thread using double-fold watertight seams. The hood, which has a drawstring for the face, was sewn separately and attached. On this parka, red, blue, and black yarn was worked into the seams for color. Kayakers wore the parka in combination with a spray skirt that fastened around the cockpit to seal the boats from waves. From Elders' discussions of the parka in 2003 with Mary N. Bourdukofsky, Vlass Shabolin, Maria Turnpaugh and Daria Dirks (Tanadgusix Foundation) at the National Museum of Natural History and National Museum of the American Indian, 4/07/2003-4/11/2003. Also participating: Aron Crowell and Bill Fitzhugh (NMNH) and Suzi Jones (AMHA). Maria Turnpaugh: "The intestines were cleaned and blown up, then dried in the air, in the sun. They didn't cut them until they dried, and then they split them open. It could be sea lion or bearded seal or any big sea animal."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 16 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Attu Island, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Aleut (Unangax^ ; Unangan; Unangas)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 165342
label: USNM Number
content: E383185-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Parka
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 110 cm