Story Knife
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1 Oct 1886
name: label: Collector
content: Sgt. Samuel Applegate
label: Collector
content: John W. Clark
label: Donor Name
content: Sgt. Samuel Applegate
notes: label: Notes
content: FIELD NUMBER FOR THIS OBJECT WAS RECORDED AS 48, BUT IN ACCESSION RECORD 48 IS FIRST LISTED AS "2 STONE SPEARS" FROM KASSIANMUTE AND THEN LATER AS A SNOW KNIFE. PERHAPS THE KNIFE FIELD NUMBER IS WRONG? THE OBJECT STILL COULD BE FROM THE KASSIANMUTE SERIES, HOWEVER. - F. PICKERING 4/16/1997
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 https://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=222 , retrieved 10-21-2021; see web page for additional information: Story knife, Yup'ik. The story knife is a traditional girl's toy used for sketching pictures on the ground or in the snow. The pictures show clothing, people, houses, animals, and events, and are drawn to illustrate a story or as a game in which others try to guess the artist's subject. Knife stories were accompanied by songs. Neva Rivers said, "Girls still play this game using metal butter knives instead of the traditional wood, bone, or ivory yaaruin." The yaaruin [story knife] is a traditional girl's toy, used for drawing pictures on the ground or in snow. The pictures show clothing, people, houses, animals, and events, often to illustrate a story or sometimes as a game where others must guess the artist's subject. Snow knife stories were also accompanied by songs. In the 1880s, Edward Nelson saw children drawing pictures of animals in the snow and then cutting them with their story knives to act out hunting stories. Elder Paul John called them "our ancestors' cartoon maker." Annie Blue said, "But I would always use a yaaruin like this to illustrate houses and the activities that go on inside it. I also illustrated parkas, since I always examined parkas that were hanging outside houses airing out. I would also use a yaaruin to illustrate boots. I would illustrate boot designs and borders." Some girls still play this game, using metal butter knives instead of the traditional wood, bone, or ivory yaaruin.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 8 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Togiak River, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yup'ik
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 018036
label: USNM Number
content: E127393-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Story Knife
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 25.5 cm