Wolverine Fire Bag
date: label: Accession Date
content: 21 Dec 1866
name: label: Donor Name
content: Roderick R. MacFarlane
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "ILLUS: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 5, ARCTIC PG. 353, FIG. 6A. WOLVERINE SKIN BAG DECORATED WITH BLUE AND RED SEED BEADS SEWED TO BANDS OF CLIPPED HAIR; LEATHER THONG WITH LARGE BLUE BEAD AND FUR AT THE END." Handbook photo caption further identifies this as a decorated wolverine skin bag used to carry tobacco, pipe, flint, steel and tinder.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Inuvialuit Pitqusiit Inuuniarutait: Inuvialuit Living History, The MacFarlane Collection website, by the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre (ICRC), Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada (website credits here http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/posts/12 ), entry on this artifact http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/items/49 , retrieved 12-17-2019: A wolverine skin pouch with blue and red trade beads sewn to strips of clipped hair that are sewn around the centre of the pouch. Strips of hide, some of which have been stained with red ochre, form a fringe along the bottom of of the pouch. A hide thong attached to the pouch has an oval blue bead at the end with wolverine fur tassels. The red beads on this item may be a type known as Cornaline d'Aleppo that were brought to west coast Alaska by Russian traders. Pouches of this type were commonly used to hold tobacco. More information here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/45: Traditional Inuvialuit clothing had no pockets. Instead, small bags or pouches were used for carrying items such as sewing implements, tobacco, and tinder, flint and steel for making fire. These bags often were exquisitely made by piecing together contrasting pieces of skin and decorating them with fringes and beads. Pouches like the one shown here typically were used to hold tobacco.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 21 Apr 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Northwest Territories, Canada, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Inuit, Inuvialuk (Inuvialuit)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 66A00090
label: USNM Number
content: E1663-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bag