Snow Goggles
date: label: Accession Date
content: 8 Jan 1868
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. William H. Dall
label: Donor Name
content: Dr. William H. Dall
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "INVENTORIED 1975."
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=17, retrieved 8-9-2012: Snow goggles, Deg Hit'an. By limiting the amount of light that could reach the eyes, wooden snow goggles prevented snow blindness, a painful burning of the retinas caused by the arctic sun's strong reflection off snow in spring. They were also worn as safety glasses when making arrowheads, to protect against flying chips of stone.(1) Snow goggles were universal among Yup'ik, Iñupiaq, and other Eskimo peoples, and neighboring Athabascan appear to have adopted this technology.(2) Among these groups were the Gwich'in, Koyukon, and Deg Hit'an.(3) Pieces of bear, caribou, or fish skin with slits cut in them could also serve as snow goggles.(4) 1. Osgood 1970:184 2. Nelson 1973:314 3. Osgood 1936:70,73; Whymper 1868:190; Osgood 1970:183-185 4. Osgood 1970:184
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 11 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Yukon River, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Ingalik (Deg Xitʼan, Degexitʼan, Deg Hit'an)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 68A00005
label: USNM Number
content: E5581-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Goggles
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 19 cm