Wooden Sled
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1875
name: label: Donor Name
content: Royal University of Norway
notes: label: Notes
content: E14800 was originally the catalogue number for a male mannequin representing a Saami man in fur clothing sitting in the wooden sled with a taxidermy reindeer harnessed to the sled. It is recorded as a gift of the University of Christiania, Norway [now University of Oslo], and was catalogued in December 1874. The mannequin and reindeer were subsequently at some point condemned and disposed of. The sled and at least some clothing from the mannequin were retained. A photo of this mannequin in the sled with the reindeer shown on display at the Smithsonian in 1880 is in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution Archives: Photo ID: SIA Acc. 11-006 [MAH-4492], SIA Acc. 11-006, Box 014 - United States National Museum. Division of Graphic Arts, Photographic Collection, 1860-1960, Smithsonian Institution Archives, https://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_391403 . A photo of the same mannequin/sled/reindeer on display at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia is in the Free Library of Philadelphia collections and is available online: Centennial Photographic Co.. Laplander & reindeer--Agricultural Hall. Stereoviews. Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/1990. (accessed Feb 25, 2018). An additional image is also available from the same collection: Centennial Photographic Co.. Laplander and reindeer-Agricultural Hall. Albumen Prints. Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/1559. (accessed Mar 24, 2025).
label: Notes
content: From card: "Originally the sled had with it a reindeer properly harnessed and a driver in costume sitting in the hold. Both were condemned and disposed of. Canoe-shaped, built like a boat on a keel, above which rise on either side strakes of plank, wide at the rear and tapering to a point in front, where they disappear in the widened end of the keel. The whole is fastened together with treenails (pegs) passing through stout wooden bows, the ends of which overlap at the widest part. The rear is set in like the head of a barrel. The whole is decked over with movable sliding planks, so that it may be quickly adapted to freight or passengers. Refer: Otis T. Mason: "Primitive Travel and Transportation", U.S. National Museum Report, 1894, p. 547 [and 548], figs. 238-9. [can be viewed online at HathiTrust: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31822009733148&seq=779 ]. Transferred to the Department of Cultural History April 4, 1973. Transferred back to Anthropology, 2/3/82. Lent to NMAH, Butler Bldg. storage facility, 6/22/89. [Loan closed 2000]"
label: Record Last Modified
content: 24 Mar 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Norway, Europe
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Sámi (Saami)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 003687
label: USNM Number
content: E14800-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Sled
physicalDescription: label: Height - Object
content: 41 cm
label: Depth - Object
content: 41 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 221 cm