Kayak and Paddle
date: label: Accession Date
content: 3 Aug 2007
label: Collection Date
content: 2005
name: label: Donor Name
content: Greenland Home Rule Government
notes: label: Notes
content: Kayak. Wooden ribs / frame with black nylon (?) fabric stretched over the frame, stitched together along the midline of the deck, and painted with a clear waterproof coating. Narrow, shallow hull. Has a pair of brown leather aft deck lines (straps across the stern) and 5 fore deck lines (across the bow), plus another short strap/handle at each end. Bone end knobs, shaped like a whale tail at the stern, and a seal head/body at the bow. Cotton canvas spray skirt attached to the rim of the cockpit. Double bladed paddle with narrow blades, made from solid light-colored wood, with a strip of darker wood at both ends. Paddle is coated with varnish?
label: Notes
content: Hand-made by master kayaker and kayak-builder Maligiaq Johnsen Padilla, at the "Festival of Greenland" at NMNH, May 20-22, 2005. William Fitzhugh, Director of the Arctic Studies Program, says: "Although not a traditional Greenland kayak of the old days, which would have been made with a sealskin rather than a canvas cover, and having whale flukes as embellishments at the bow and stern, this kayak is actually part of a continuing living tradition of kayak building and use in West Greenland that has had an unbroken history. Canvas kayaks began to be constructed in the early 20th century and have been used extensively for seal hunting, especially in northern parts of West Greenland and in East Greenland. Shapes and styles of boat forms have also been evolving as new materials and techniques were implemented. Today, kayaking is a prestigious sport as well as a hunting vehicle, and as the subsistence need for kayaks has declined, more and more kayaks are being built for recreation and sporting events."
label: Notes
content: This kayak was a model for a 3/4 size replica that was made for exhibit in 2013. The replica was produced by NMNH Office of Exhibits staff members Stoy Popovich, Jon Zastrow, and Natalie Gallelli. It was placed on exhibit in the NMNH's Sant Ocean Hall in the fall of 2013, complete with a kayaker mannequin dressed in a traditional white anoraq (parka) supplied by Maligiaq Padilla, and hunting gloves supplied by the family of the late Melvin Seppilu from the town of Savoonga (probably made by his sister-in-law, Christina Alowa (Sunqaanga)
label: Record Last Modified
content: 16 Feb 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: Sisimiut / Washington, D.C., West Greenland, Greenland / United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Inuit, West Greenland Inuit / Kalaallit
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2043050
label: USNM Number
content: E433186-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Kayak / Kayak Paddle
physicalDescription: label: Length - Kayak
content: ca. 570 cm
label: Height - Kayak, Height At Cockpit
content: ca. 27 cm
label: Maximum Width - Kayak, Width At Cockpit
content: ca. 54 cm
label: Length - Paddle
content: 223 cm
label: Maximum Width - Paddle
content: 8 cm