Man's Skin Parka
date: label: Accession Date
content: 8 Feb 1884
name: label: Collector
content: William J. Fisher
label: Donor Name
content: William J. Fisher
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "kang-a-nak."
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=203, retrieved 8-28-2012: Parka, Sugpiaq (Alutiiq), Koniag. qanganaq "ground-squirrel parka" - Language: Koniag Sugpiaq (Alaska Peninsula dialect) The furs used for this man's ceremonial parka suggest relative wealth and status. It was sewn from forty-eight ground squirrel skins with the tails left on. Tassels of valuable sea otter fur and strips of red wool cloth and white ermine fur accent the horizontal seams; fringes of red-dyed squirrel skin ornament the vertical ones. White caribou fur appears on the collar, cuffs, shoulders, sleeves, and chest, and strips of mink were added to the shoulders. Decorative tabs made of red cloth, caribou hide, and dyed seal esophagus are attached to the back of the collar.
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: 1989 analysis of fur by Bonnie Farmer, NMNH Dept. of Vertebrate Zoology: Rangifer tarandus / Caribou/Reindeer: Forms short, white, coarse hair occurring in narrow bands at end of each sleeve, around neck, at shoulders and across body (two bands). Spermophilus parryi / Arctic Ground Squirrel: Forms body of coat, including tails and fringes of tassels sewn into seams throughout parka.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 13 Feb 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Ugashik, Alaska Peninsula / Ugashik River, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yup'ik, Ugashigmiut (?)
label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Alutiiq (Sugpiaq), Koniag (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 014024
label: USNM Number
content: E90469-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Parka
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 121 cm