Part Of Clothing Set: Shirt Or Tunic
date: label: Accession Date
content: 27 Dec 1866
name: label: Collector
content: Bernard R. Ross
label: Donor Name
content: Bernard R. Ross
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "TRIBE YUKON RIVER INDS. HAN KOOTCHIN." ILLUS (tunic and moccasin trousers).: CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS CATALOGUE; FIG. 67, P.65. LOAN: CROSSROADS SEP 22, 1988. LOAN RETURNED: JAN 21 1993."
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 (under # ET1857A) http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=4, retrieved 8-13-2012: Tunic. This tunic has fringes at the hem, chest, and cuffs, and comes to a point in both front and back, which was a traditional Gwich'in man's style.(1) Trimble Gilbert, Eliza Jones, and Judy Woods identified the main part of the tunic as skin from a moose cow (female) or calf, with a strip of caribou sewn along the bottom to make the fringes. The garment is expensively ornamented with glass beads acquired from Russian traders or the Hudson's Bay Company and with tusk-shaped "dentalium" shells which come from a marine mollusk (genus Dentalium) that inhabits the coastal waters of southeast Alaska. Dentalium shells were highly valued for jewelry and for decorating clothing, and were traded from the southern coast into interior Alaska before European contact. Later, they were imported by the Hudson's Bay Company.(2) There are many stories in Athabascan oral tradition about ways that these shells were obtained, such as by lowering a human body, dog, or meat into a mythical well or pond.(3) Red lines seen along the hem, seams, and beaded areas of the tunic were painted with red ocher, a mineral pigment that was also highly valued as an indigenous trade item.(4) Tsaih [red ocher] was said to have supernatural power, and locations where it was found were regarded as sacred.(5) This pigment was traditionally used by the Gwich'in for face painting and to decorate clothing, snowshoes, toboggans, and bows.(6) The tunic was part of a set acquired by Hudson's Bay Company trader Bernard Ross in the 1850s or 1860s (see moccasin trousers and mittens E1857-1 and E1857-2). Tunics without hoods and decorated with long fringes and colorful chest bands made of beads or quills were once standard clothing for many Athabascan peoples, including the Deg Hit'an, Koyukon, Gwich'in, Upper Tanana, Dena'ina, and Ahtna.(7) In general, the bottoms of men's tunics were pointed in both front and back and came down to about the knee; women's tunics were usually straight in front and pointed in back, and extended to the ankles.(8) They were worn in combination with moccasin trousers (pants with built-in feet), a belt, cap, and mittens.(9) Men and women carried essentials such as face paints, fire-making equipment, charms, and small personal belongings in pouches that they hung around their necks or tucked into their belts. Knives were worn in the belt or in a hanging sheath.(10) 1. Osgood 1936:42-43 2. McKennan 1959:129, 1965:25; Osgood 1936:47-48; Simeone and VanStone 1986:5-6 3. Osgood 1970:189-90 4. Osgood 1936:93 5. Slobodin 1981:517 6. Hadleigh West 1963:230; Osgood 1936:93 7. Dall 1870:82-83; Duncan 1989; Jones 1872:320; McKennan 1959:78-80; Michael 1967:244-246; Murray 1910:84-94; Osgood 1936:44-45; Richardson 1851[Vol. 1]:377, 380; Simeone and VanStone 1986:4-5; Whymper 1868:203 8. Vanstone 1981:8-10 9. McKennan 1959:78 10. Thompson 1994:25
label: Notes
content: Illus. Fig. 66A p. 96 in Van Kampen, Ukjese. 2012. The History of Yukon First Nations Art, Phd dissertation, Leiden University. https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/18984 . Van Kampen identifies as Han.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 10 Mar 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Yukon River, Arctic Coast, Canada (not certain) / United States (not certain), North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Han (Han Hwech'in)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 66A00095
label: USNM Number
content: E1857-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Shirt