Waterproof Dress
date: label: Collection Date
content: 1829 to 1830
name: label: Collector
content: Dr F. Wessels
label: Donor Name
content: Accession Number Unknown
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "INTEST. OF SEA LION. 1/9/67. PROBABLY OF ALEUT ORIGIN. GP. THERE IS SOME CONFUSION AS TO THE PROVENIENCE OF THIS PIECE. AN ORIGINAL TAG READS: "A DRESS MADE OF THE PERITONEAL COAT OF THE INTESTINES OF THE SEA LION AND WORN BY THE INDIANS OF THE N. W. COAST. PRESENTED BY D. F. WESSELS, U. S. NAVY, COLUMBIAN INSTITUTE - 1830". THIS DR. F. WESSELS IS IN THE COLLECTORS FILE AS HAVING GIVEN ONE ITEM, A FILIPINO LADY'S SLIPPER, #5740. THE LIST OF CREW MEMBERS IN THE WILKES EXP. PARTY DOES NOT HAVE A DR. WESSELS. THE PARKA IS PROBABLY ALEUT, BROUGHT DOWN TO THE N. W. COAST BY THE ALEUTIANS WHO WERE "RECRUITED" BY THE RUSSIANS FOR THEIR FUR TRAPPING ENTERPRIZES. SEE THE TLINGIT INDIANS, AUREL KRAUSE, P. 30-31, FOR FURTHER HISTORICAL INFORMATION. A HANDWRITTEN INSCRIPTION ON THE PARKA ITSELF APPEARS TO BE RUSSIAN, BUT COULD NOT BE TRANSLATED. THE CATALOG OF WILKES MATERIAL DRAWN UP BY PEALE LISTS A "DRESS MADE OF THE INTESTINES OF SEALS, AND USED AS A PROTECTION IN RAINY WEATHER BY THE NATIVES OF THE N. W. COAST OF AMERICA", ORIGINAL NO. 305, WHICH MAY BE THIS PIECE [sic, no, this is not an Exploring Expedition piece; see info. below]."
label: Notes
content: According to Jane Walsh's emendation to catalogue card, this object is *not* from U.S. Exploring Expedition/Wilkes collection as originally catalogued, but rather is from Dr. F. Wessels, and was formerly in the National Institute collection. This object may be part of either National Institute Accession No. 81 or 135? In support of this, the catalogue card quotes an old label which is still with the artifact. This label was at one time attached/sewn with thread on the lower right front of the parka, but was removed by a conservator in 1976, according to a 1976 Anthropology Conservation Lab condition report for the artifact. This label indicates that in 1830 this piece was apparently part of the collections of the Columbian Institute. According to the Smithsonian Institution Archives finding aid to Record Unit 7051, Columbian Institute, Records,1816-1841, with related papers, 1791-1800: "The Columbian Institute (1816-1838) was first organized as the Metropolitan Society, with the professed purpose of reducing the United States' dependence on a purely European cultural heritage. Its principal goal was utilitarian; the society concentrated on encouraging, by correspondence, exchanges, and a program of publication, the diffusion of information about agriculture, manufacturing, and natural resources. Though initially conceived as a local body, the Society soon decided to expand its operations, and so, still in 1816, changed its name to the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, under which name it was incorporated by Congress in 1818. ... Its first president, Edward Cutbush, a naval surgeon, was energetic; but the Institute was never able to establish itself on a sound footing. Much of its membership seems to have been only casually interested in the Institute's work. Perhaps for this reason, and certainly because Congress gave no aid, there was always a dearth of money. Nor did an 1818 reorganization which added the fields of the liberal arts to its interests prove useful. In 1820 the Institute obtained a plot of land on the Mall and laid out a small botanical garden, virtually its only concrete accomplishment. A few natural history specimens and a small library were collected. The Institute's charter expired in 1838 and, in 1841, it was absorbed by the National Institute." The 1976 Anthropology Conservation Lab condition report for this artifact also notes that on the back center of the parka there is a line of Russian writing believed to show "ownership of" or "gift of or to" for this parka.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 25 Apr 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Northwest Coast, United States (not certain), North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Aleut (Unangax^ ; Unangan; Unangas) (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 000000
label: USNM Number
content: E2126-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Parka