Fish Skin Mittens
date: label: Accession Date
content: 27 Sep 1883
name: label: Donor Name
content: Charles L. McKay
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "INVENTORIED 1976."
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
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 https://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=118 , retrieved 10-24-2021; see web page for additional information: Waterproof mittens, Yup'ik. People wore waterproof salmon-skin mittens to keep their hands dry while kayaking, driving a dog sled, or working with fish nets. Woven grass liners went inside for warmth. To prepare the fish skins, they were first soaked in urine, scraped clean, and then hung outside to freeze-dry in cold weather. The last step was to scrape off the scales. Waterproof fishskin mittens were traditionally worn for kayaking and sled driving. Edward Nelson reported that late 19th century Yup'ik residents of the lower Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers made mittens out of tanned salmon skin but that coastal Yupiit used seal skin for this purpose. However, Elder Paul John of Nelson Island remembers that "the coastal people traded with inland people to get fish skin to make arilluut [fish-skin mittens] for their seal hunters. When seal hunters paddled in wet weather, they used their fish-skin mittens. The palms of the mittens were made of hair-seal skin or spotted-seal skin. When I started to go out, even in the winter, my parents always made sure I brought my fish-skin mittens with me, but they'd tell me not to get them wet. When these were lined with something, they were very warm and tight in cold weather." Woven grass liners went inside the mittens, for warmth and comfort. Salmon skin, which is durable, light, and water resistant, was also used for boots, bags, and parkas. To prepare the skins, they were first soaked in urine, scraped clean, and then hung outside to freeze-dry in cold weather. The last step was to scrape off the scales.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 2 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: Bristol Bay, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yup'ik
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 013527
label: USNM Number
content: E55967-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mitten
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 33 cm