Man's Parka
date: label: Accession Date
content: 16 Mar 1897
name: label: Collector
content: Edward W. Nelson
label: Donor Name
content: U.S. Department of Agriculture
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "MAN'S."
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=273 , retrieved 11-21-2021; see web page for additional information: Parka, Yup'ik. This man's parka is made from more than 40 muskrat bellies. It has a wolf and wolverine-trimmed hood and white caribou fur trim. Muskrat makes a very warm coat that is also light in weight. This muskrat parka for a man or boy, of medium length with a wolf and wolverine-trimmed hood, is a northern Yup'ik style described in historic sources for St. Michael and the Yukon River and Nunivak Island. Women's parkas in this region were longer than men's, with rounded hems and splits that extended up the sides nearly to the waist. Farther south along the Kuskokwim River, parkas of both sexes were ankle-length and usually hoodless. Kuskokwim styles of parka decoration were far more elaborate, and the tradition of the "fancy parka" continues there today. Muskrat skins (a single layer) and Arctic ground squirrel (double layers) were used for winter parkas because these furs are light in weight but very warm. However, caribou (or its domesticated cousin, the reindeer, introduced to Alaska in the 1890s) is also quite warm and also more durable, making it perhaps the most desired material for winter clothing. Wolverine hair is ideal for parka hood ruffs because it does not collect the frost produced by breathing, and its long hairs block the wind to prevent frostbite. Wolverine cuffs (as on this parka) help to warm the wrists. John Kilbuck, writing about Yup'ik trade on the Kuskokwim River in the 1880s, reported that seal oil from the coastal villages was sought by people from up-river villages, who brought muskrats and other interior furs to the coast for trade: "The upper river people anxious to get a supply of oil for light-and likely for a particular festival in mind for the coming winter, drift down stream in their birch bark canoes loaded with squirrel [Spermophilus parryii] skins or muskrat [Ontatra zibethicus] skins-the former tied in packages of 45 and the latter of 33—each package is considered enough to make a parka for an adult man, while 40 & 30 respectively make a woman's parka."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 21 Nov 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Not Given, 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: 031796
label: USNM Number
content: E176103-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Parka