Birdskin Parka
date: label: Accession Date
content: 27 Oct 1977
name: label: Donor Name
content: Smithsonian Institution
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Hooded parka of small grey birdskins (Aethia cristatella - crested auklet, i.d. Phillip Angle, Div. of Birds), with brown fur ruff and fur fringe around wrists and hem. Original tag attached "San Diego Fund (Holmes), No. 1". Dr. Henry Collins: "Money for the San Diego Fund was acquired by [Ales] Hrdlicka, but used by [William Henry] Holmes to get specimens. Riley D. Moore went to St. Lawrence Island with the same fund's money in 1912. This may be one of the pieces he collected and it was never catalogued. Given temporary number T-1639 in September, 1976. No S.I. numbers found on specimen, not identified in the catalogs. Ref: SIAR, 1912, p. 11; 1914, p. 38 & 194. See also T1027, T1027, T1635, T1640, T1676, T9557, T9561 thru 72, T9580 thru 89, T14368, T16636, T16638 all of which have similar San Diego Fund tags. Loaned to the Art Institute of Chicago 6/22/77. Rec. Art Inst. of Chicago Dec. 1, 1977. Loan: Crossroads Sep 22 1988; returned Jan 21 1993. Illus. Crossroads of Continents catalogue; Fig. 12, p. 17."
label: Notes
content: Crossroads of Continents caption identifies this as: "Birdskin Parka, St. Lawrence Island Eskimo. Birdskin clothing was light, durable, waterproof, and warm. More common in Alaska than Siberia, it was most important on St. Lawrence, Nunivak, and Kodiak islands, and in the Aleutian chain, where caribou - which provided the warmest fur - were not present. This parka was made from the skins of more than 75 crested auklets, which breed in arge colonies in the cliffs of St. Lawrence Island. It is trimmed with a fur ruff."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 7 Jul 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yupik, St. Lawrence Island
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 329163
label: USNM Number
content: E418612-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Parka