Skin Quiver (Marten Skin?)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1838 to 1842
name: label: Collector
content: United States Exploring Expedition
label: Collector
content: Lt. William M. Walker
label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: SKIN QUIVER - WRITTEN ON IT IS "ARROWS + QUIVER, N.W. COAST AMERICA - COLUMBIA R. EX EX LT. W.M. WALKER USN. MARTIN [sic, probably Marten] SKIN(?)". IT IS MARKED 5414, BUT THAT IS THE WRONG #. QUIVER MAY BE A WILKES/U.S. EXPLORING EXPEDITION OBJECT? HAS BEEN GIVEN # ET24104-0 FOR TRACKING PURPOSES.
label: Notes
content: This quiver, though in poor condition (in 2015), resembles one shown in "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition," Charles Wilkes, 1845, Vol. V, p. 238, and described pp. 237-238. This illustration shows a man wearing a quiver, and is captioned "Costume of a Callapuya [i.e. Kalapuya] Indian." Wilkes identifies the Kalapuya quiver as "seal skin" in the publication, but the Kalapuya lived in the Willamette Valley of Western Oregon, so did not usually use sealskin for artifacts. The quiver itself is marked "martin skin". The American marten is a long, slender-bodied weasel about the size of a mink. Seemingly the only explicit reference to a quiver from North America in the Peale catalogue is Peale # 214, which is identified in the Peale catalogue as "Bow, arrows, and fox skin quivers, used by the natives of California." Peale # 214 has not been located in the Anthropology collections. However, Peale # 214 may be the quiver mentioned as acquired by the expedition on p. 253 of "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition," Charles Wilkes, 1845, Vol. V. If so, it was acquired in Siskiyou County, California probably, as the publication talks about the southern branch of the "Klamet" (Klamath) River and the lava beds; historically this was a Modoc area. This provenance would conflict with Columbia River one as written on quiver ET24104, so that makes it unlikely to be Peale # 214. In Smithsonian Institution Archives Record Unit 7058, National Institute Records, Box 14, Folder 1, there is a letter from Titian Peale and Charles Pickering to Charles Wilkes dated January 10, 1842, from the US Ship Vincennes. In this letter is of a list of artifacts received by them from the officers of the Vincennes, per Wilkes' instructions that such things should be turned in to be part of the collection, and not retained by individuals. In this list Midshipman Samuel Elliott's material includes objects from California and the Northwest Coast, including 2 fox skin quivers. Lt. Thomas Budd's material includes 1 fox skin quiver from California. It is therefore possible that ET24104 may be one of the quivers listed in that letter, even though Lt. Walker's name is written on it (Walker served on a number of the expedition ships, including the Vincennes.) It is also possible that Walker turned in arrows and a quiver, with only the arrows being registered due to an oversight.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 14 Apr 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Northwest Coast (not certain) / Columbia River (not certain), Oregon Territory (not certain), United States (not certain), North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 66A00050
label: USNM Number
content: ET24104-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Quiver