Needle Case, Ivory
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1880
name: label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "ILLUS. IN BAE REPT. 18, PT. 1, PLATE 44, #40. HEAD OF FIGURE ON RIGHT (DRAWING BEHIND THIS CARD) IS MISSING ON PHOTOGRAPH & SPECIMEN. 44137 LOANED TO THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO 6/20/77 RETURNED 12/1/77."
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=101 , retrieved 1-6-2022; see web page for additional information: Needle case, Inupiaq. A walrus ivory needle case tube representing four men, who sit with their elbows on their knees. The story or meaning expressed by this carving is unknown. Edward Nelson thought that it must already have been very old when he purchased it on King Island in 1879-80. In Norton Sound and north along the Alaskan coast, Iñupiaq women used bone or walrus ivory needle cases, often carved to represent human or animal figures. This case from King Island is carved with four sitting figures, elbows on their knees. Collector Edward Nelson did not learn what this art represented, but wrote that, "This is a fine piece of carving, and from the fact that is has been much worn by handling it is doubtless of great age." A needle case had a sealskin strap that ran through both ends of the tube (not shown here). A knot or stopper was tied at one end to keep the strap from slipping out, and a hook or loop was attached to the other end for a woman to fasten the needle case to her belt. Needles were stuck into the strap, which was drawn into the tube to cover them. Small sewing tools such as thimbles, thimble holders, boot-sole creasers, awls and small whetstones were attached to the ends of the needle case strap. Women also hung pendants of small animal and human carvings (possibly charms or amulets), animal canine teeth, and their husbands' starter labrets. South of Bering Strait, in the Norton Sound Iñupiaq, Yup'ik, Unangan, and Sugpiaq regions, a different style of sewing kit was customary. There, women stored their needles in tubular cases with wooden stoppers at the ends These tubes were tucked inside roll-up sewing bags (sometimes called "housewives"), along with the thimbles and other small sewing implements that in the north were attached directly to the needle case strap.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 6 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: King Island, Bering Strait, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Inupiaq
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 80A00050
label: USNM Number
content: E44137-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Needle Case
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 15 cm