Kayak Equipment (Float Board, Toggle Harpoon, Line, and Visor)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 25 Oct 1889
label: Collection Date
content: 1889
name: label: Collector
content: Alaska Commercial Company
label: Donor Name
content: Alaska Commercial Company
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Kayak was sent as a gift to Peabody Museum, Yale Univ. New Haven, Conn., Nov. 6, 1947. (Kayak has) upcurved bow, w/ broad, slotlike interspace; spur-like point projecting aft above nearly vertical stern; hatch circular, located aft of center. 8/2/56: A sealskin float that evidently went w/ this boat because it bore the same no., is still in the collection. Kayak illus. In BAE 18th Annual Report; pl. 54, fig. 10; p. 137. Float board, toggle harpoon, & coiled line illus. in USNM Rept, 1900, pl. 14; p. 298."
label: Notes
content: Harpoon, line, & float board were exhibited in Hall 9, NHB, removed 3/1998. For extended remarks on exhibited items, see condition report in Anthropology Conservation Lab, MSC. 160337 was originally catalogued as a kayak, which was subsequently transferred to the Peabody Museum. However, a toggle harpoon, attached line, float board, and sealskin float also bear this catalogue number & evidently were associated w/ this kayak. These objects were not transferred to the Peabody & remain in the collections. See also visor # E160337A-0.
label: Notes
content: Collins Ms. p. 737 describes the kayak and has a copy of information from accession papers relating to this kayak set. This document lists several native-language terms for the items included in the set. In 2008, Steven Jacobson, an expert in Alaskan Yup'ik language, identified the language as Central Yup'ik: "The first word is elqiaq, 'visor'; the second word is acaluq, 'kayak tray'; the third word is nuqaq, 'atlatl'; the fourth word is nanerpak, 'seal spear'; the fifth word is nuusaarpak, 'large three-pointed spear'; the sixth word might be narulkaq, 'spear'; the seventh word is tegun, 'seal recovery hook'; the eighth word is anguarun, 'paddle'; the ninth word is probably caqun, 'sealskin poke'." Many of these pieces are no longer in the collection. Kayak and equipment are also described in U.S. National Museum Bulletin 127, p. 208. Kayak is visible in photo negative # 31357 - the single hole kayak hanging on wall in right in photo.
label: Notes
content: Listed on page 28 in "The Exhibits of the Smithsonian Institution at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California, 1915", in section "Family Group of the Western Eskimo, Alaska".
label: Record Last Modified
content: 16 Oct 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 3
place: label: Place
content: Kusilvak, Norton Sound / Yukon River, Mouth, 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: 022485
label: USNM Number
content: E160337-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Harpoon / Line / Float / Float Board
physicalDescription: label: Length - Kayak
content: 5 m
label: Width - Kayak
content: 67.3 cm
label: Height - Kayak
content: 33 cm
label: Diameter - Coiled Line
content: 32 cm
label: Length - Float
content: 57 cm
label: Width - Float
content: 31 cm
label: Length - Harpoon
content: 52 cm
label: Height - Harpoon
content: 3 cm