Hunting Bag
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1879
name: label: Collector
content: Edward W. Nelson
label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "HUNTING BAG.---MADE OF ALTERNATE STRIPS OF WHITE AND BROWN DEER SKIN SEWED TOGETHER VERTICALLY. ORNAMENTED AT TOP WITH A BORDER OF FEATHERS AND A BAND OF FINE FUR, AT THE BOTTOM WITH DEERSKIN FRINGE. CONICAL. DEPTH, 12 INCHES. ESKIMO OF ST. MICHAELS, ALASKA, 1879. 38,458. COLLECTED BY E. W. NELSON."
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=85 , retrieved 12-17-2021; see web page for additional information: Hunting bag, Inupiaq. A small bag made of summer caribou skin, used to carry gunpowder, rifle cartridges, or other hunting supplies. It dates to the 1870s, when firearms had only recently become available to residents of Norton Sound. People of the Bering Strait region used many kinds of bags, from large fishskin sacks for clothing to fox and wolverine-skin tool bags with ornate carrying handles. Hunting bags included packsacks for hauling meat and equipment. This small hunting bag, purchased at the village of St. Michael on Norton Sound by Smithsonian collector Edward Nelson, is made of alternating strips of white and brown caribou skin, with caribou fringe along the bottom. According to Nelson, it is bordered on top with skin from a loon's throat, bands of white and brown caribou, and a strip of wolverine fur. Hunters used bags like this to carry gunpowder, bullets, cap boxes, and other small items.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 17 Dec 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Unalakleet, Norton Sound, 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: 008133
label: USNM Number
content: E38458-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Bag
physicalDescription: label: Depth - Object
content: 30 cm
label: Length - Object
content: 30 cm