Kayak
date: label: Accession Date
content: 5 Nov 1887
label: Collection Date
content: 1887
name: label: Collector
content: Capt. Michael A. Healy
label: Donor Name
content: U. S. Revenue-Marine
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "HAD 2 PADDLES, LINE AND SPEAR REST, AND 2 THROW STICKS. LATER NUMBERED 160326, BUT IN 2001 OBJECT WAS GIVEN BACK ITS ORIGINAL NUMBER OF 129577." FROM CARD FOR OBSOLETE NUMBER 160326: SEE COLLINS MS. P. 747-8. ILL. BAE AR 18, PT. 1, PL. LXXIX-4, P. 220 - BOAT; AND FIG. 71-B, P. 225 - [DOUBLE BLADE] PADDLE. LENT TO A NATION OF NATIONS 12/1975, LOAN RETURNED AUG 1988. LENT TO NMAH BUTLER BLDG. STORAGE FACILITY 6/22/1989." RETURNED FROM BUTLER BLDG. 06 JUNE 2000. As of 2008, parts present include single hole kayak, two single blade paddles, one double blade paddle (in 2 pieces), and harpoon line stand.
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027. 1 single blade kayak paddle only is on loan, labeled paddle 1 of 3.
label: Notes
content: Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on single blade paddle # 1 of 3 - http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=644, retrieved 3-25-2013: Paddle, Bering Strait Inupiaq. This light, beautifully painted King Island kayak paddle has a T-shaped grip typical of Alaskan designs. Black and white baleen bands encircle the handle. Double paddles were used for long distance travel, fast pursuit, or racing. Kayakers carried spare paddles and weapons on the deck, tucked under holding straps. "Some prefer a double paddle. But most of them prefer a single ... because it's easier to put away than the double ones if you're in a hurry. But on a long stretch of water if you're not hunting, that double works faster." - Jacob Ahwinona, Qawiaraq Inupiaq, 2001.
label: Notes
content: An intramural transfer of specimens document filed in accession file dated February 18, 1965 lists this boat as part of a group of 3 boats transferred from the Division of Transportation to the Division of Ethnology, Department of Anthropology.
label: Notes
content: From U.S. National Museum Bulletin 127, p. 209: "Kaiak. Used by the Eskimos of Kings Island, Alaska, for hunting and fishing. A decked, keelless, skin canoe, having a long, sharp, upcurved bow with a small hole for hand grasp at the top ; rising floor, flaring sides; sharp stern; sharply ridged deck rising at the bow and dropping abruptly at the stern. Dimensions of boat. - Length, 15 feet 3 inches; beam, 28 1/2 inches; depth, 13 1/2 inches ; diameter of central manhole, 20 1/2 inches. Collected by M. A. Healy." Kayak illus. Fig. 181, p. 198, and described pp. 199-200, under old number 160326, in Adney, Tappan, and Howard Irving Chapelle. 1964. The bark canoes and skin boats of North America. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution (U.S. National Museum Bulletin 230).
label: Notes
content: Kayak is illustrated and described in detail in Golden, Harvey. 2015. Kayaks of Alaska. Portland, OR: White House Grocery Press: Plate 43, p. 249; pp. 275 - 277. Paddles are illustrated and described in same publication: pp. 488 - 490; Color Plate XXI, # 1 and # 2, after p. 274.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 9 Feb 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 6
place: label: Place
content: King Island, 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: 019774
label: USNM Number
content: E129577-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Kayak / Kayak Paddle / Harpoon Line Stand
physicalDescription: label: Height - Object
content: 41 cm
label: Depth - Object
content: 69 cm
label: Length - Object
content: 4.67 m
label: Diameter - Manhole
content: 53.98 cm
label: Length - Single Blade Paddle 1 Of 3
content: 160.5 cm