Ornamented Bullet Pouch
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1838 to 1842
name: label: Collector
content: Midshipman Samuel B. Elliott
label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "A FLAT ROUND-BOTTOMED, SQUARE-TOPPED POUCH OF BROWN FELTED CLOTH, BOUND AROUND THE EDGES IN LIGHT COLORED RIBBON, WITH RAISED RED FELT FLOWERS ON TOP FLAP AND THE ADJACENT EDGE, EACH FLOWER BORDERED IN VERY FINE WHITE BEADS AS WELL AS SMALL DESIGNS OF THE SAME BEADS ALL AROUND THE EDGE. FEB. 1956 WHEN THIS SPECIMEN WAS TAKEN OFF EXHIBITION IT ONLY HAD A TAG (CARDBOARD) ON IT, READING AS FOLLOWS: "S.B.ELLIOTT, EX. EX. V. [V presumably for Vincennes, a ship of the expedition] NO.4". THIS WAS A CHARACTERISTIC MARK OF THE WILKES EXPEDITION AND IN CHECKING THROUGH THE CATALOG BOOK OF MATERIAL FROM THIS COLLECTION THE ONLY ENTRY AT ALL CLOSE TO SUCH AN OBJECT APPEARED TO BE THE ORIGINAL WILKES NO. 325, WHICH WAS GIVEN THIS MUSEUM CAT. NO. (AT LEAST TENTATIVELY). THOUGH THIS SPECIMEN WAS COLLECTED ON THE NORTHWEST COAST, IT MUST BE A TRADE SPECIMEN BECAUSE IT IS TYPICAL OF WORKMANSHIP OF THE ATHABASCAN TRIBES OF THE INTERIOR RATHER THAN THE NORTHWEST COAST TRIBES. THIS DESCRIPTIVE CARD MADE OUT FEB. 1956 BY R. ELDER. SEE CAT.#178881, DONE IN SIMILAR STYLE."
label: Notes
content: EXHIBITED MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 1985-86.
label: Notes
content: As indicated above, in 1956 catalogue card had identified this piece as "probably Athabaskan". At some later date this has been changed on card to Eskimo, per Hiroka Sue.
label: Notes
content: Provenience note, in 1841 Oregon Territory encompassed the land from Russian Alaska to Spanish California and from the Pacific to the Continental Divide. The U.S. Exploring Expedition did not go to Canada, but did reach Oregon Territory in 1841, and carried out a hydrographic survey of the Columbia River from its mouth to the Cascades, as well as doing some surveying inland.They had dealings with Hudson's Bay Company staff during that time, and it is probable that the HBC is the source of a number of the Northern artifacts collected by the expedition.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 28 Nov 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Northwest Coast, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo (?)
label: Culture
content: Athabascan (Athabaskan) (?)
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: E2494-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Ammunition Bag
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 28 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 14 cm