Dance Mask
date: label: Accession Date
content: 21 Mar 1881
label: Collection Date
content: 25 Jun 1880 to 28 Jun 1880
name: label: Collector
content: Capt. Calvin L. Hooper
label: Donor Name
content: U. S. Revenue-Marine
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "INVENTORIED 1977. LOANED TO ALASKA STATE MUSEUM 3-31-83. LOAN RETURNED 09 23 87." From Card (for 45721 -45723): "Oct. 2, 1966. Mrs. Verne Ray today examined this mask (No. 45723). She says no masks were made at St. Lawrence Is., hence none of the three could come from there. Most likely provenience is St. Michael; Cape Vancouver or Pastolik are also possibilities. SHR"
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
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=577 , retrieved 1-7-2022; see web page for additional information: Mask, Inupiaq. Iñupiaq dancers wore masks during traditional hunting ceremonies and at Messenger Feasts; shamans out them on to represent supernatural beings that assisted in healing and magic. The story of this white-painted image of man's face is a mystery. The mask was reportedly obtained on St. Lawrence Island by C. L. Hooper, captain of the U. S. Revenue steamer Corwin, in 1881. The location could be correct, since a St. Lawrence Island artist named Nemaayaq was known to carve masks even though they were never used in Yupik ceremonies. However, the mask might have instead come from one of the coastal Iñupiaq villages where the vessel also called. The wrinkled brow probably represents age.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 4 Mar 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, 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: 010082
label: USNM Number
content: E45722-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Mask
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 25 cm