Child's Boots (1 Pair)
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1838 to 1842
name: label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: CHILD'S WINTER BOOTS MADE OF BLEACHED SEAL SKIN WHICH IS PUCKERED AT THE FOOT, WITH THE UPPER PART OF THE BOOT MADE OF DARKER CARIBOU SKIN WITH FUR SIDE OUT. THE BOOTS ARE DECORATED WITH FISH SKIN, POLAR BEAR AND ERMINE FUR, AND PUFFIN BEAKS. EXHIBITED MAGNIFICENT VOYAGERS, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, 1985-86.
label: Notes
content: Illus. Fig. 207, p. 222 in Crowell, Aron, Amy F. Steffian, and Gordon L. Pullar. 2001. Looking both ways: heritage and identity of the Alutiiq people. Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press. Identified there as probably from Alaska Peninsula. Caribou skin boots with creased soles and seal-trimmed tops. Decorative bands are made from strips of dyed sea lion esophagus, embroidered with caribou hair.
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 http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=11, retrieved 9-2-2012: Boots, Sugpiaq (Alutiiq) kulusuk "pair of boots" - Language: Koniag Sugpiaq (Alaska Peninsula dialect) These delicate child-sized boots have uppers made of caribou leg skin, encircled at the top with seal fur. The neatly creased soles may be sea lion. Embroidered bands at the cuffs and on the front of each boot are composed of narrow strips of sea lion esophagus, both natural color and dyed, which has been cross-stitched with caribou hair. Decorative tassels of red-dyed skin and white fur end in puffin beaks filled with caribou hair. The boots were sewn with sinew thread.
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 11 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: Southern Alaska / Alaska Peninsula (not certain), Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Alutiiq (Sugpiaq)
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: E2129-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Boot
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 13 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 5 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 24 cm