Boots
date: label: Accession Date
content: 27 Sep 1883
name: label: Donor Name
content: Charles L. McKay
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "TARBARSAS. MAN'S BOOTS."
label: Notes
content: Photo and description in Fienup-Riordan, Ann. 2007. Yuungnaqpiallerput, The Way We Genuinely Live: Masterworks of Yup'ik Science and Survival. Seattle: University Of Washington Press, p. 259. Piluguuk Boots. Boots made of caribou leg skins were sewn using the front of the caribou's back leg on the boot's front and the back of its front leg on the boot's back; this avoided the skin that was worn thin by the animal's habit of kneeling to forage.
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=119 , retrieved 11-4-2021; see web page for additional information: Boots, Yup'ik. These are a woman's winter boots, made from the brown leg skins and white belly fur of caribou or reindeer (domesticated caribou). The tassels and decorative bands are made of mink, otter, and wolverine fur. Elders said that they must have come from a village along the Kuskokwim River, where boots were fancier than on the coast. For winter travel and work outdoors, Yup'ik residents of southwestern Alaska wore warm, knee-high boots made from caribou, moose, or seal skins. In summer, they wore short fur boots, or waterproof ones made of seal skin. Caribou boots often combine white belly and brown leg sections of the animal's hide to make attractive patterns. Other kinds of furs-otter, wolverine, beaver, mink-make up decorative bands, seams, and tassels. Grass or fur socks were worn inside, with grass padding below the foot for extra insulation. Tough maklak [bearded seal] hide was often used to make the soles. In the past, bearded seal soles and skins were widely traded and given as gifts during feasts. This pair of 19th century boots, which Elders identified as a style typical of villages along the Kuskokwim River, has caribou or moosehide soles, possibly because bearded seal from the coast was not available.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 4 Nov 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: Bristol Bay, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yup'ik
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 013527
label: USNM Number
content: E56061-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Boot
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 56 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 37 cm
label: Diameter - Object
content: 14 cm