Kayak - Norton Sound
date: label: Accession Date
content: 25 Oct 1889
label: Collection Date
content: 1889
name: label: Collector
content: Alaska Commercial Company
label: Donor Name
content: Alaska Commercial Company
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "Length 17'; beam 23-3/4"; depth 13-1/4", Weight: about 45 lbs. Description of type: Upcurved bow, with broad slot-like interspace; spur-like point projecting aft above nearly vertical stern; hatch circular, located aft of center." Refer to Collins Ms. p. 745-6, where kayak is identified as "Used by the Eskimo at Unalaklik [i.e. Unalakleet], sixty miles north from St. Michaels, Alaska. It is the same type of kaiak as that built by the St. Michaels Eskimo. Full size. Unalaklik, Alaska, 1889." The catalogue ledger book also calls this "Unalaklik", so the listing of it as Unalaska on the catalogue card seems to be in error. Kayak is described p. 209 in U.S. National Museum Bulletin 127.
label: Notes
content: From U.S, National Museum Bulletin 127, p. 209: "Kaiak. Type of boat used by the Eskimos at Unalaklik [Unalakleet], 60 miles north of St. Michael, Alaska. A decked keelless, skin canoe, made by covering a light wooden frame with sealskin. The bottom is round; sides flaring; long, sharp bow curving up from below; sharp, nearly vertical stern; sharply ridged deck, the central deck support extending at each end for a few inches to afford a hand grasp, the forward end meeting the apex of the bow so as to nearly form a hole. Dimensions of boat. - Length. 17 feet; beam. 24 3/4 inches; depth, 13 1/4 inches; diameter of center manhole, 22 inches. Collected by Alaska Commercial Co."
label: Notes
content: This kayak has one single blade paddle. Paddle has painted decoration in red depicting boats with sails (umiaks?), sea mammals, land mammals, bird, red circles/dots, etc..
label: Notes
content: Kayak is illustrated and described in detail in Golden, Harvey. 2015. Kayaks of Alaska. Portland, OR: White House Grocery Press: Plate 37, p. 214 and pp. 224 - 226. Paddle is illustrated and described in same publication: p. 471 and Color Plate XIV, # 3, after p. 274. Golden identifies kayak and paddle as Unaligmiut.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 7 Jul 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 2
place: label: Place
content: Unalakleet, Norton Sound, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Yup'ik, Unaligmiut (Unalirmiut)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 022485
label: USNM Number
content: E160327-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Kayak / Kayak Paddle
physicalDescription: label: Height - Object
content: 43 cm
label: Depth - Object
content: 66 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 5.4 m