Story Knife
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1879
name: label: Collector
content: Edward W. Nelson
label: Donor Name
content: Edward W. Nelson
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "ILLUS., IN USNM ANNUAL REPORT, 1895, PL. 15 FIG. 4, P. 776. ILLUS. IN THE FAR NORTH CATALOG, NAT. GALL. OF ART., 1973, P. 76. LOANED TO THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART OCTOBER 20, 1972. RETURNED 5-29-73. LOANED TO THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO 6/22/77 RETURNED 12/1/77." FROM OLD 19TH OR EARLY 20TH CENTURY SMITHSONIAN EXHIBIT LABEL WITH CARD: "SNOW KNIFE.---MADE OF IVORY, SLIGHTLY CURVED. PERFORATED. ORNAMENTED WITH SEVEN PROJECTIONS FROM BENEATH IMITATING SEAL HEADS, CARVED LINES AND A SERIES OF TWO CONCENTRIC CIRCLES. LENGTH, 14 INCHES. ESKIMO OF ALASKA, 1879. 36,576. COLLECTED BY E. W. NELSON."
label: Notes
content: Yup'ik story knife (Ateknguin/yaaruin), walrus ivory, ca. 1875, Konigunugumut, Kuskokwim Bay, Alaska.
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=551 , retrieved 10-24-2021; see web page for additional information: Story knife, Yup'ik. Traditional story knives were made of carved, polished, and engraved walrus tusk. Some old story knives were ornamented with carvings of salmon, gulls, seals, and other animals, but others were simple and plain. A girl's father or grandfather made her knife, and they were given as gifts during Elriq, the Great Feast of the Dead. After a girl experienced her first menstrual period, she gave away her story knife along with her dolls.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 20 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Konigunuaumut, Kuskokwim 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: 008133
label: USNM Number
content: E36576-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Story Knife
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 36 cm
label: Length - Object
content: 27.9 cm