Cap Or Hat Worn By Men Every Day
date: label: Accession Date
content: 23 Dec 1882
name: label: Collector
content: William J. Fisher
label: Donor Name
content: William J. Fisher
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: Fisher's notes lists this as coming from Lesnoi Island, now called Woody Island, just off the coast of Kodiak. - L.L.L. 1977." From 19th or early 20th century exhibit label with card: "Cap. - Seal skin, from which the hair has been removed, painted and ornamented with strips of same embroidered with split quills and worsted, laid on in regular figures. Worn by men every day. Tani-ich-nag-mute Eskimo. Diameter 9 ins. Height, 3 1/2 ins. Lesnoi Island, Alaska, 1882. Collected by Wm. J. Fisher. An archaic form, not now used, the inhabitants of Lesnoi Island having adopted our customs and modes." Illus. Fig. 70, p. 74 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.
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=156, retrieved 9-5-2012: Hat, Sugpiaq (Alutiiq), Koniag saapek "hat" - Language: Koniag Sugpiaq (Kodiak Island dialect) Circular skin caps like this one were everyday headgear for men in the 19th century. The shape is Russian but the decorations are Sugpiaq. They include strips and cutout shapes made from dyed sea lion esophagus, and decorative stitching done with caribou hair, sinew, and yarn. The leaf and petal designs may have been inspired by European embroidery.
label: Notes
content: This object is on loan to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, from 2010 through 2027.
label: Notes
content: 1989 analysis of fur by Bonnie Farmer, NMNH Dept. of Vertebrate Zoology: Rangifer tarandus / Caribou/Reindeer: Forms white stitching on sides and top of hat.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 13 Feb 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Lesnoi Island (Woody Island), Kodiak Islands, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Alutiiq (Sugpiaq), Koniag
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 012209
label: USNM Number
content: E72477-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Hat
physicalDescription: label: Diameter - Object
content: 22 cm