Ivory Needle Case
date: label: Accession Date
content: 10 Sep 1876
name: label: Collector
content: Lucien M. Turner
label: Donor Name
content: Lucien M. Turner
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "24465-96. ILLUS. IN PROCEEDINGS, USNM, VOL. 34 (1908), NOS. 24487,-73,-69: (PL. 26, FIGS. 2, 6, 8)."
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=55 , retrieved 12-29-2021; see web page for additional information: Needle case, Inupiaq. This seal-shaped ivory tube was for storing bone or iron needles. Needles were stuck into a leather strap that pulled through the tube. Sewing needles, made from slivers of bone or walrus ivory before metal trade needles became available, were among a woman's most valuable tools. They were protected from breakage and loss by storing them in tubular cases made from bird bone, metal, or walrus ivory. Needle case tubes were engraved with geometric designs and carved into animal and human features and figures. In Norton Sound and north along the Alaskan coast, Iñupiaq women used open-ended needle cases like this one, which is carved in the form of a seal. This type of case had a sealskin strap that ran through both ends of the tube (not shown here). A knot or stopper was tied at one end to keep the strap from slipping out, and a hook or loop was attached to the other end for a woman to fasten the needle case to her belt. Needles were stuck into the strap, which was drawn into the tube to cover them. Small sewing tools such as thimbles, thimble holders, boot-sole creasers, awls and small whetstones were attached to the ends of the needle case strap. Women also hung pendants of small animal and human carvings (possibly charms or amulets), animal canine teeth, and their husbands' starter labrets. South of Bering Strait, in the Norton Sound Iñupiaq, Yup'ik, Unangan, and Sugpiaq regions, a different style of sewing kit was customary. There, women stored their needles in tubular cases with wooden stoppers at the ends These tubes were tucked inside roll-up sewing bags (sometimes called “housewives”), along with the thimbles and other small sewing implements that in the north were attached directly to the needle case strap.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 29 Dec 2021
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: St. Michael, Norton Sound, Alaska, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Eskimo, Inupiaq
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 76A00100
label: USNM Number
content: E24487-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Needle Case
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 15 cm