Pair Dressed Seal Skin Boots
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: "INVENTORIED 1976."
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=76 , retrieved 1-5-2022; see web page for additional information: Waterproof boots, Inupiaq. Sealskin hunting boots are rugged and waterproof. The black color results from a tanning method that does not remove the skin's outer layer or its natural oils. A tuŋniq [strip of skin] is sewn into the seam between sole and upper, to prevent leaks. Waterproof boots were designed for wet ground, rainy summer weather, and boating. Some were short, while others (like this pair) reached the knee. Some were hip-length to wear in deeper water while hunting or fishing. "Black" seal skin, often used for the upper parts of waterproof boots (including this pair), was tanned so as not to remove the epidermis and natural oils, leaving the skin dark and water-repellant. Thornton, who lived in Wales from 1890 to 1893, compared Iñupiaq waterproof summer boots to rubber boots and found the Native-made ones superior: "They do not weigh one-tenth so much and do not produce that uncomfortable perspiration of the feet that is the great drawback to the use of rubber footwear. Besides, sealskin is much less easily torn or broken than rubber."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 5 Jan 2022
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, Inupiaq
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: E36194-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Boot