Snow Goggles
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: "SEPARATE CAVITY FOR THE EYE AND NOSE. THE EYE SLITS SIMILAR TO THAT OF SLEDGE ISLAND, CONTINUES ON THE FRONT INTERRUPTED IN THE REAR BY THE NOSE PIECE. NO. 48,724 FROM THE LOWER YUKON IS SIMILAR TO THIS SPECIMEN IN THE REAR, BUT HAS AN UNINTERRUPTED EYE SLIT IN FRONT. WIDTH 6 INCHES. INVENTORIED 1975. LOANED TO ALASKA STATE MUSEUM 3-31-83. LOAN RETURNED 09 23 87."
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=559 , retrieved 10-26-2021; see web page for additional information: Snow goggles, Yup'ik. These snow goggles have a wrap-around slit for seeing to the sides as well as straight ahead. Elders have pointed out that goggles with narrow slits not only protect the eyes from excess light, but also sharpen and focus vision, like a pinhole camera. Snow goggles are an ancient element of Inuit hunting cultures, appearing in archaeological sites up to 2000 years old. "Snow goggles prevent one from squinting from the brightness, and they used them before sunglasses became available. And those who had bad eyes used them when they rowed to make their eyesight better. It helped you see better." -Phillip Moses, from "Yuungnaqpiallerput: The Way We Genuinely Live," 2007.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 27 Jan 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Mission, Yukon River, Lower, 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: E38251-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Goggles
physicalDescription: label: Width - Object
content: 15 cm
label: Length - Object
content: 15.7 cm