Ingalik (Deg Xitʼan, Degexitʼan, Deg Hit'an) Search this
Object Type:
Mitten
Place:
Innoko River, Alaska, United States, North America
Accession Date:
9 Feb 1882
Notes:
FROM CARD: "LOANED TO UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA MUSEUM 6-8-84. RETURNED: 10/9/84."
These mittens are part of a moose hide man's clothing set with #s E64278-0 and E64279-0. Mittens themselves are illustrated in Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=143 . Source of the information below: Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center Alaska Native Collections: Sharing Knowledge website, by Aron Crowell, entry on E64278-0 http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=141 , and E64279-0 http://alaska.si.edu/record.asp?id=142 , retrieved 9-21-2011: This pair of mittens was purchased along with moose hide tunic (# E64278-0) and moccasin trousers (# E64279-0) by Smithsonian collector Edward W. Nelson, who photographed the outfit as worn by its owner, a Gwich'in (Kutchin) man from Fort Yukon. Edward W. Nelson photographed the original owner as he stood with a musket in his hand and wearing the tunic, moccasin trousers and a bag with beaded floral designs. The glass plate image was probably taken at the fur trade settlement of St. Michael near the mouth of the Yukon River, where Nelson was stationed between 1877-1881. However, museum records list "Innoko River" (in Deg Hit'an/Ingalik country) as the location where the clothing set was collected, and Nelson did visit that region by dogsled in the winter of 1880.
