Fire Bag Item Number: E7726B-0 from the National Museum of Natural History

Notes

FROM CARD: "ILLUS.: HNDBK. N. AMER. IND., VOL. 5, ARCTIC, PG. 353, FIG. 6B. BANDS OF CLIPPED HAIR DECORATE TOP PORTION OF THE BAG; THE THONG HAS 2 BLUE BEADS & A PIECE OF FUR AT THE END. INVENTORIED 1977." Handbook photo caption further identifies this as a decorated wolverine skin bag used to carry tobacco, pipe, flint, steel and tinder.This object is listed, but not described or analyzed, in Inuvialuit Pitqusiit Inuuniarutait: Inuvialuit Living History, The MacFarlane Collection website, by the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre (ICRC), Inuvik, N.W.T., Canada (website credits here http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/posts/12 ), entry on this artifact http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/items/13 , retrieved 2-10-2020. General information on bags is available here: http://www.inuvialuitlivinghistory.ca/item_types/45: Traditional Inuvialuit clothing had no pockets. Instead, small bags or pouches were used for carrying items such as sewing implements, tobacco, and tinder, flint and steel for making fire. These bags often were exquisitely made by piecing together contrasting pieces of skin and decorating them with fringes and beads.